Vi är bäst! (2013) Reviews

• Excellent feel good movie

  zetaflickan-12013-10-12

  Just saw this with my 11-year old (+ friend) and parents. We all enjoyed the film immensely. Lots of laughing out loud from everybody and squirming at embarrassing situations for the kids. High quality work in all areas of cast and crew. Very good description of the joy and energy of youth that are just beginning to form strong friendships, stand up for themselves (and each other) and explore their creativity and define themselves interacting with the world. Such a relief from most films about/for youth that are stuck in surface aesthetics, cardboard characters and and routine sexism. We will see this one again, more than twice.

• A joyful experience which captures the spirit of Youth

  johnnymurphy152014-06-25

  'Punk is dead' as they say in the film which is set in 1982. Punk fans from 1977 have moved on to Joy Division and young people are dancing in tacky attire to The Human League! Not these three passionate young 13 year old girls Bobo, Clara and Hedvig. They still think punk is very much alive and want to form a band, even though the founding members Bobo and Clara cannot play (They later recruit Hedvig who is a classical guitarist). A simple premise like this makes for one of the most enjoyable films this year so far. Bobo and Clara are outsiders in their school. Bobo is the shy, androgynous type, whereas Clara is the outspoken type with naïve anti-establishment views. After a minor punishment in gym class for not joining in, they vent their frustrations at the seemingly unnecessary part of the school curriculum by writing a song titled 'Hate the Sport'. They pretend to be in a band when they are at their local youth club and manage to book a room where there is instruments. Since they cannot play a note between them, they need to recruit someone else. When watching Hedvig play classical guitar to a chorus of boos from the audience at a school concert, they recognise she is an outsider as well. There is discussion over whether Hedvig's Christian views would be fitting with their image. Clara amusingly thinks of it as a challenge to turn her from Christian into a punk. The three girls boast the usual mixture of cynicism towards mainstream cultural ideals and a positive enthusiasm for changing the world. The actresses do a stellar job in making the conversations and interaction seem very believable. The film is often very funny and very relatable to anyone who was some kind of passionate outsider as a teenager. The parents of the girls are also well observed. Here we have burned out and embarrassing hippy parents who are sickeningly liberal and a single mum who floats from man to man to suppress her loneliness. They may have at one time been enthusiastic and idealistic in their formative years much like the central characters, but life has made them 'uncool'! The dialogue seems ad-libbed most of the time and done very well. The scenes are expertly edited so the conversations are not drawn out so much which happens often with improvised dialogue. It also has a social realism aesthetic to it which I feel is needed for a film like this it really encapsulates the energetic, youthful optimism which is also realistic. After years of apparently making dark art films, Director Lukas Moodysson has made something here which encapsulates the spirit and energy of youth and punk. I feel it is Directed by someone who really understands punk as not just a genre of music, but a passion and attitude which lives in the hearts and minds of, in this case, the dis-enfranchised youth. The fact that it is based on his wife's comic book in which she writes of her own experiences as a teenager, it seems like a personal project too. I could not stop grinning throughout the whole film as I found it a particularly joyful experience. The film gives way to poignant moments like the scene when Hedvig plays an acoustic version of a song by Swedish punk band KSMB. It was a scene which made me nearly cry and really gave the lyrics a new perspective with the acoustic guitar. It made me want to go home and write a songs expressing my general vitriol towards the bureaucracy of sport, but could not come up with something as good as this. As they say 'We are the Best!'. And it's true!

• Human and punk - to the core

  pivic2013-10-14

  This is punk! Even more punk than Julien Temple's "The Filth and The Fury", the great documentary about the Sex Pistols and England in the late 1970s. Presented are a few young individuals who think alike and don't waver for a second to present their own opinions. They're unique - just like the rest of us - and just so you know, just because disco came around, doesn't mean punk's dead. We're shown families, their lives, their honesties and lies, and what makes them tick; I think this is one of Moodysson's biggest strengths as a director. And he's used unknown actors, which is another one of his strengths. This film is not nostalgia, but a document of what life can really be like. Just as Joakim Thåström sings in one of the soundtracks to the film, you're encouraged to stay a rebel - and this is just one of the many ways to stay one. It's a hardcore film that's cute, sad, very funny, very Swedish and human from the core on out. The script is great, the dialogue should be a blueprint on how Swedish realism should be, Moodysson still claims the throne as the best living Swedish director, and this film will live on forever. I really hope this gets syndicated throughout the world, because that's what it deserves.

• Nostaligia== Brilliant

  skinsk-12014-05-03

  First off, I was a muffle school "punk" in 1982, so I couldn't resist catching a screening of We Are the Best at the Jeonju Film Festival (Korea). My previous experience with Swedish films has been limited, and resulted in spells of sleep (the scenes of Swedish TV in this film were reminiscent!). The young actresses were amazing! Real, infectious. . . brilliant! The story-telling and script were first-rate. The filming fit the material perfectly. I could appreciate this both as a 40- something adult now and as a compatriot of the main characters from that time period-- even if I experienced adolescence half a world away. It's a feel-good film, and serious issues are framed in the most palatable way-- but the movie makes no pretensions and it it was it is, and that is a first-rate film, great for all ages, that has everyone leaving with a smile!

• Punk is well and truly alive in Stockholm – just don't call them a 'girl band'!

  sarah_venn2013-12-17

  'We are the Best' is focused on three 13 year old girls as they form a punk band. The film has all the highs and lows of adolescence intertwined into the quest of being the best punk band ever; teenage angst, first love, friendship, crushes, family, identity and the disastrous consequences of drinking too much too young! Klara (Mira Grosin) and Bobo (Mira Barkhammer) are two androgynous looking girls who don't fit in with others at their school, and are bullied for looking different. They love punk and live by the values of anti-establishment mentality and reject mainstream society and commercial disco music. One day at their after school club in order to get heavy metal band Iron Fist to stop playing their offensively loud music Bobo and Klara decide to fight music with music and start a band of their own. They don't have any instruments or indeed know how to play any, but that doesn't stop them, and I'm pretty sure there are some famous bands out there that started similarly. Outspoken and mouthy Klara nominates herself as lead singer and bassist, forcing Bobo onto the drums. Their song 'Hate the Sport' is about their dislike for PE and their fascist teacher. Whilst they can master the lyrics their musical ability does not improve. Bobo sees an opportunity in recruiting Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne), a classical guitar player who is also a social outcast due to being a strict Christian. In a quest to convert her from Christianity to punk they cut off her long blonde hair to fit in with Bobo's crop and Klara's Mohawk. The girls meet up with an all boy punk band that perform their catchy anthem 'Brezhnev and Reagan, F*ck Off!' Tensions between the friendship of Klara and Bobo arise when they both have feelings for one of the boys. However, friendship wins out and the band goes on to perform in a neighbouring town, where there is a great punk-fuelled ending to the film as they shout and hurl abuse at the audience in the venue. Lukas Moodysson's We Are the Best! is certainly one of the most honest, heart-warming and endearing films about female friendship I've seen. It is adapted from his wife, Coco Moodysson's graphic novel, Never Goodnight. The story is a fictionalised account of her own teenage years as a punk rocker. It is definitely a film that can be enjoyed by adults as well as teenagers. The acting was amazing in the film and all girls gave a great performance, from Liv LeMoyne's wonderful folk playing and singing, to the comedic timings and playful nature of Grosin and Barkhammer, also special mention to the highly amusing, clarinet playing father of Klara played by David Dencik. So far the film has picked up three awards; The Reykjavik International Film Festival Audience Award, Tokyo International Film Festival Grand Prix Award and Philadelphia Film Festival Best Ensemble. Will it win the Bath Film Festival audience award? I sure hope so as it definitely deserves it and it would wholeheartedly have my vote. I loved this film. See the review on the Bath Film Festival blog: http://bathffblogger.wordpress.com/2013/12/10/we-are-the-best/