We are the best! (“Vi är bäst”!) (Lukas Moodysson, 2013): Sweden

Reviewed by Filippa Hernius, Viewed at Metro 4 Theatre 2, Santa Barbara. We are the best is a swedish film. It takes place in Stockholm, the head capital of Sweden.

The film is about two girls who adore punk and its lifestyle. They are both very boyish and   they have the spirit of a teenage rebellion. I saw the film on Santa Barbara film festival. Lukas Moodysson  is the director and he has done a lot of famous films in Sweden.

The girls are brilliant actors, although it’s only one of them who is a real actor, the others are just “normal” girls with no background in film. The two main characters are called Bobo and Klara. They are best friends, love punk, hate sports, have short hair and starts a band even though they can’t play. Other girls in the same age thinks they are dorky and weird.

One day the girls decides to play at the youth center, comes up with a song that is really “punkish”. This song repeats through the whole film.

Bobo is not like her mother in any way. Her mother dates different men all the time and she is very girly compared to Bobo. She doesn’t have a good relationship to either her mom or her dad, they are divorced.Klara has a lovely family that embarrass her all the time. They also find a new band-member. She is alone, christian and doesn’t really fit in the punk-life but she can play guitar, and that’s why they ask her to join the band.

I think the scenery is really “typical” swedish. Raining, snowing and it is very cold. It’s not always that weather in Sweden but I think it fits good with the movie because punk is kind of negative and dark so it would be weird if it was sunny and beautiful. I think I wouldn’t have got the same feelings if it was that way.

There is a lot of close ups in the film so it’s easy to see the expressions in their faces. The actors are doing a great job. The film is mixed with long and shorts scenes. I think the punk-style is cool, they are really getting out their anger trough the music which is very effectful. The film is about friendship, teenagers, love and music in the 80:s.Very good movie that I think you should see.