Farväl Falkenberg

I saw recently saw this at the 2007 Palm Springs International film Festival and I can't believe that this is Sweden's official submission to the 79th Academy Awards to be considered for best foreign film. Producer Anna Anthony last year also had Sweden's official submission for best foreign film with Zozo. I wasn't personally a fan of Zozo but at least it had some production value to it. This could have been shot as a high school film project. As a short film it may have worked but as a feature film it is as lost as it's characters. This is a story about five twenty something friends who live in a small Swedish town and have no goals or hopes or ambitions for the future and like to live in the past of their long gone childhood. Actually Falkenberg isn't like some remote northern Swedish village. It's a popular summer resort with a population of city and townships of almost 40,000 and lies between two major southern coastal Swedish cities of Götborg and Malmo. The characters are likable enough guys but if they were high school age kids with a bleak or confused attitude about what they plan to do with their lives I would undoubtedly care about them more. They are however long past the point where they should be making plans to deal with adulthood. If they want to stay in Falkenberg forever than certainly there must be some jobs in the tourist or fishing industry instead of just riding bicycles, drinking, smoking pot and occasionally painting a house. Maybe if they hung around with a girl or two in their circle of friends, of which girls are absent from this film altogether which doesn't make sense. Jesper Ganslandt makes his directorial debut and co wrote the film along with the cinematographer, of which I use the term loosely, Fredrik Wenzel. the acting isn't too bad. I would give this a 4.5 out of 10 but despite it's submission for consideration for the Academy Awards I would not recommend it.

Internationally known as "Falkenberg Farewell" this film deals with a number of friends that get together for a last time during the summer that bridges their lives between playful old children and young responsible adults. Still having nothing to do but hang about and do whatever they feel like they have one last breath of total freedom before the harness of the daily rut takes them and binds them.

Starting with a short description of the main characters the film rolls slowly but steadily. When it is clear what everyone does and where everyone is going to it starts telling its actual story and it must be said: that is done a little messy. It looks like it tries to go in all directions at once and ends up staying right in the middle because of it. While it is clear about the message it wants to give off, it is far less clear about the way it revolves around the characters.

I wasn't really impressed with this film. Partly because I saw it during a film festival where it was surrounded by much better films, partly because it was so messy that it was hard to get into.

6 out of 10 summers ending

This is the story of five guys who live in Falkenberg, a Swedish sea-town, and know each other since they were little kids. Saying farewell to Falkenberg means to get rid of the childish habits that fill up their boring days and to start living and acting as adults. Falkenberg is most of all the environment (with his rivers, woods and the sea) and the style of this young director reminds the last Gus Van Sant's one, in particular for the shooting of the nature and for the way the character speaks with their gestures. A special mention as to go to the photographer, who succeed in the great effort of finding a realistic portrait of the characters in symbiosis with the environment.

There is a lot of things about this film that I didn't understand. There is no clear sense of direction, no understanding of motive in the characters. It reminds me of Terance Malik's "The Thin Red Line" (although they are very different).

But one thing I know for certain is that when I left the theater I was in a totally different state of mind then when I entered it. I felt calm and relaxed. This is why I voted 9/10 because not many films can do this.

And also reminded me of that period in life just between childhood and being an adult, that limbo where you are free, don't feel the obligations of the grown-up world but still with the sense not being a child.

Finally a Swedish Oscar contribution I can be proud of as a Swede.

How on earth were these guys given funds to make this movie? The lack of script is one thing, but the cinematography makes you want to weep. A hand held camera can be of great value to the look and feel of a movie but in that case you need a photographer who knows what he is doing. I am well aware that the actors are amateurs but it's of no defence since the director might be the least talented one ever directing in Sweden. It would be a shame for the industry if he (or any in the team for that matter) is given money to make a film ever again. This movie simply provides fuel to the argument that too many movies are made in Sweden each year.