Populärmusik från Vittula

I have just seen the film, and i loved it! I've read the book and it was a lot better because it had more details, but the film has a certain atmosphere of it's own that is quite magic. The way the story is told is great, and you really get involved with the film. And it is very funny as well! I emmidiately felt the urge to go see the magnificent landscapes in the film, and maybe i will some day. I loved the actors in it, Björn Kellman is always wonderful to watch, but the younger actors were great too. I liked Andreas af Enehjelm (Niila) in particular, he seems to be a very sensitive actor. Let's have more Finnish and Swedish films, the languages are beautiful and the stories go straight to the heart!

In the era of limited and underdeveloped means of communication, it is not easy to cope with outside influences as life at home, school and township is handled in a "historical", traditional manner. Life is hard, with lots of manual labour, thin population (but big families) and long distances do not provide versatile diversity... All this was characteristic to rural areas in Sweden where Matti and Niila had to spend their childhood and youth. Then, new music trends were brought into their lives, but its nature and consequences were not as expected in the beginning.

The cast is rather strong, includes some interesting individuals, and children/youngsters performing Matti and Niila at different ages are talented; moreover, there are versatile Finnish and Swedish actors in supporting roles. On the other hand, Populärmusik från Vittula is not a family film, especially for "decent" families, as it contains rude language, nudity and heavy drinking... But as based on the book with the same name, I am sure that the portrayal of everything is realistic.

This film is about the relationship between two boys growing up together in a small town in the north of Sweden. Their nickname for the town is "Vittula" (roughly translated: The P*ssy fields).

The movie contains violence, sex, nudity and rough language without having any of those ingredients taking away focus from the actual story. In my opinion, it's also rare for a movie to successfully combine comedy and drama. Here the two parts are well balanced and will give you both laughter and sadness.

However, the movie have two weak spots.

1. Since I haven't read the book, I found myself filling in blanks in the story. It isn't always clear what event follows another. Sometimes it's almost like a highlight reel of events taking place in no specific order. Maybe this is how the director intended it to be or maybe how the book is written, but this was kind of annoying for me.

2. Some actors change their accent from scene to scene, which of course take away a lot of credibility from their character. If an actor can't fake a typical northern accent of Swedish for the full lenght of the movie, it would be better if they just stick with their natural accent.

Most people I have spoken to seems to have enjoyed this movie in one way or another, maybe because the story is set so close to home and feels somewhat familiar. (I hope that this movie will be appreciated by people in Finland and in the southern parts of Sweden as well.)

Cast and crew worth to mention are: Director Reza Bagher for taking the initiative to start this project which turned out to be a nice movie (even though some of the scenes don't fit especially well into the storyline, as I mentioned before). Actors Jarmo Mäkinen, Björn Kjellman and Lennart Jähkel for great acting performances.

I rate this movie 6/10.

Just saw the film for the fourth time, and thought I'd chip in on the discussion. It seems to me a lot of the criticism the film meets is about the incoherence of scenes, and the kaleidoscopic manuscript. Well, as it is a retrospective view upon a time long gone, I find it trustworthy and natural that the memory of the narrator is thus fragmented. That is how the mind works. And the narration is never torn, but keeps flowing. Yes, it is absurd, yes, it is grotesque, but this is what we call magic realism, a genre often attributed to south American writers. Here, the book that lays basis for the film, intelligently mixes the exotic air of magic with the harsh environment of Pajala. Enough about that. I find this one of the best examples of a successful adaption from book to film I have long seen. I do not see the bad acting that many point out. The dialects may vary, I am not Swedish and cannot tell, so I'm save from harm there. All in all, the ambiance of the film is sort of "happy in spite" and I am impressed every time. But I am a sucker for that magic realism, so bare that in mind.

9/10

Walking into this movie just more or less accidentally, I went out 105 minutes later with another candidate to my "all times' best list". Formerly employed in movie-jobs myself, I can only say that this is a masterpiece. May be the critics about incoherent use of local dialects is right - I saw it translated anyway. But, if this is a misfit, I must say, there are hardly other minor misfits. The movie is not boring for a second, and the tough scenes are not voyeuristic like usual, but describing the characters and the environment - yes, in a tough way. Highly to be recommended to everyone who was not raised in an accomodance of McD' and Cadillacs. Very close to live, and wonderfully set into scene. Pure live, the hard way, yes, but full of real love. A must for cineastics.