Jan Troell and Bo Widerberg joint effort "The Boy and the Kite" gives us a nostalgic view into childhood and early life experiences as
the boy from the title gets disappointed that his father forgot about his birthday, since he's focused in his wife, who's about to deliver a baby
at a maternity ward. But with his sad reflections, thinking about the differences between the world of adults and the world of children, he's soon
to be greatly surprised by the end of a special day.
Widerberg & Troell film everything in a great style, and telling a story in an almost silent manner with sparse dialogues, muted sounds
that come and go without much of a reason, and the lovely inclusion of Vivaldi's Spring section from "The Four Seasons". I didn't get much of a so
novelty in what the film proposes (a children's view on life and what problems really mean, all told in a very innocent way), at times it was a
slightly distracting movie. Truly well-acted, well filmed and with countless beautiful scenes that fills your heart and mind with a bliss. Also on
a positive note, it makes us look back and remember times in our lives when we faced the first disappointments of life, the first family disappointments
and all those sad and uncomprehended feelings that comes along, barely realising that the future was about to bring a series of major disappointments
of which we'd have to accept gracefully. Gladly, the directors went on to create amazing feature films throughout their careers (Widerberg's "Adalen
31" and Troell with "The Emigrants"). 8/10.
