Farväl Falkenberg

As is said in another comment you can not be told whether you will like this film or not. You need to have something in your past or present that helps you enter this group and understand or feel the things that are left unspoken... and that is much. But if you have that, this film is rewarding, tragic, beautiful and painful. Very good!

The minimal form of the film is perfect for the on the surface minimal story. But as any minimal art the content is there, but you will need to do at least half of the work of finding it. I enjoy that kind of film, and since I am able to relate to the story a great deal, this film was perfect for me!

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.

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.

Small towns in Sweden are safe and clean, not necessarily rural, but perhaps not as stimulating as the Big City. Here we follow some kids in a small town, Falkenberg and their angst about adulthood and the world. What I like about "Farväl..." is its directness. It isn't trying to be smart or deliver puns, but just shows what life was like in Falkenberg, for the people that have made the film. They are also playing more or less themselves, I understand.

The kids portrayed are without any real sense of purpose in their lives, but at the same time quite comfortable, and with deep friendships. Adults are depicted pretty much as half-dead bores, and in juvenile narcissistic manner, adulthood indeed seems akin to dying.

I think that the "twist" that provides the only real drama of the film is a bit adolescent, but perhaps its just a traditional "hero mythology", with the hero sacrificing himself so that others may live. An effort could have been made to drive home a few more points though, now you kind of wonder if the film-makers have bothered to take a step back to seriously consider what they want to say. Politics are kind of absent, except in a very small comment on the separation of girls and boys into different groups.

Swedish small town blues have been the subject of films before, in e.g. "Fucking Åmål" and "Masjävlar", but never in quite this naked way, I think. "Gitarrmongot" I guess comes closest in terms of the tone of the movie. Not exactly entertaining in the traditional sense, but gripping, and I am glad that the film was made.

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