Happy Sweden

Brilliantly simple in its story, yet it engages you right throughout, Simple doesn't necessarily mean it is not deep and meaningful. This film with its raw truth and its meaningful exchanges, I'ts a typical low budget foreign film, in that it is brilliant(though some of the low budget films are not).

Brilliant acing by the actors, especially the young girls, and a brilliantly shot film with unusual angles and unusual filming shots, that work well to frame the story.

A Swedish take on life with dramatic acting and choice of matter, brilliant on all levels and a must see, a clear 8/10.

Difficult to believe this was chosen as the 2008 Swedish entry at Cannes and as best foreign language film at the A.A.! Must have been a lean year. Perhaps director Ruben Ostlund should have stuck with making Ski films - as this could be watched in 2 x speed and nothing would be missed. Boring, static single camera setups that when not cutting off people's heads - concentrates on feet while 'attempting' to tell a simple story. It looks and feels like something intended as a series of short, educational vignettes, that were then found to be highly unsuitable for school use so, strung together for Cinema or TV. Any interest is quickly killed off by overlong scenes that ramble aimlessly with very little point of view to sustain its 100 min run time. Only the easily pleased lovers of cheap experimental or student style works could find much interest. One story involving a bunch of young men on a drunken weekend could have easily been dropped and is especially vulgar. Such an unpleasant disappointment.

The camera angles were interestingly different. Made you think about the conversations and not focus so much on the shallowness of what I call: eye candy syndrome, which Hollywood so likes to depict. One thing that did disturb me when reading reviews was that a few of the very positive ones contained the same misspellings. That is hardly a coincidence. Back to the film: There seemed to be too many thematic subplots going on, despite other reviews that seem to say: "hey, that mirrors life". But generally, the film was entertaining and was an interesting diversion. The homo-erotic male-bonding deal with the guys seemed a bit contrived. I couldn't figure the rhyme or reason there.

For the last few months i've stumbled upon quite a few Swedish movies, and for me, personally, it's a grand discovery! I love and appreciate low budget movies. For me, producing more with less always seemed an outcome of cinematic expertise. That kind of Minimalism makes this movie great. The themes and situations displayed in this movie are so relatable, and i bet you'll find your self giggling (for a wide Spectrum of reasons: from sympathy to embarrassment). It's light and have a natural flow, the acting is very authentic and sensitive. The script is superb, and the camerawork also contributes to the "Ostlund experience", together forming an honourable picture.

I was really surprised by this film. It consists of 5 independent stories and though they are completely different they share something common to human beings. Well "Short Cuts" was great and I can really recommend "Fyra nyanser av brunt" in the same genre. But "De ofrivilliga" has something extra. I bet you can recognize some of the awkward situation described in this film.

It's pretty annoying with the strange camera angles and it's a bit like the habit of using too many close-ups that some directors use. But to some extend it makes sense. You learn to focus on the situation and the interaction instead of the people in the scenes.

And I really must say that it's fantastic how a writer can invent the strange incidents in the film. I keep thinking - this must have happened for someone in real life. No one can have that wild an imagination.