De ofrivilliga

"De Ofrivilliga" presents a new take on movie-making I personally haven't seen before. Östlund basically uses nothing but still cameras that show the entirety of the scene from a distance or an angle that surprises you, never zooming in on the actors facial expressions. The theme is admittedly rather hard to explain; it handles the awkwardness that follow those defining moments where a small decision leads to growing consequences. It's an hilarious movie, dark and hopeful at the same time. You can tell Östlund has sharpened his pen since his previous feature movie, "Gitarrmongot". The dialogue balances so delicately on the thin line of becoming ridiculous or indifferent without ever falling over to either side. "De Ofrivlliga" craves your attention in order to mesmerize you the way it's meant to, and you will be required to give it. If you've ever seen and appreciated any of Roy Andersson's movies you'll love it.

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.

Five independent stories which all possess an admirable wit and acuity. They all share one thing - the involved have to stand up for their own will and resist the so often overwhelming peer pressure that we all at some point has been the victim of.

Ruben Östlund has created a sleek, straight and accurate film where the acting is unbeatable. We have to be alert, listen and try to keep up with the sometimes very complicated plot. The camera is rolling and it allows all the involved to take all the space. The stories has a strange sense of normalcy on the surface, and the every day situations succeeds each other with finesse, perfectly knitted together until the end without any forced resolution or final connection. It is this kind of story I feel can be associated with Sweden. This may be our future culture imprint.

Ruben Östlund possesses a narration that grabs at his audience and he is not afraid to challenge. It is exciting despite unremarkable equality in the presentation, and the persons in the five stories, feel very real.

Young Swedish director Ruben Östlund made a strong debut with "Gitarrmongot". It was a very personal way of narration. In "De ofrivilliga" he gives even more promises.

Five episodes, involving five very different kinds of Swedish people. But they get one thing in common and that is a very destructive group pressure in very different ways. The acting is really superb, although you hardly have seen any of these people on the screen before, with the exception of Maria Lundquist.

Östlund works with very special camera angles. Sometimes you don't see the heads of those who are talking. Sometimes you will have to look around for a couple of seconds to find the main character, who is somewhere else than you're used too. This is a challenging movie in many ways, which makes you think and feel. And there are truly strong thoughts and feelings.

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.