Populärmusik från Vittula

The movie came out here in our city before 9 months but only some small cinemas showed it. It wasn't easy to find a cinema so I waited till the DVD was out. I rented the DVD last night and I have to admit that I wanted to watch that movie since over 4 months but never found it at my place. I laughed, I felt disgusted, I had silent moments and maybe even a small tear dropped out of my eye ;). And that is what I expect from a good movie - it has to touch me inside and make me wanting to talk about it. The movie has many raw scenes but at the same time also subtle moments. It is about friendship, become and being a man and follow your dreams - it is raw and poetic! And I saw it today again to get every detail of that wonderful movie.

The film is a story about a boy called Matti and his friend Niila. The boys grow up in very different families in Pajala, which is located in Northern Sweden and very close to the Finnish border, in the 60s. They live in a culture that is a little in between cultures - not quite Swedish but not Finnish either. This creates the rich and amusing setting to the actual story.

Even though I read the book (which was hilarious!) before I watched the film, I thought it was a very enjoyable film. It's funny and not that pretty and mild and therefore even more humorous. Definitely worth watching!

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.

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.

As a movie this was pretty much the same as the book: good, but not instant classic. Though I am sure there are lots of people who will disagree with me on the book part.

For technical point of view there is nothing wrong with the flick: acting is good, directing is good, the whole packet works. It even has some pretty funny scenes in it.

My main problem was with the plot itself: this was hardly anything new under the sun. Just another nostalgic driven view of someones childhood and coming of age.

I could have given better score, but my personal favourite scene was left out. I know it wouldn't have much, actually any general plot influence, but I just would have wanted to see it in.

Nothing more to say, see it if you like the genre.