Jalla! Jalla!

I haven't left the cinema on such a high note in a long time; Jalla! Jalla! is a very funny comedy about a man torn between modern European and traditional Lebanese life, who tries to keep both his personae satisfied by continually compromising between the two. It is also a story of the friendship between this Lebanese second-generation immigrant and his colleague Måns. The story takes some time to unfold, but the film's perfectly timed pace makes it a joy to watch even as long as nothing appears to happen, and it only gets better once the action kicks in.

Jalla! Jalla! is about change: grandma is still firmly rooted in the old ways, dad keeps up appearances but turns out more flexible than you thought and Roro is, for all intents and purposes, just as much a modern Swede as a Lebanese. Although he is sincere and outspoken, he's just not able to totally say goodbye to his heritage and his roots. Finally, it was very gratifying to see a film about immigrants without some profound and ostentatious message, but more occupied with the sometimes impossible daily choices between morality and practicality one is forced to make despite the lack of understanding in one's surroundings (and truth be told, neither Måns nor Lisa display much understanding for Roro's predicament). A good 'small' movie, I hope to see more of this director and these actors.

Well this is pretty rare thing as I'm reviewing on Swedish comedy oriented drama, the genre I'm not so familiar with. I got the DVD for a birthday present and I probably would not have bought/rented/watched the film otherwise. The film is however pretty positive experience and recommended highly for most of the people.

It tells the story of Swedish youths that are having little problems with relationships, relatives, impotence and other stuff. I won't tell too much about the plot but there are many things found in normal every day life, too, so I think many will be interested once they start to watch the film.

The director is young and talented Josef Fares and many of his relatives also act in this film. The actors are mostly young people, like 1978-1982, and couple of older, too, but they all are very talented and natural. It took 30 days to shoot the film, and technically the film is very great as there are many different techniques used by the director and the story is also very interesting, and genuinely funny, not some stupid slapstick comedy.

The themes of the film are mainly about love and the total misunderstanding of it. It shows that love cannot be "arranged" or planned, it is born once the two right people meet and there is no need for help from another parties. This is important issue and is more powerfully depicted in Jane Campion's masterpiece The Piano.

There are also other things that are topical all the time, and the impotence of one character is one of them, despite I don't know how usual impotence is in these age groups of 30s or so. Well, that subject matter is also depicted warmly and with positivism and the subject matter of love is once again the main key for the problem. And many hilarious scenes about the impotence are also included!

The dialogue and scenes are often hilarious and I found myself laughing very much throughout the film. This is positive cinema at its greatest, and therefore this can be recommended for everybody with interest in cinema. There are many great actors and actresses in the film and they really do their job fine, and this was feature debut for many of the actors. It is not visible, though!

I give this positive piece of life 8/10 and high recommendations!

Notice that the similar movie as 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding', with the almost same topics dealing with (trouble of young eastern immigrants with their elders and their newly made relationships) succeeded to become so much popular and profitable.

Both movies are positive, funny and relaxing, but the reason that I prefer Jalla Jalla is that I had no impression that this movie was made to be "holywoodish", as I had watching "the wedding". This one is much more natural and relaxed, and does not present the immigrants as bunch of conservative, raw and uncivilized people.

After a lot much more praised Holywood crap, this is a movie I watched without having a sense of wasted time after.

What can you expect from a Swedish comedy that is called "Jalla! Jalla!" and that has been made with an unknown cast by a man you've never heard of before? Quite a lot as this movie proves. It's subject certainly isn't one of the easiest, but Josef Fares made a good movie out of it.

Don't ask me what "Jalla! Jalla!" stands for, because I really don't know. I don't even know if it is Arabic or Swedish (I guess the first). But what I do know is that this is a movie about Roro a man from Lebanese origin who works as a park attendant with his best friend Måns. Roro has a Swedish girlfriend, something that he doesn't want his parents to know , and is forced to marry a Lebanese/Swedish girl. He likes her but doesn't love her, but decides to marry her anyway to help her, because if she doesn't marry, her brother will send her back to Lebanon to their parents. Måns has entirely different problems. He has a relationship too, but because he's having potency problems, his relationships isn't exactly going very well. While Måns tries to fix his problem, using all kinds of methods, Roro has to try to keep up appearances while stalling the wedding plans and maintaining the relationship with his unknowing girlfriend.

I must say that I didn't expect all that much about this movie. Normally a movie about mixed relationships or other multi-cultural society problems tends to get incredibly preachy. But not this movie, instead of showing how bad and racist the 'white man' is and how nice the 'black man', this movie has made a comedy out of it. And it works. The characters and the situations that they get in are believable, but more important also incredibly funny.

The acting too was very nice. I had never heard of any of the actors before, but I must say that they all did a very nice job. Most surprising is probably that most of them has never played in any other movie before or since this one. Does that mean that these aren't professional actors? I don't know, but I sure hope to see them again soon, because I really had a very good time with this movie and I can't remember being annoyed by it once. That's also the reason why I give this movie at least a 7.5/10.

The Lebanese immigrant worker Roro (Fares Fares) and his Swedish colleague and best friend Måns (Torkel Petersson) work in a park in Sweden. Roro and his Swedish girlfriend Lisa (Tuva Novotny) are in love for each other, and Lisa wants to be introduced to his family. Måns is having erection problem with his mate, but is looking for alternative methods to resolve the situation, since he is afraid of going to the doctor. When Roro finally decides to present Lisa to his family, they arrange a wedding for him with the Lebanese Yasmin (Laleh Pourkarim). Yasmin and Roro agree to pretend that they are going to get married to relieve the pressure of their families, leading them to a great confusion.

"Jalla! Jalla!" is a delightful Swedish romantic comedy, a must-see in the genre. On the contrary of Hollywoodian romances, the characters are common people, without fancy cars, expensive cellular and high positions, therefore absolutely believable. Tuva Novotny is amazingly beautiful, and her romantic pair is a man very thin and not handsome, in a non-acceptable Hollywoodian standard. The storyline is very simple, but there are many funny situations in this highly recommended entertainment. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Jalla! Jalla!"