Jalla! Jalla!

East is East was good, Bend it Like Beckham was predictable, but Jalla Jalla was really good. As in most romantic comedies, the end result will be a happy ending for everyone except the bullies and this movie is no different. But it does allow a closer look into the mindset of the "victims" of arranged marriages. It´s a really good movie. I accept the arguments that there are faults with the movie, but this wasn´t mass-produced in Hollywood, so that´s understandable and a charming factor, really.

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.

This film marks the beginning of a career that hopefully will spawn number of good films in the future. Little known Fares has made an intelligent and very funny film. I totally recommend all people who have the opportunity to see this movie.

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.