Spring Uje spring

Let's start by getting one thing out of the way; this is no 1/10 (however many films the critic claims to have seen). Film making is all about story telling - and Schyffert/Brandelius certainly do that.

They also venture into a, relatively, new format and at times push the envelope of filmmaking. However... bold and innovative as "Spring Uje, spring" may be - it reaches nowhere near excellence. It's low budget and makes no apologies for being so. But somehow it feels like it's a "dead end concept" - one where no amount of further funding would have delivered a home run.

The end result is quaint, at times slow and often borderline childish. But it is reasonable, and certainly innovative, storytelling. If you can get into the format - it delivers beyond your average Hollywood "standard".

For the cineast it delivers a few novel takes alongside a few more "don't dos". Commendable though the approach is; the shortcomings feel superior in number to the good moments. By all means watch, but it may be an acquired taste - and those with such acquisitions are likely find a few flaws.

This movie follows a man called Uje who discovers that he has parkinson disease. I couldn't relate at all with the character. I have also to cope with a disease and that didn't even help. The movie is 1 hour and 15 minutes but it feels like it could be shortened to 40 minutes and nothing vital would be lost. Seeing all the hype and it's awards I expected something great but I know also that movies like Götakanal 2 also were quite popular despite not being good. The movie förortsungar also won multiple awards despite also not being good at all. I guess it is decent and a bit leaning left if we are going to go in politically. It tries to satire about the society but fails miserably. I have seen a lot of biographical films and this one is more or less probably the worst one of the bunch. I could see some people liking it but it is definitly not for me. Also did I mention this is apperently a comedy... It also doesn't help that Uje seem to live quite a depressing life.

Had great expectations after the critics gone wild in Swedish media- but this was a bit disappointing. It is very political and it feels like the film makers are looks down at people. Not a good feeling.

The first 30 minutes are promising and I especially enjoyed a couple of the music scenes. But the second half loses tempo and the long dream sequence towards the end is just boring. Worst of all, the whole movie is littered with the kind of banal political statements you would expect from a 14 year old child.

This movie is nothing short of amazing. Partially because manages to be many things at once. It's stylistically seminal, It's touching, sad and existential. It's funny, ironic and silly. The music, written and performed by Uje himself, complements the storyline perfectly. I could go on and on about how my (Swedish) generation grew up on this kind of dark and ironic humor. How much it shaped us, etc, etc. But I'll just end this review now by recommending you see it for yourself instead. It's well worth the time.

The only downside is actually that it was too short. Feels like it could have been so much more. That maybe it deserved to be fleshed out a bit more. But hey.. that's just me looking very hard for minuses.