Cuddleworthy

"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.

This movie did have a certain je ne sais quoi that appealed and made me want to see it again, but it's quite hard to put your finger on what seeing as how the leading actor is in nearly every scene yet he's not only horribly miscast but delivers a poor performance to say the least, and the story in itself, the ending in particular, makes you grasp for words beyond ridiculous. The violence is portrayed in an extremely brutal and stylistic manner, and there's camera work and settings to be proud of here. Charlie Hunnam does his supposedly best with what he's got, the rest of the cast sways between decent and unintentionally comic.

Green Street works purely as entertainment light, mostly glorifying firms and casual lifestyle in a manner a kid would, and would probably have been spared a bit of embarrassment should they have chosen to leave out the unnecessary narrating by Elijah Wood. He pulled off a decent job in the Lord of the Rings-trilogy, though I'd call it torture if his one expression, nervous stare, would have been featured a second more, but here he falls short simply because there's nothing believable about him. I'm sure the ludicrous script didn't help.

I do feel this movie could have worked on more levels, would the producers have cared to find a story worth telling and either left the lead acting to Charlie Hunnam or someone else more worthy.

Ít also works very well as a 109 minute long commercial for Stone Island-jackets and other casual brands, as I got loads of tip for what I'm filling my wardrobe with this autumn.