TOGETHER (TILLSAMMANS) A film review by Pete Croatto Copyright 2001 filmcritic.com
My memory might be a bit hazy, but Together dealt with the following subjects among a dozen different characters: growing up, divorce, lesbianism/homosexuality, loneliness, Communism, spousal abuse, shoddy parenting, infidelity, and marital discontent. I might have forgotten about the release of Abba's third album in there, but again my memory flickers.
What I do remember is that the movie takes place in 1975 Stockholm at a large house full of free-loving Communists -- kind of like The Real World, if Karl Marx and Hugh Hefner shared a flat with an MTV feed. The leader of the group is Göran (Gustav Hammertoe), a gentle fellow with a great beard, whose sister, Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren), escapes her abusive lout of a husband, Rolf (Michael Nyqvist) by moving with her two kids into Göran's clan. This, of course, sets in motion a series of changes for everyone in the house.
The moviegoer is also in for a challenge. There are so many changes, along with so many characters, that it's hard to keep up. I entirely forgot about two characters before they were reintroduced midway through the film. Dramas with large ensemble casts are difficult to maintain, and Together is a great example of why that happens.
To me the model of a great ensemble drama is Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights, because it took the time and the effort to let us know a bit about each and every character. It also had technical flair and a plot that dug into the characters' hubris and fragile egos. Writer/director Lukas Moodysson doesn't let us know the characters because it's in such a damned hurry. We get no sense of a group dynamic, no sense of character structure. It's the cinematic equivalent of a long flipbook.
Very rarely in Together do we get an idea of the emotions behind the characters. At one point, Göran suddenly and violently throws out his promiscuous girlfriend, Lena (played with misguided, slutty conviction by Anja Lundkvist). It's easily the movie's most passionate moment. We've seen Lena's cavalier treatment of Göran and we understand his action, though he says their relationship is open. However, Moodysson never offers this kind of absorbing history for everyone else, so we're essentially stuck with empty gestures. When he tries to offer some sense of togetherness (no pun intended) like a soccer game or a crowded dinner table, there's little to hold on to because we feel like we don't know these people.
I would have been content just watching Rolf try to win back the confidence of his wife and kids; Rolf's struggle to gain redemption is fully believable and the sturdiest branch on the plot tree. So much goes on that it's not nearly as effective as it should be. The director is too busy looking at the repressed family next door, homosexual encounters, and the household's introduction to meat and television.
There are definitely some highlights sprinkled throughout, apart from the copious amount of nudity (both male and female). The relationship that Elisabeth's pubescent daughter (Emma Samuelsson) has with the boy next door (Henrik Lundström) hits all the awkward notes, as does Enqvist's painful attempts to get back in his family's good graces. The movie needs twenty more minutes, five fewer subplots, and a compass.
RATING: ***
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
MPAA RATING: R
Director: Lukas Moodysson Producer: Lars Jönsson Writer: Lukas Moodysson Starring: Lisa Lindgren, Michael Nyqvist, Emma Samuelsson, Sam Kessel, Gustav Hammarsten, Anja Lundkvist, Jessica Liedberg
http://www.together-thefilm.com
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