The idyllic dream of leftist commune living, where resources and skills are shared for the greater good, needs a key ingredient to work: people. Two decades after Lukas Moodysson’s Together captured such a Stockholm community, we return to the lives of those we last saw in the 1970s––or in 2000, if you’re going by the film’s release––and the commune is running on fumes, comprising only Göran (Gustaf Hammarsten) and sole companion Klasse (Shanti Roney). As we’re introduced to the two discussing various economics and chores of their rather lonely way of life, it’s as dryly hilarious an opening as one could dream of, but the Swedish director knows this small-scale conceit isn’t wholly sustainable. Soon enough, many familiar (and some new) faces return for our lead’s 60th birthday celebration in a reunion that, not unlike the similar gap in Twin Peaks, conjures questions of shattered ideals,...
- 9/18/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Sf Studios and REinvent have dropped the first trailer for Lukas Moodysson’s comedy “Together 99,” the Swedish director’s sequel to his 2000 hit movie “Together.”
Sf Studios will release the film in Sweden on Oct. 13, while REinvent will represent it in international markets.
“Together 99” follows a group of very different people who lived in a Swedish community called Together in 1975. The story picks up 24 years later, in 1999, with Göran and Klasse who are the last two members of the community. Feeling a bit lonely, they start thinking of a reunion with old friends and Klasse sets off to surprise Göran on his birthday.
“Together 99” is produced by Lars Jönsson and Anna Carlsten at Memfis Film, in co-production with Film i Väst, Sf Studios and Zentropa Entertainments, with support from the Swedish Film Institute, Det Danske FilminsHtut and Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
A critical and commercial hit, “Together” played at...
Sf Studios will release the film in Sweden on Oct. 13, while REinvent will represent it in international markets.
“Together 99” follows a group of very different people who lived in a Swedish community called Together in 1975. The story picks up 24 years later, in 1999, with Göran and Klasse who are the last two members of the community. Feeling a bit lonely, they start thinking of a reunion with old friends and Klasse sets off to surprise Göran on his birthday.
“Together 99” is produced by Lars Jönsson and Anna Carlsten at Memfis Film, in co-production with Film i Väst, Sf Studios and Zentropa Entertainments, with support from the Swedish Film Institute, Det Danske FilminsHtut and Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
A critical and commercial hit, “Together” played at...
- 6/20/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Streamer Viaplay is once again looking beyond Scandi Noir by greenlighting a feature about a woman in two timelines, experiencing a messy divorce and difficult teenage years.
There’s Something Going On is based on the popular novels from Martina Haag and features well-regarded Swedish actors Alexandra Rapaport and Ella Hammarsten Liedberg in the dual title roles of Petra. Haag is adapting alongside Peter Arrhenius.
Petra is portrayed at two turning points of her life – the protagonist as a contemporary 50-year-old struggling through a divorce, and as a 15-year-old in the 1980s nearing the end of school while facing up to her own parents’ disintegrating relationship.
Shanti Roney (The Unlikely Murderer), Gustaf Hammarsten (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Jessica Liedberg (Together) and Adrian Macéus (The Truth Will Out) all feature in the film, which explores universal themes of love, angst and the search for oneself.
The commission...
There’s Something Going On is based on the popular novels from Martina Haag and features well-regarded Swedish actors Alexandra Rapaport and Ella Hammarsten Liedberg in the dual title roles of Petra. Haag is adapting alongside Peter Arrhenius.
Petra is portrayed at two turning points of her life – the protagonist as a contemporary 50-year-old struggling through a divorce, and as a 15-year-old in the 1980s nearing the end of school while facing up to her own parents’ disintegrating relationship.
Shanti Roney (The Unlikely Murderer), Gustaf Hammarsten (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Jessica Liedberg (Together) and Adrian Macéus (The Truth Will Out) all feature in the film, which explores universal themes of love, angst and the search for oneself.
The commission...
- 5/25/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
In "Together", Lukas Moodysson takes a mostly light-hearted look at the Swedish political left of the mid-1970s. The movie's mix of comic and dramatic subplots works hard to support a theme, which loosely can be described as debunking the Romance of the Left. While clearly admiring the ideals that these young people embraced fervently, Moodysson has a spot of fun with their excessive theorizing and political rigidity that allowed for little compromise.
Mostly, though, the IFC Films release traffics in nostalgia for a time when people at least believed in something. This is not likely to cause much of a stir among moviegoers too young to remember those days. And among those who do, the film should provoke only mild interest. Nonetheless, Moodysson has now seen two low-budget, no-name movies get released in the United States, which might have fellow European filmmakers wondering what the hell he is doing right.
In his first film as director, 1998's "Show Me Love" (aka "Fucking Amal"), Moodysson allows social observations to spring from a well-defined narrative about young people in a backwater town. In his new film, though, which he wrote as well, he sets up characters and situations more to get across a point of view than to move along a story.
The film takes place in and around the Tillsammans -- Swedish for "Together" -- commune, which occupies a large house in Stockholm. Its members seek solace from the world they collectively wish to revolutionize. Together, they pursue vegetarianism, open sexual relationships, political debate, homosexual experimentation and drink copious amounts of wine in a safely antibourgeois, non-TV environment. Their kids can't always figure out what gives with their strident parents, but they adjust quickly enough, often seemingly having the most fun.
The movie joins the commune at the same time Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren) does. The sister of its nominal leader, Goran (Gustav Hammarsten), she brings along her two kids, the insecure Stefan (Sam Kessel) and painfully shy Eva (Emma Samuelsson). Elisabeth has joined the commune to escape her drunken, abusive husband Rolf (Michael Nyqvist).
Meanwhile, Goran's girlfriend, Lena (Anja Lundqvist), causes him untold emotional distress with her open sexual pursuit of just about everybody other than Goran. Sarcastic Lasse (Ola Norell) amuses himself by alternately rejecting and tantalizing the gay Klas (Shanti Roney).
At the same time, Lasse's ex-wife Anna (Jessica Liedberg) has become a determined lesbian, inviting nearly every women she meets to her room to "meditate." Across the garden, a next-door neighbor (Therese Brunnander) snoops into the commune's activities as her husband (Claes Hartelius) masturbates over porn magazines in the cellar and their young son, Fredrik (Henrik Lundstrom), becomes pals with the commune's kids.
There are a few brilliant moments of social satire, such as when the kids, picking up clues from the adults' political discussions, play "Pinochet torturing prisoners in Chile" -- complete with simulated electric torture -- and in arguments over the political implications of children's stories like "Pippi Longstocking".
But most of the subplots suffer from lameness, including exaggerated reactions to the introduction of an imperialistic bottle of Coca-Cola into the commune or a debate over hot dogs.
One very weird sequence, when an inebriated Lena appears ready to sexually attack the young boy next door, could possibly have been resisted. And the happy ending feels forced -- but then, much of the film feels forced.
So far, Moodysson has proved an accomplished writer and director of young people including children. But his adult characters often verge on cartoons, as they do here. Still, the young Swede clearly is a director to track as he continues his exploration of Swedish society and its hypocrisies, passions and ironies.
TOGETHER
IFC Films
Memfis Film
Producer: Lars Jonsson
Screenwriter-director: Lukas Moodysson
Director of photography: Ulf Brantas
Production designer: Carl Johan De Geer
Costume designer: Mette Moller
Editors: Michal Leszczylowski, Fredrik Abrahamsen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Elisabeth: Lisa Lindgren
Rolf: Michael Nyqvist
Eva: Emma Samuelsson
Stefan: Sam Kessel
Goran: Gustav Hammarsten
Lena: Anja Lundqvist
Anna: Jessica Liedberg
Lasse: Ola Norell
Running time -- 106 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Mostly, though, the IFC Films release traffics in nostalgia for a time when people at least believed in something. This is not likely to cause much of a stir among moviegoers too young to remember those days. And among those who do, the film should provoke only mild interest. Nonetheless, Moodysson has now seen two low-budget, no-name movies get released in the United States, which might have fellow European filmmakers wondering what the hell he is doing right.
In his first film as director, 1998's "Show Me Love" (aka "Fucking Amal"), Moodysson allows social observations to spring from a well-defined narrative about young people in a backwater town. In his new film, though, which he wrote as well, he sets up characters and situations more to get across a point of view than to move along a story.
The film takes place in and around the Tillsammans -- Swedish for "Together" -- commune, which occupies a large house in Stockholm. Its members seek solace from the world they collectively wish to revolutionize. Together, they pursue vegetarianism, open sexual relationships, political debate, homosexual experimentation and drink copious amounts of wine in a safely antibourgeois, non-TV environment. Their kids can't always figure out what gives with their strident parents, but they adjust quickly enough, often seemingly having the most fun.
The movie joins the commune at the same time Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren) does. The sister of its nominal leader, Goran (Gustav Hammarsten), she brings along her two kids, the insecure Stefan (Sam Kessel) and painfully shy Eva (Emma Samuelsson). Elisabeth has joined the commune to escape her drunken, abusive husband Rolf (Michael Nyqvist).
Meanwhile, Goran's girlfriend, Lena (Anja Lundqvist), causes him untold emotional distress with her open sexual pursuit of just about everybody other than Goran. Sarcastic Lasse (Ola Norell) amuses himself by alternately rejecting and tantalizing the gay Klas (Shanti Roney).
At the same time, Lasse's ex-wife Anna (Jessica Liedberg) has become a determined lesbian, inviting nearly every women she meets to her room to "meditate." Across the garden, a next-door neighbor (Therese Brunnander) snoops into the commune's activities as her husband (Claes Hartelius) masturbates over porn magazines in the cellar and their young son, Fredrik (Henrik Lundstrom), becomes pals with the commune's kids.
There are a few brilliant moments of social satire, such as when the kids, picking up clues from the adults' political discussions, play "Pinochet torturing prisoners in Chile" -- complete with simulated electric torture -- and in arguments over the political implications of children's stories like "Pippi Longstocking".
But most of the subplots suffer from lameness, including exaggerated reactions to the introduction of an imperialistic bottle of Coca-Cola into the commune or a debate over hot dogs.
One very weird sequence, when an inebriated Lena appears ready to sexually attack the young boy next door, could possibly have been resisted. And the happy ending feels forced -- but then, much of the film feels forced.
So far, Moodysson has proved an accomplished writer and director of young people including children. But his adult characters often verge on cartoons, as they do here. Still, the young Swede clearly is a director to track as he continues his exploration of Swedish society and its hypocrisies, passions and ironies.
TOGETHER
IFC Films
Memfis Film
Producer: Lars Jonsson
Screenwriter-director: Lukas Moodysson
Director of photography: Ulf Brantas
Production designer: Carl Johan De Geer
Costume designer: Mette Moller
Editors: Michal Leszczylowski, Fredrik Abrahamsen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Elisabeth: Lisa Lindgren
Rolf: Michael Nyqvist
Eva: Emma Samuelsson
Stefan: Sam Kessel
Goran: Gustav Hammarsten
Lena: Anja Lundqvist
Anna: Jessica Liedberg
Lasse: Ola Norell
Running time -- 106 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
In "Together", Lukas Moodysson takes a mostly light-hearted look at the Swedish political left of the mid-1970s. The movie's mix of comic and dramatic subplots works hard to support a theme, which loosely can be described as debunking the Romance of the Left. While clearly admiring the ideals that these young people embraced fervently, Moodysson has a spot of fun with their excessive theorizing and political rigidity that allowed for little compromise.
Mostly, though, the IFC Films release traffics in nostalgia for a time when people at least believed in something. This is not likely to cause much of a stir among moviegoers too young to remember those days. And among those who do, the film should provoke only mild interest. Nonetheless, Moodysson has now seen two low-budget, no-name movies get released in the United States, which might have fellow European filmmakers wondering what the hell he is doing right.
In his first film as director, 1998's "Show Me Love" (aka "Fucking Amal"), Moodysson allows social observations to spring from a well-defined narrative about young people in a backwater town. In his new film, though, which he wrote as well, he sets up characters and situations more to get across a point of view than to move along a story.
The film takes place in and around the Tillsammans -- Swedish for "Together" -- commune, which occupies a large house in Stockholm. Its members seek solace from the world they collectively wish to revolutionize. Together, they pursue vegetarianism, open sexual relationships, political debate, homosexual experimentation and drink copious amounts of wine in a safely antibourgeois, non-TV environment. Their kids can't always figure out what gives with their strident parents, but they adjust quickly enough, often seemingly having the most fun.
The movie joins the commune at the same time Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren) does. The sister of its nominal leader, Goran (Gustav Hammarsten), she brings along her two kids, the insecure Stefan (Sam Kessel) and painfully shy Eva (Emma Samuelsson). Elisabeth has joined the commune to escape her drunken, abusive husband Rolf (Michael Nyqvist).
Meanwhile, Goran's girlfriend, Lena (Anja Lundqvist), causes him untold emotional distress with her open sexual pursuit of just about everybody other than Goran. Sarcastic Lasse (Ola Norell) amuses himself by alternately rejecting and tantalizing the gay Klas (Shanti Roney).
At the same time, Lasse's ex-wife Anna (Jessica Liedberg) has become a determined lesbian, inviting nearly every women she meets to her room to "meditate." Across the garden, a next-door neighbor (Therese Brunnander) snoops into the commune's activities as her husband (Claes Hartelius) masturbates over porn magazines in the cellar and their young son, Fredrik (Henrik Lundstrom), becomes pals with the commune's kids.
There are a few brilliant moments of social satire, such as when the kids, picking up clues from the adults' political discussions, play "Pinochet torturing prisoners in Chile" -- complete with simulated electric torture -- and in arguments over the political implications of children's stories like "Pippi Longstocking".
But most of the subplots suffer from lameness, including exaggerated reactions to the introduction of an imperialistic bottle of Coca-Cola into the commune or a debate over hot dogs.
One very weird sequence, when an inebriated Lena appears ready to sexually attack the young boy next door, could possibly have been resisted. And the happy ending feels forced -- but then, much of the film feels forced.
So far, Moodysson has proved an accomplished writer and director of young people including children. But his adult characters often verge on cartoons, as they do here. Still, the young Swede clearly is a director to track as he continues his exploration of Swedish society and its hypocrisies, passions and ironies.
TOGETHER
IFC Films
Memfis Film
Producer: Lars Jonsson
Screenwriter-director: Lukas Moodysson
Director of photography: Ulf Brantas
Production designer: Carl Johan De Geer
Costume designer: Mette Moller
Editors: Michal Leszczylowski, Fredrik Abrahamsen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Elisabeth: Lisa Lindgren
Rolf: Michael Nyqvist
Eva: Emma Samuelsson
Stefan: Sam Kessel
Goran: Gustav Hammarsten
Lena: Anja Lundqvist
Anna: Jessica Liedberg
Lasse: Ola Norell
Running time -- 106 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Mostly, though, the IFC Films release traffics in nostalgia for a time when people at least believed in something. This is not likely to cause much of a stir among moviegoers too young to remember those days. And among those who do, the film should provoke only mild interest. Nonetheless, Moodysson has now seen two low-budget, no-name movies get released in the United States, which might have fellow European filmmakers wondering what the hell he is doing right.
In his first film as director, 1998's "Show Me Love" (aka "Fucking Amal"), Moodysson allows social observations to spring from a well-defined narrative about young people in a backwater town. In his new film, though, which he wrote as well, he sets up characters and situations more to get across a point of view than to move along a story.
The film takes place in and around the Tillsammans -- Swedish for "Together" -- commune, which occupies a large house in Stockholm. Its members seek solace from the world they collectively wish to revolutionize. Together, they pursue vegetarianism, open sexual relationships, political debate, homosexual experimentation and drink copious amounts of wine in a safely antibourgeois, non-TV environment. Their kids can't always figure out what gives with their strident parents, but they adjust quickly enough, often seemingly having the most fun.
The movie joins the commune at the same time Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren) does. The sister of its nominal leader, Goran (Gustav Hammarsten), she brings along her two kids, the insecure Stefan (Sam Kessel) and painfully shy Eva (Emma Samuelsson). Elisabeth has joined the commune to escape her drunken, abusive husband Rolf (Michael Nyqvist).
Meanwhile, Goran's girlfriend, Lena (Anja Lundqvist), causes him untold emotional distress with her open sexual pursuit of just about everybody other than Goran. Sarcastic Lasse (Ola Norell) amuses himself by alternately rejecting and tantalizing the gay Klas (Shanti Roney).
At the same time, Lasse's ex-wife Anna (Jessica Liedberg) has become a determined lesbian, inviting nearly every women she meets to her room to "meditate." Across the garden, a next-door neighbor (Therese Brunnander) snoops into the commune's activities as her husband (Claes Hartelius) masturbates over porn magazines in the cellar and their young son, Fredrik (Henrik Lundstrom), becomes pals with the commune's kids.
There are a few brilliant moments of social satire, such as when the kids, picking up clues from the adults' political discussions, play "Pinochet torturing prisoners in Chile" -- complete with simulated electric torture -- and in arguments over the political implications of children's stories like "Pippi Longstocking".
But most of the subplots suffer from lameness, including exaggerated reactions to the introduction of an imperialistic bottle of Coca-Cola into the commune or a debate over hot dogs.
One very weird sequence, when an inebriated Lena appears ready to sexually attack the young boy next door, could possibly have been resisted. And the happy ending feels forced -- but then, much of the film feels forced.
So far, Moodysson has proved an accomplished writer and director of young people including children. But his adult characters often verge on cartoons, as they do here. Still, the young Swede clearly is a director to track as he continues his exploration of Swedish society and its hypocrisies, passions and ironies.
TOGETHER
IFC Films
Memfis Film
Producer: Lars Jonsson
Screenwriter-director: Lukas Moodysson
Director of photography: Ulf Brantas
Production designer: Carl Johan De Geer
Costume designer: Mette Moller
Editors: Michal Leszczylowski, Fredrik Abrahamsen
Color/stereo
Cast:
Elisabeth: Lisa Lindgren
Rolf: Michael Nyqvist
Eva: Emma Samuelsson
Stefan: Sam Kessel
Goran: Gustav Hammarsten
Lena: Anja Lundqvist
Anna: Jessica Liedberg
Lasse: Ola Norell
Running time -- 106 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 9/13/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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