I forgot about this movie.
I remember watching this many years ago and it was surprisingly good.
shareWhen I clicked on this, I was expecting you to make a pun about this movie. Show me a fucking pun!
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MovieChat Forums > Fucking Åmål (1998) Discussion > I forgot about this movie.
It's a excellent coming of age film. It seems to have faded from memory a lot in recent times, on IMDB it's rating for years was 7.9 and has gone down to 7.5 over the last two or three years as probably no one votes for it anymore. The recent blu ray release by Arrow Video of Lukas Moodysson's work has helped put a bit of spotlight back onto it.
shareIt used to be on the top 250 around 10 years ago.
shareDid it? that's crazy. It's a excellent film, shame it's kind of shot down with it's rating. Honestly think that it just doesn't get reviewed as much as it once did. I always said if this film was shot in English and was set in America or UK it honestly be up in the 8's and would be in top 250 and wouldn't be going anywhere from it.
shareIt wasn't high on the list but it was somewhere in the 200-250 range.
shareI watched this one when I was a teenager myself and found it very realistic. Some coming-of-age films disparage their target audience, but this one is on the same level as Stand By Me (although I personally prefer 'Stand By Me'). Both adults and teenagers will find this movie intelligent and enjoyable. I am glad to see this film trending as it deserves more recognition. It is also one of the best LGBT films I have seen, maybe even better than Brokeback Mountain. I haven't watched any other movies by Lukas Moodysson, but based on what I read in IMDb, many of them receive high scores.
You should check out Together (he's doing a sequel on this film), Lilya 4 Ever (many would consider this his greatest film, be warned it's pretty bleak) and We are the Best!. He did a good film with Michelle Williams called Mammoth, which is worth checking out. When on form he's a excellent director.
It's definitely top tier when it comes to LGBT and Coming of Age films. The central romance is sweet but the two main characters still act like teenagers, they can be dicks at times. The people playing them are actually teenagers. You get a happy ending and the kiss in the backseat of the car is memorable as is the ending of the film.
In many coming-of-age movies, we often see main characters who speak like adult-philosophers or use the sarcasm of top comedians, especially in 21st-century films. However, in both Stand By Me and Fucking Åmål, we witness teenagers who talk and act like actual teenagers. As you mentioned, the fact that they cast real teenagers for the roles help to achieve that.
Maybe this month I will watch one of his films. As a fan of Michelle Williams work, I thought about seen Mammoth, but after seen the trailer I am less enthusiastic. Anyway, I prefer to watch another one of his "local movies". I'm interested in what you think, so whatever movie I pick, I will let you know what I think about it.
A good example of what you said with the first line I saw recently was 2022's Crush, teenagers were speaking like mid 20's feminist hipsters and mother's speaking to their teenage daughters about strap ons and lubes. And every kid in school is bi-sexual. I was shocked and offended by just how rotten the film was as they didn't come across like teenagers at all even though they were been played by them.
Definintely check out his Swedish films, they are great. Together is my personal favourite.
The family you describe is too common in 21 century movies, I doubt how they represent the realty of most liberals families in USA. What you describe is almost Science fiction, because I doubt if any school like that exist.
Speaking of school, much better and accurate a representation of teenager reality. at least in the 1980s, you can find in the TV series Degrassi Junior High (I didn't watched the next generation so I can't tell). The conversation between us reminded me of the series.
Together was his second movie so I watch it, and than Lilya 4 Ever.
It's been a while since I've seen the film but I didn't find it to disparage the audience either.
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