why? - Så som i himmelen (2004) Discussion

[–] bepster 19 years ago

because people get more numb by the minute and then they start to like these disguisting kind of "in-your-face"-picture... this movie is brutal in that way, it is bombing and raping you with plastic emotion!
but emma, it was a huge success in sweden and people loved it because it was so easy to understand... for me it was just plain insulting my inteligence!!

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[–] emma_n 19 years ago

Oh, yes, of course that's why!!!
People in Sweden are stupid and the Academy thought that 'hey, some people in that small country of 9 million inhabitants thought it was good, let's nominate it!!!'

Well, maybe you are right acctually, sometimes I wonder if it's not just a lottery, that they don't really watch the movies, that would explain why so many bad movies get nominated and even wins...

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[–] m_a_d_s_m_v_d_f_d 19 years ago

Jag såg filmen igårkväll och det var en av de bästa filmer jag har sett!!
Det enda som var lite jobbigt enligt mig var att de blandade humor och ledsamhet så mycket, så man visste inte riktigt vad man skulle känna.
men överlag var den mycket, mycket sorglig, och mycket underbar!!!
det är en känslofilm, och jag kan tänka mig att människor som inte har lätt för att plocka fram känslor inte gillar den.
men ledmotivet "Gabriellas sång" är fantastisk och de flesta skådespelarna gör ett jättebra jobb!!!

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[–] bepster 19 years ago

no, I am quite sure that a lot of americans love this picture as well... but there is already so much negative written about this awful movie... so read that, see the film and understand why peaople love it and other peolple hate it!!

...

actually, I think that the opposite is the case, that people who HAVE a hard time to show emotion like this movie... for people who like emotional cinema, this picture was way too much, in everyway! it did everything for you, crying, laughing, feeling angry and in in love! as I sad... I felt "raped" with emotion and got so angry because I want to develop these kind of emotions my self!!

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[–] bugabooman-1 18 years ago

Ah bogus BS! I just watched the DvD with my Swedish husband in Sweden 15 minutes ago. It was a very beautiful film, very touching and not at all the emotional rape-fest you make it out to be. It was a little over the top, only in the respect that I can't see Swedes behaving in the same manner (i.e. showing any emotion whatsoever outside their bedroom walls) as the ones in this film. I've been to Sweden over 10 times now and NEVER have I seen ONE Swede...LET GO! LOL! I think a person who could be so offended by this movie is one that does indeed have difficulty showing emotion. It is, after all, just a film. Why get "angry" about it? The only thing I found disturbing was that creepy half-Fin slamming the bunny against a blunt object--disgusting! And I absolutely loved the spin on the church and religion as a tool of oppression and fear! Perfect!

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[–] slitty_kittay 19 years ago

Yeah - because we swedes are so stupid. Its the blond hair of course. Everyone knows that the bigger the country the smarter people get. America is such a lovely example of this...
I bet you even think Alfred Nobel was American.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] emma_n 19 years ago

"Yeah - because we swedes are so stupid. Its the blond hair of course. Everyone knows that the bigger the country the smarter people get. America is such a lovely example of this...
I bet you even think Alfred Nobel was American."

vännen, jag är svensk.
vad jag försökte mig på var sarkasm, eller ironi, vet faktiskt inte riktigt vad skillnaden är om jag ska vara ärlig.
Skulle vara kul att veta vad Alfred Nobel har med saken att göra? Och varför du trodde jag var amerikan?

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[–] Ulvtand 19 years ago

because people get more numb by the minute and then they start to like these disguisting kind of "in-your-face"-picture... this movie is brutal in that way, it is bombing and raping you with plastic emotion!
but emma, it was a huge success in sweden and people loved it because it was so easy to understand... for me it was just plain insulting my inteligence!!

Insulting your intelligence? are you one of those people who think you are above everyone else? perhaps it is you who lack intelligence? Well go see a "hard to figure out" movie so you can feel good about yourself and brag to your friends how smart you are :P And btw, WHO said a movie has to be intelligent?(nothing has to be for that matter)there is genres that deal with that kinda topic, some very enjoyable. I suggest you stick to them rather than spreading your vomit over genres you dont like.

As for the movie (in my oppinion)- Mediocre to good movie. Some good music, especially "Gabriellas sång". some descent acting also. Dont wanna cut the movie into pieces and analyze it, no one should :) but some few things could´ve been done better. And oh..gotta mention, Arne(Lennart Jähkel) is kinda funny, as always :D

(possible spoiler below, or...its very obvious even from start, so it isnt much of a spoiler in my opinion :)

It deals with ordinary folks with ordinary problems which some people might think of as cliché, or i dont know...i just consider it as ordinary. I also saw alot of you wrote about how you were not feeling sorry for daniel at all, and by that i guess you mainly mean when he dies?. Well he dies kinda happy, even though he hurt himself pretty bad. So...maybe you werent meant to feel sorry for him? and maybe you just expected to feel sorry, cus thats what you do in almost all similar movies when someone dies. oh well..whatever :)

The movies main message is mostly about how music can open up and bring out the feelings of people. Maybe nothing new there, but i dont think many(any?)movies has been made about it. Perhaps that is ONE of the reasons lots of people like it.

I kinda liked it.
6.5/10

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[–] A_Wesker 18 years ago

Let's see if you american guys can compete with this "stupid" swedish. I don't think so. You only can copy the ideas of other foreign scripts (e.g. Oldboy, Infernal Affairs).

Films are not well done if thousand cars explode or erverything consists of CG effects. This is the first film of Kay Pollak. It is very well done. O.K. it is constructed very easy but the whole 125 Minutes went by as if they were 60 Minutes. Here in Germany the film is still in the movies. It has been there for 6 months already.

Stupid film, he ... then I say stupid Americans

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[–] angelofvic 12 years ago

Just a comment -- Kay Pollak had actually done three previous films, in the 1970s and 1980s (see his IMDB page). This is certainly his most impressive and heartfelt film, though, and it may be the first one that got worldwide distribution.
.

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[–] BrionyT 18 years ago

it's not that easy to understand, maybe on the surface. But this movie happens on a far deeper level. it's about real human beings and it is not the typical hollywood style kind of movie, that we are all so tired of.

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[–] SuperDoris 19 years ago

Well, at least in sweden (where I guess most of the ppl who saw comes from) As It Is In Heaven is a really really major success and has been loved by both film critics as the public.
Personally I think it's a really great film which deserves the oscar it's been nominated for.

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[–] bepster 19 years ago

ähh.. what awards did this picture acctually win and name a credible critic who loved this movie??

no? that was what I thought... however, the crowd loved it... sad!!

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[–] frippegod 19 years ago

I think Andersson at Aftonbladet is the only major critic to give it top figures.
Is he credible? Well, I don´t think much of him.
The paper is one of the major ones in sweden though.

"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." - Plato

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[–] halldinz0r 19 years ago

"ähh.. what awards did this picture acctually win and name a credible critic who loved this movie??

no? that was what I thought... however, the crowd loved it... sad!!"

Stop being such a retard. We know you don't like it already, you don't have to spoonfeed us with your emotions. Guess what - not everyone share your fine taste. The folks at the Academy to mention one.

I myself liked it. Woo!

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[–] frippegod 19 years ago

Good for you!
I myself felt "spoonfed".

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[–] bepster 19 years ago

read your post ones again and tell me what you think... :/

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[–] halldinz0r 19 years ago

I read them again. So?

Don't you realize that you sound like a complete jerk in this sentence:

"ähh.. what awards did this picture acctually win and name a credible critic who loved this movie??"

Who gives a flying *beep* what "credible critics" (it's important to add credible here, as we wouldn't want the judgment of an uncredible critic) or what awards the movie has won (despite the fact that it was nominated for a friggin Oscar) as long as we, you, us the individuals like the movie. I don't give a crap whether or not a credible critic liked the movie or if it did win any awards, I know I liked the movie and you can't take that away from me. What you are doing here is basically telling people that they are idiots for liking this movie ("although the crowd liked it... sad) because you didn't like it. I might have done the same thing when I was pre-teen so if you are 12 years old I'll accept your stupidity with a mere shrug.

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[–] bepster 19 years ago

I wasn't asking you for some (of course) credible critics and awards, I was asking SuperDoris when she mentioned "...and has been loved by both film critics as the public".

you sound pretty bitter here and calling people "jerk" and "retard" isn't really a sign of maturity!

...but you might have a point, now I can see what kind of people like movies like this one!
If you want to discuss this picture in a mature way,, we can do that but stop calling peaple names! It doesn't really make you look good...

by the way, I am out of my teen-days quite a while... I guess if I would be 12, I would have loved this movie in it's banality!

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] bugabooman-1 18 years ago

Please enlighten us, OH WISENED ONE...on what YOU think is a great film. I can't wait to hear! We're waiting...

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[–] chochocoo 19 years ago

Are you retarded, perhaps? Sorry for personal accusations but saying that it was SAD that the crowd loved it - because no 'credible' critic did - must be one of the less clever comments so far.

Who cares about the credible critics? And maybe, was it sad that the crowd loved something that you didn't? You simply couldn't put up with that? WHY was it SAD that the crowd loved it?

Are you one of the elected few who knows what is best for 'the crowd'?

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[–] denzildexter 19 years ago

I thought this movie was excellent, and would highly recommend anyone to watch it (I'm Irish by the way, not Swedish!).
It's a pretty simple story about a world-renowned musican/composer who returns to his native village in an attempt to unwind from the pressures of professional life. Whilst there, he gets involved with the local choir and sees that he can take them to new levels.
The movie is not some cheesy rags to riches tale however or anything like it, but instead, deals with ordinary people and their struggles in life. From Florence, who's husband beats her and treats her like a piece of garbage, to Stig, the local pastor who's deeply repressed and has more than one or two issues with his wife and his public life as a priest, the director Kay Pollak manages to capture their stories in a very genuine and heart-felt manner.
It's exceptionally well acted throughout (Frida Hallgren is excellent in it) and I thought it deserved all the attention it got.

As for:

because people get more numb by the minute and then they start to like these disguisting kind of "in-your-face"-picture... this movie is brutal in that way, it is bombing and raping you with plastic emotion!
but emma, it was a huge success in sweden and people loved it because it was so easy to understand... for me it was just plain insulting my inteligence!!

@bepster:
From the above statement, I find it quite hard to distinguish any signs of intelligence on your part!!

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[–] Fist_of_Heaven 19 years ago

Actually, it was Helen Sjöholm's character, Gabriella, who was beaten by her husband. Not a big deal (Edit: I mean misstaking the names, not the beating! :)). For the non-swedish audience, it might be interesting to know that Helen Sjöholm is a famous singer in Sweden. She's been in a number of big musicals, swedish ones for the most part: Kristina från Duvemåla (by the two 'Bs' in ABBA, Björn and Benny - http://www.duvemala.com/eng/), Chess, West Side Story and Les Miserables. She has also released a couple of albums.

As for why it got nominated: I think this was perhaps the single one film that stod out the most among the swedish films last year. But why it was selected from all other foreign films in the world, I can't really understand. It's a good movie, but it has some flaws. Primarily, I think the acting isn't very good. Frida and Michael does a good job however. I think the story is something that's appealing to many people though, especially in these modern times where religion is taking several steps back. The Oscar nominees are picked out by americans I suppose, and we all know how important religion and christianity is in the US. That certainly made this film interesting for them. Also, it has got a nice feeling to it, showing the exotic part of Sweden. Overall, I think foreign people find it very appealing. If you don't understand Swedish, the acting suddenly seems better than it really is :)

I hope the DVD is going to be a success outside of Sweden. This is great PR :)

Edit:
Just found out that the song Gabriellas sång (Gabriellas song) from the soundtrack is #3 on the "swedish radio hits charts". It's been #2 as well, for quite some time. It's performed by Helen Sjöholm ofcourse.

The swedish DVD is to be released on the 20th of april. I have no idea if there's an internationall version that's going to be released. Since it was nominated for an Oscar, I think that's very possible. The swedish version has subtitles in ENGLISH, as well as the scandinavian languages. It's released as a single disc, with behind the scenes, biographies and interviews with Frida Hallgren, Michael Nyqvist and Kay Pollak. It's highly unlikely that the extras are subbed, but maybe I can provide an english transcript of the extras in the future. It's region 2 with 1.85:1 Widescreen Anamorphic and Dolby Digital 5.1.

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[–] bugabooman-1 18 years ago

"...but it has some flaws. Primarily, I think the acting isn't very good."

Really? You didn't think so? Hm, I thought it was good all around. Just a matter of opinion, I guess. :-)

"Also, it has got a nice feeling to it, showing the exotic part of Sweden."

Now that, too, I must disagree with. It is not the exotic part of Sweden. I've been there, in fact, I live in the same surroundings 4-6 months out of every year, and let me tell you, there is NOTHING exotic about it! LOL!!

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[–] Fist_of_Heaven 18 years ago

As a Swede, I found very few places in Sweden to be exotic. :) I think what I meant was that to non-Swedes it might seem exotic. It all depends on where you're from ofcourse :)

As for the acting, I don't remember exactly what I found flawed. It might have been something as simple as tone of voice, which I tend to get irritated about :D

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[–] ImQ 18 years ago

Ok, the movie is simple, in a way.
But it is not bad!
You do not really have to think hard to unterstand the message, but does this mean, that the message itself is stupid?
Does it mean, that the movie is dumb, because it tells its tale wihtout beeing complicated?
The truth can be very simple!
The movie wants to be just the way it is, like it or not!

Of course, it was a little over the top and kitchy! Not everybody likes this kind of movies (I'm more of a Tarantino fan myself, usually I don't like movies that are as drippy as this one...).
But if you allow yourself to engage with it you can walk out of the cinema with this feeling you might remember experiencing as a child after seeing your favorite Disney film. I hope you know, what I mean... *g*

And by the way, feeling this and liking it for the moment does not mean that you can't be a very sophisticated person!!!!!!!!!

(Sorry for the mistakes I possibly made... I'm not a native speaker.... ;-) )

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[–] katievitalie 18 years ago

the movie is simply the greatest of all movies i've seen before. Only kind people with the big heart will understand it.

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[–] lene-s 18 years ago

thank you! that was the message i was waiting for, reading through every single comment on this film. i´m from germany, but i know sweden quite well. everyone i know who watched this movie loved it. and so did i. i absolutely agree with katies opinion. thanks

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[–] alexfnm 18 years ago

I thought it was a wonderful film. I was quite sceptical in the beginning, thinking "oh God, not ANOTHER movie with a capital person returning to their little village" (I'd recently watched Masjävlar, which was an ok movie btw).

But as the movie progressed, I understood that this film, despite its flows, is very clear in its objectives. The main point promoted is the healing power of music, something not frequently explored in modern filmmaking. And, starring a character who has been saved and lost many times in his life through music, is a very good approach. Daniel survives his difficult childhood with the aid of music, makes a very good living (fame, money and everything) with the aid of music, falls flat on his face because of that, denies it all by quitting and hiding in a small village, and slowly uses it again to pick himself (and the people surrounding him) up once more.

The secondary element of the story is the people living in the small village, and the character study on them. Pollack takes no rush to slowly unfold aspects of everyone's personality, and we see every single person (about 10 main characters) presented with their highs and lows, pros and cons. There's no good and bad people, just troubled and less troubled. Even the wife-beater is not presented one-dimentionally. I thought the acting was very good from most people, even if there are lots of people saying it wasn't.

As for the closing scene, there are no words for me to describe it. People may find it corny, pretentious and/or contrived, but I thought it was genuinely humane, and one of the most touching endings I have seen on film for a long time. It's no cheap sentiment, because the director had slowly worked his characters up to end up doing what they did in the end as a believable reaction to what occured to them at that particular moment.

All in all, a humble yet beautiful study on music and ordinary people. Oh, and no, I'm not Swedish :)

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[–] onetouch1 18 years ago

I agree with you alex. This is one of my favourite films of all time. Hard to say exactly why, it just made me feel happy. I have seen it many times now, always looking forward to Helen Sjoholm's singing in Gabriellas Song. Because of this film, I have found Kristina Fran Duvemala, which I adore. Helen Sjoholm is incredible, and I would love to see her perform live. I hope she is going to be in the musical when it comes to Broadway next year. I hope it comes to the West End too as I am dying to see it!

To anyone with negative comments, I don't care! I love this film for it's simplicity, great characters, great sentiment, and great music.

10/10

ps, I am British by the way, and don't speak a word of Swedish, though now I want to learn! It sounds so beautiful!

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[–] Clifton-K 18 years ago

It's unfortunate to have somebody here who hates the film and who has time to go on posting - as bepster does. If all of us who loved it would post as often as he* the general impression would be much better.

From Berlin, K.

*I'm sure that I'm not wrong when I write "he".

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[–] frippegod 18 years ago

If you want to only hear only good things about the movie this is not the place for you.

It sucked by the way

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[–] bugabooman-1 18 years ago

Typical upper-class university driven mentality, too pompous, stringent and cold to feel the slightest bit of empathy for a film with good intentions!

God I'm in a bad mood!!!!!! :-|

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[–] frippegod 18 years ago

Good intentions never makes a good story on its own. (just look at most of the swedish politically financed film production) This is different. Kay Pollack is a wonder of manipulation and rhetorics. I enjoyed the drama to a great deal. But the totally over-evident setup, beginnig, and the supererimposed, pompus and over-symbolic ending will never be pardoned. They totally sucked.
Jag är INTE llektuell.

I post therefor I am

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[–] bugabooman-1 18 years ago

Yes, so do I!

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[–] Kristina82 18 years ago

I think the movie was nominated because it's heart-warming, honest and true. Neither superfluous effects nor Hollywood-like kitsch make this movie good, but the characters and the music do.
Talented actors (without plastic surgery covering up their lack of skills like in most American movies) play believable characters. Some we love, some we hate, but all of them seem to be similar to the people we know in our life. In addition to that the music is just awesome.

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[–] BrionyT 18 years ago

i completely agree with you. We are getting tired of the american junk that is on our screens all the time. It's about time we got more movies like these.

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] hulda00 18 years ago

....great film, and yes, and inspiring to people how struggle to find their voice!"gabriellas song" is so touching and wice.

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