Xixax Film Forum

The Director's Chair => The Director's Chair => Topic started by: children with angels on May 21, 2003, 10:48:28 PM

Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: children with angels on May 21, 2003, 10:48:28 PM
I just watched Lilya 4 Ever, and wondered if anyone else had seen it or anything else by the guy. He's being hailed as the best thing to come out of Sweden since Bergman... I don't know about that, but the film certainly was very powerful.

It's kind of a kitchen-sink, gritty drama - which is not normally my thing - about a sixteen year old girl being abandoned by her mother and having to prostitute herself to stay afloat. Yawn, right...? But it's actually a really beautiful movie, partly because of a wonderful central performance by Lilya, and partly because of the extraordinarily crisp, and yet dreamlike, cinematography. There are also a few flights into kitsch surrealism that make me draw a parallel with Ratcatcher (it's kind of similar in general actually...). Also, a little Gummo-ish.

Anyway, has anyone seen any of his other movies? Apparently they are much more upbeat - this one is certainly a wilfully depressing picture (with a few glimmers of hope), only made bearable by a certain innocence-of-the-child thing (it almost takes my "it is not dangerous to confuse children with angels" line literally). If not, I'd say this one is worth a watch - not amazing, but certainly worth it. I look forward to seeing a slightly more optimistic view of the world in his other films though...
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: children with angels on May 22, 2003, 10:13:10 AM
I don't know - I found quite a lot of entertainment in the film. I'd heard that it was supposed to be one of the most depressing films ever, but it wasn't quite as sledge-hammer with its downbeat philosophy as it could have been (it actually ends on a pretty optimistic note). Also the numerous sex/rape scenes luckily weren't as graphic as I feared they would be (they weren't graphic at all) - that would have been unbearable, because this sweet, beautiful girl really looks her age: that would have been horrible.

I think all films are meant to entertain you anyway: you can be entertained by escapism, or you can be entertained by deep, didactic, philosophy - it's still just whatever you dig, you know? We wouldn't watch films if they didn't entertain us. Sometimes we just want to be entertained by a depressing movie, by being made to feel depressed - that can be entertaining too.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: godardian on May 22, 2003, 11:23:16 AM
Quote from: children with angels

I think all films are meant to entertain you anyway: you can be entertained by escapism, or you can be entertained by deep, didactic, philosophy - it's still just whatever you dig, you know? We wouldn't watch films if they didn't entertain us. Sometimes we just want to be entertained by a depressing movie, by being made to feel depressed - that can be entertaining too.

If only mass audiences could be made to ponder this for even one minute, I think we'd see a lot more diversity and value in what's on offer at the cinema.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Just Withnail on May 22, 2003, 12:14:35 PM
Yeah, the guy also made Fucking Åmål ("Show me love", I think the US title is), and Tilsammans (Together).

I've only seen Fucking Åmål, though, and loved it. It's a drama/ comedy (dramedy?) about two lesbian teenagers coming to grips with their homosexual tendencies. Great flick.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Fishbulb on May 23, 2003, 09:57:13 AM
Yes, I've seen both "Show Me Love" and "Together" and enjoyed them both a lot. He's one of the best directors I've seen in terms of depicting young people as realistically as possible, especially young girls. He gets amazing performances out of his young actors. His movies always seem to have an optimism too, you can tell the obvious affection he has for his characters. In a way, he is kind of a Swedish equivalent of PTA. There's a scene in "Show Me Love" involving the two girls in a car and the song "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Journey that struck me as something that PTA might do in a movie.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Fishbulb on May 23, 2003, 10:07:33 AM
Foreigner, sorry. I got my cheesy 80's bands mixed up there  :oops:
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: pookiethecat on June 06, 2003, 08:13:12 PM
Quote from: WithnailYeah, the guy also made Fucking Åmål ("Show me love", I think the US title is), and Tilsammans (Together).

I've only seen Fucking Åmål, though, and loved it. It's a drama/ comedy (dramedy?) about two lesbian teenagers coming to grips with their homosexual tendencies. Great flick.

Fucking Amal is absolutely wonderful...I loved, loved, loved it. Fishbulb, he does have an affection towards his characters that is PTA-ish in a way.  The scene in the car is one of my favorite scenes of all time...I love the cheesy music, I love the setup and the payoff...touching, beautiful, wonderful filmmaking in general.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: ono on June 07, 2003, 11:39:43 PM
I saw this film tonight.  Very sad, very emotional.  I walked in about five minutes late, right when the mom was saying goodbye to her daughter.  I was shocked by how well-acted Lilya's reaction to that was, when she chased her car down the road crying out for her mother not to leave.

Was there anything I missed before that?

Anyway, I just wanted to say, this was a decent enough movie.  Good if you're feeling happy and want to be brought down ... or if you're feeling like your life is shit and it couldn't be worse.  This'd actually be a pick-me-up.  :-P

Side note, I saw it in an art house (not as if this kind of film would ever see the light of day in a multiplex).  It's refreshing to see that most people there stayed for all the credits, even though they were in Russian.  There was a little message, dedicating the film to all the victims of child prostitution.  Very nice.  And, well, it says a lot about the difference between audiences of multiplexes and art houses.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: children with angels on June 08, 2003, 05:00:54 AM
Quote from: OnomatopoeiaWas there anything I missed before that?
 

It's weird: I missed the first couple of minutes too...! Although I did see Lilya bragging to her firends about how she was going to be going toAmerica and be escaping her crummy life and stuff. Then, of course, her mum telling her that she can't come with them.
Title: RE
Post by: pookiethecat on June 09, 2003, 01:57:19 PM
Lilya 4 ever looks like a pre-suicide movie.  Anything that depressing has to be dangerous to mental health.  Are the sex/rape scenes graphic?  Cuz I can't handle graphic rape.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: children with angels on June 09, 2003, 02:03:03 PM
No, they really aren't graphic at all thankfully - like I said, the girl really looks her age. And somehow the film doesn't end on too much of a suicidal note. It's kind of uplifting in a weird way.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: ono on July 04, 2003, 12:46:42 PM
On DVD?
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: rustinglass on July 04, 2003, 01:54:43 PM
I saw  fucking amal the other day and liked it. not that mad about the soundtrack, though except-SPOILERS-when Agnes slits her wrist and there is a flute adagio on... that was awesome.

I hope to see lilja 4 ever soon, maybe this weekend
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: rustinglass on July 04, 2003, 02:47:44 PM
sadly, I haven't , but I really want to because someone told me that it was a lot like the ice storm (maybe it's not) and I fucking love that film!

The sweedish language has such a sense of musicality to it, I love it! I love to watch the bergman films because of that.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: ono on July 04, 2003, 05:30:36 PM
This film is NOTHING like The Ice Storm.  Whew.  That's a totally faulty comparison.  An analogy for you:

The Ice Storm is to Lilja 4-ever as Ace Ventura is to Schindler's List.

That may be a bit of a hyperbole, though, and The Ice Storm is a bit sad, but it's nowhere in the league of tragedy of Lilja 4-ever.  At least The Ice Storm had some humor in it.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: rustinglass on July 04, 2003, 05:37:00 PM
I meant "Together" was like the ice storm
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: ono on July 04, 2003, 05:37:57 PM
Oops, my mistake.   :oops:
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: rustinglass on July 20, 2003, 07:43:34 AM
I just saw Lilja today. It's very well made but I'm depressed as hell.
I really like this director, I think that all the feelings are portrayed nicely in this film.
I thought the soudtrack was a little anoying, except for Rammstein, they kick ass.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: matt35mm on October 27, 2005, 03:22:45 PM
I FINALLY saw Lilja 4-Ever.  Tough getting ahold of it on DVD.  The only way I've found is to rent it off Netflix.  The DVD itself seems to be produced by Netflix, actually.  It's got the Netflix logo on the menu and on the DVD.  It seems to be otherwise unavailable in the US.

ANYWAY, I loved this movie.  I really want to see Together now, which I've always heard is good, and Fucking Amal (Show Me Love) is now on my list of movies to see.  You can really tell that the director was a poet before becoming a filmmaker; it shows through his style.

Oksana Akinshina is great in this movie.  You rarely get all that emotionally-involved within the first 10 minutes of a movie, but she sucks you in quick (Ono alluded to that on the previous page).  I know she had a bit part in The Borne Supremacy, but other than that, I'd like to see what else she does.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: kotte on October 27, 2005, 04:02:36 PM
Quote from: matt35mmOksana Akinshina is great in this movie.  You rarely get all that emotionally-involved within the first 10 minutes of a movie, but she sucks you in quick

Seriously, when runs after her mother...fuck, that hurt me.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Alexandro on October 27, 2005, 04:22:57 PM
Lila4ever or wathever, I found it disturbing the first few minutes but then after that it was boring in it's attempts to be shocking and sad and dramatic. Everything is over the top and exagerated. Everyone is bad except for her.

It's a bunch of cliches thrown together to shock. I actually thought it was funny at some point.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: mogwai on October 27, 2005, 04:26:03 PM
too bad it was based on a true story, right?
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Alexandro on October 27, 2005, 04:31:49 PM
Quote from: mogwaitoo bad it was based on a true story, right?

That doesn't mean anything or take anything away to the unidimensional portrait of what happens in the story. Is like in Storytelling when the teacher says "once you put it on paper, it's all fiction"....It's not what happens, is the way in which it is shown, filmed, acted and put together. And after a while it became this masturbatury exercise in shock....to me at least....
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: matt35mm on October 27, 2005, 06:21:18 PM
Quote from: AlexandroAnd after a while it became this masturbatury exercise in shock....to me at least....
I don't think it was meant to be shocking at all.  The sex scenes are not graphic (there's hardly any nudity in the whole thing).  The events aren't shocking, because it's clear what's going to happen.  The whole movie shows basically what leads to these things that DO happen, and doesn't exaggerate or go over-the-top, I think.  You obviously weren't shocked since you said you were bored, and I wasn't shocked by anything in it either (except for that awesome bit of acting when she runs to her mother at the beginning).  I was emotionally involved throughout, but never shocked, nor did I ever feel that the movie was trying to provoke that reaction out of me.

And in response to the everyone's bad but her thing, I'll say that... she was bad, too.  She's not a fantastic person at all.  So I guess you can say that everyone is bad, period.  And if that weren't true to real life, then why would these girls be in this situation?
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Alexandro on October 27, 2005, 06:38:51 PM
I didn't meant shocking in a john waters, let's make people feel like they're watching something so terrible is surprising, but in the sense of disgrace after disgrace after disgrace. I know these things do happen but this film is like a catalogue of bad experiences.

And the fact that she wasn't a perfect human being doesn't mean the rest of the characters don't behave like disney villains.

I think the whole treatment of the story is very superficial. It's engaging through making the main character have one bad experience after the next. The social and political problems the film presents are trivialized, and as a meditation on the human condition is pretty weak too. Soap operas can be emotionally engaging too, that doesn't mean they're automatically good.

It's kind of preachy in a way. What do you get form this film? The world is shit?
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: matt35mm on October 27, 2005, 07:16:59 PM
Quote from: AlexandroWhat do you get form this film? The world is shit?
I get the story of a girl.  That's all I get, and that's all I wanted.  Sometimes movies try to say stuff about the world, but I never really pay attention to that.

Also, I can think of girls who have one bad thing after another happen to them.  It's largely their fault; they bring it on themselves, and Lilja does that to at least some extent, I'd say.  SHE instigated the movement into the seedy side of things.  SHE went to a seedy club where she was obviously in a desperate situation since she was selling sex to old dudes for cash, where she met a seedy guy who naturally took advantage of her obvious desperation, and led her to more seedy things.  And nobody except for the young boy saw her as anything but a nuisance or as a whore, so whatever interactions she had with people would be because they're using her, and you can see that as a two-dimensional motivation on the parts of all the "bad people," but it makes realistic sense to me that that's all they're in her life for.  For girls like this, yes, I can believe that things would play out like a checklist of bad things happening to them.  And again, I wonder how else BUT a succession of terrible things happening to a Russian girl would have her be a sex slave in Sweeden.

But this is one of those agree to disagree situations, because we're pointing at the same things and seeing them differently.  We each had a different experience watching it.  I was entertained, involved and entranced, and that, to me, yes, does make it a good movie.  For me.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: cron on October 27, 2005, 07:34:32 PM
Quote from: matt35mmSometimes movies try to say stuff about the world, but I never really pay attention to that.

you're missing some of the good ones, pal.

why the shit are my posts firsts and lasts in the pages lately? is it you, admins? :elitist:
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: matt35mm on October 27, 2005, 08:52:58 PM
Quote from: cronopio
Quote from: matt35mmSometimes movies try to say stuff about the world, but I never really pay attention to that.

you're missing some of the good ones, pal.

why the shit are my posts firsts and lasts in the pages lately? is it you, admins? :elitist:
I didn't mean I didn't watch those movies.  I meant that I don't judge the worth of a movie based on what it has to say about the world... it's not what I watch movies for.
Title: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Alexandro on October 28, 2005, 12:55:37 PM
cool
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: w/o horse on November 14, 2005, 02:29:30 PM
Thanks to matt's hot tip I was able to finally see Lilja 4-ever, which I would like to announce as my favorite of his films.  Also I would like to announce that Moodysson has become a director whose favorite film of mine seems to be whichever I watched last.  It's fair to say that the narrative structure of Together has effected everything I've written since the experience of first seeing the movie.  Blah blah backstory about Moodysson being an early impression on me and causing me to delve into the lesser known filmmakers out there.

Spoilers galore.

Anyway, Lilja 4-ever hasn't left my head since I watched it Friday night.  It was a story about one girl's lost childhood, but I also connected to it as a story of my lost childhood, my lost innocence, and a statement on the purity of happiness.  The tiny moments again and again of Lilja and Volodya finding bliss in simple things like each other's company, eating bread, a basketball, talking, sniffing glue, etc.  Lilja and Andrei before you knew what was coming. . .or, more exactly, back when you were comfortable blocking out what you knew was coming.  I really connected to the film in these ways, and in that sense it wasn't an entirely depressing movie for me, because it has affected my perception of my daily activities since then.  Does that sound stupid?  I don't feel that it should.  I watched it with my roommate and a friend, and afterwards we drove down to Laguna Beach and climbed up on a rock structure to had a nice long conversation, even though before the movie we had all talked about how the next day we were to wake up early.  That is clearly a positive reaction to the film.

The room was silent as the credits rolled as well, which is unusual.  It took me back.  It felt honest and poetic at the same time.  Although I knew it wouldn't end well, I kept hoping it would, I became very emotionally involved, and by the time she killed herself I was relieved, I was happy for her release.  For a movie to take me to the point in which I feel that the main character's suicide was justified is tremendous.  I felt her hopelessness.  I felt the pain of her mistakes, the agony of not being able to go backwards.  Under different circumstances, traveling down different paths, things might have ended up much better for Lilja.  That constant fear of making the wrong decision, coupled with the grueling reality of fate, was very real in the film.  When she was playing basketball with Volodya I felt she had won.  Which is provocative, which is daring, to say that indeed some people are perhaps better off dead.  That the quality of human life can be so terrible as to negate the sanctification of being alive.  It is very much what the American dream would try and tell you is impossible.  And, yet, there it was.  Playing out right in front of me.  Does this paragraph contradict the previous paragraph?  It seems to thematically, but it somehow co-existed inside of me during and after the film.

A+.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Pubrick on November 14, 2005, 11:32:19 PM
so.. what drugs do you do?
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: w/o horse on November 15, 2005, 12:49:06 AM
None.  What kind of a response is that anyway. Etc balance of frustration and light heartedness.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Pubrick on November 15, 2005, 01:34:52 AM
Quote from: Losing the Horse: on November 15, 2005, 12:49:06 AM
Etc balance of frustration and light heartedness.
i don't know what this bit means.

in response to the rest, i think it was a serious question i've been meaning to ask. some of your observations beg the question. :shock:

you may be right about lilja, tho after seeing it once it had the same effect like Alexandro.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: w/o horse on November 15, 2005, 02:30:01 AM
Quote from: Pubrick on November 15, 2005, 01:34:52 AM
Quote from: Losing the Horse: on November 15, 2005, 12:49:06 AM
Etc balance of frustration and light heartedness.
i don't know what this bit means.

in response to the rest, i think it was a serious question i've been meaning to ask. some of your observations beg the question. :shock:

you may be right about lilja, tho after seeing it once it had the same effect like Alexandro.

It means that I was frustrated but didn't want to pressure a response.

Sniffing glue in the list of simple pleasures was a joke.  Although, I have had my drug days, and know quite a few who still do.  Most of my observations stem from some kind of escapism I suppose, although it is the human condition which most disgusts and depresses me.  That's another topic.

Like I said, I saw Lilja with two other people, and both of them were equally touched.  One of them was never a druggy (is that really somehow related to enjoying this movie?).
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: matt35mm on February 23, 2006, 08:23:25 AM
Just saw Fucking Amal (Show Me Love).  I liked it a lot.  I think it's about as much as one can do with the teenaged lesbian love story (I also like Lost and Delirious a lot, even though that movie is admittedly ridiculous, whereas this is more... realistic, I guess).  There's really not that much more to say, since you already know the story.  Just imagine that story with fantastic acting (perfect casting), a great representation of teenaged life, and solid chemistry that keeps you involved throughout.  The DVD is crap (and the U.S. trailer is maybe the worst trailer I've ever seen), but of course that has no bearing on my grade.  B+.

EDIT: I also just found out that this movie outgrossed Titanic to become the highest grossing picture in Sweeden.  Or at least it was when it came out in '98.  Pretty neat.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Alethia on February 23, 2006, 10:31:27 PM
 :yabbse-thumbup: :yabbse-thumbup:  it's definitly a top movie.  one of the best of the nineties for sure. 
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: w/o horse on February 24, 2006, 07:33:04 PM
I saw A Hole in My Heart a bit back.  I know we should encourage artists to be daring and take risks but we should hold them accountable as well, right.  If that's not a contradiction, I'd like to say that I didn't enjoy A Hole in My Heart at all.  As a film, or a statement on filmmaking.  Not its characters, not the actions of those characters.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: matt35mm on February 25, 2006, 01:50:34 AM
Quote from: Losing the Horse: on February 24, 2006, 07:33:04 PM
I saw A Hole in My Heart a bit back.  I know we should encourage artists to be daring and take risks but we should hold them accountable as well, right.  If that's not a contradiction, I'd like to say that I didn't enjoy A Hole in My Heart at all.  As a film, or a statement on filmmaking.  Not its characters, not the actions of those characters.
I've been looking into this film a lot, and this seems to be the general vibe.  I'm intrigued, though I have no reason to expect to like it.  Moodysson himself said that perhaps hatred was the best reaction to this film.  In an almost sick way, it sounds like he made a film about a subject that he finds despicable, and wanted to make a movie that people would hate to prove to himself how terrible the whole subject is... if that makes sense.  Maybe it doesn't.

Well, if he did intend for people to hate it (though, from an interview, it seems like he was striving for something that he couldn't quite explain), it sounds like a mission accomplished.  I probably won't rush out to see it, but I'd like to hear more reviews from anyone on this board who may have also seen it.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: mogwai on February 26, 2006, 04:30:02 PM
a link containing two clips from moodysson's new movie "container" and a press conference (http://www.teddyaward.tv/2006/index2.asp?KategorieID=1018&InhaltID=1703)
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Pubrick on February 26, 2006, 08:17:20 PM
those two clips were very interesting, looks like Container will hav a resnais/korine thing going on..

sucks that you can't hear any of the questions being asked at the press conference, it's funny to imagine what was asked when his answer is "it's very small, it's nice." haha.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: mogwai on February 27, 2006, 02:01:34 AM
Quote from: Pubrick on February 26, 2006, 08:17:20 PMsucks that you can't hear any of the questions being asked at the press conference, it's funny to imagine what was asked when his answer is "it's very small, it's nice." haha.
probably about the possibilities to make decent movies.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Alethia on February 27, 2006, 07:24:12 AM
no, probably not.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Just Withnail on February 27, 2006, 07:53:33 PM
Looks like the polar opposite of A Hole in my Heart, which was a hammer to the head of moral and visual shock - which I loved. It was a natural step along the trajectory pointed out by his previous three, only Moodysson seemed to have decided to skip ahead a bit. He really rendered me useless and I was completely reduced by it emotionally (just the way it should be). Container seems to carry just as much impact with it's much more gentle imagery, and that great voice over. I hope this has just as little plot as Heart did, I hope this whole thing is just a montage of this guy's life - which the clips certainly give the impression of. Maybe the frantic editing style of certain segments from his previous films gets a whole film for itself? Two short clips, completely out of context, and they lumped up my throat. I'm waiting for another fantastic effort from one of the few directors whose films aren't completely emotionally neutered.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: w/o horse on February 28, 2006, 04:07:15 AM
Quote from: Just Withnail on February 27, 2006, 07:53:33 PM
Looks like the polar opposite of A Hole in my Heart, which was a hammer to the head of moral and visual shock - which I loved. It was a natural step along the trajectory pointed out by his previous three, only Moodysson seemed to have decided to skip ahead a bit. He really rendered me useless and I was completely reduced by it emotionally (just the way it should be). Container seems to carry just as much impact with it's much more gentle imagery, and that great voice over. I hope this has just as little plot as Heart did, I hope this whole thing is just a montage of this guy's life - which the clips certainly give the impression of. Maybe the frantic editing style of certain segments from his previous films gets a whole film for itself? Two short clips, completely out of context, and they lumped up my throat. I'm waiting for another fantastic effort from one of the few directors whose films aren't completely emotionally neutered.

I thought A Hole was emotionally neutered and frantically centered.  It was out of context, fatalistic, and histrionic.  There wasn't a shred of human behavior in the film.  Without ambiguity:  it was centered around a perspective of hopelessness rather than accounting for the people who are this film.  These people don't demonize thesmelves the way the film does, they don't hate their actions the way the film does.   The happy moment was a drunken party of pity and self-loathing actions.  I hate that when morality is the topic it's so easy to shed sensibilities.  Who are these people?  What do they think of themselves?  The film offers little answer to this, but commits to their sins from frame one and never ceases (it does begin with the son mocking his father, right).

Sensationalism.  I think.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Just Withnail on February 28, 2006, 03:07:34 PM
Quote from: Losing the Horse: on February 28, 2006, 04:07:15 AM
I thought A Hole was emotionally neutered and frantically centered.  It was out of context, fatalistic, and histrionic.  There wasn't a shred of human behavior in the film.  Without ambiguity:  it was centered around a perspective of hopelessness rather than accounting for the people who are this film.  These people don't demonize thesmelves the way the film does, they don't hate their actions the way the film does.   The happy moment was a drunken party of pity and self-loathing actions.  I hate that when morality is the topic it's so easy to shed sensibilities.  Who are these people?  What do they think of themselves?  The film offers little answer to this, but commits to their sins from frame one and never ceases (it does begin with the son mocking his father, right).

Sensationalism.  I think.

I'm guessing realism was the least of Moodysson's goals. What you describe aplty as a lack of human behavior was probably the point, but you forget the times where he slows down to show the few humane aspects left in these people - mostly towards the end (I only recall the bald guy's confession spesifically, the one filmed in nightvision). If I recall correctly (six months since I saw it), in this segment, he - at least - indirectly regrets his actions.

Heart is so unbelieveably intense and uncomfortable that it basically makes you feel like you're living these lives - does it need to communicate their inner thoughts any more than practically making them you own?
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: w/o horse on February 28, 2006, 03:18:11 PM
I like what you're saying.  Uncomfortable and tense is right.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: MacGuffin on September 05, 2007, 06:17:46 PM
Bernal to star in Moodysson pic
'Mammoth' to lense in November
Source: Variety

VENICE/BERLIN — Gael Garcia Bernal has agreed to star in Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's upcoming drama "Mammoth."

Garcia Bernal, who will next appear in Hector Babenco's Argentine drama "El Pasado" and Fernando Meirelle's "Blindness" with Julianne Moore, plays a successful New Yorker who decides to radically change his life while on a trip to Thailand with his wife and daughter.

"Bernal is one of the most exciting young actors working today," said Moodysson. "He was my dream choice."

Additional roles have yet to be cast.

The $10 million production begins shooting in November in Thailand, New York, Sweden and in the Philippines.

Pic is co-produced by Stockholm-based Memfis Film, Lars von Trier and Peter Aalbaek Jensen's Zentropa Entertainment in Copenhagen and the new Zentropa Intl. Berlin, headed by former X Filme producer Maria Koepf.

The project has won the backing of a hodgepodge of financiers, including Sweden's Film i Vast, Swedish Television, the Swedish Film Institute, TV2 Denmark, the Danish Film Institute, the German Federal Filmboard, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the Nordic Film & TV Fund and Eurimages.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: MacGuffin on October 26, 2007, 10:38:52 PM
Williams joins Moodysson's 'Mammoth'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

LONDON -- Oscar-nominated Michelle Williams will star alongside Gael Garcia Bernal in Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's first English-language movie, "Mammoth," producer Lars Jonsson of Memfis Film said Friday.

Moodysson's project is scheduled to shoot on location in Thailand, the Philippines, Sweden and New York beginning Nov. 5.

It revolves around a successful New York couple played by Williams ("Brokeback Mountain") and Garcia Bernal, their daughter and their Filipino nanny whose lives take a dramatic turn after the father goes on a business trip to the Philippines.

The film is produced by Moodysson's longtime producer partner Lars Jonsson of Memfis Film.

The director said he thinks Williams "relays intelligence, poise and presence in every character she plays."

A regular on the international big-name festival circuit, Moodysson's previous films include "Fucking Amal," "Together" and "Lilya 4-ever."

Williams is represented by Hylda Queally at CAA. The deal was brokered by co-producer Vibeke Windelov on behalf of Memfis Film.

A Swedish/German/Danish co-production, "Mammoth" will be produced by Memfis Film in co-production with Zentropa Berlin and Zentropa Entertainments with backing from Film i Vast, SVT, TV2 Denmark, Medienboard Berlin, Swedish Filminstitute, Danish Filminstitute, Filmforderungsanstalt, Nordic Film- & TV Fund and Eurimages.

International sales for the film are handled by Denmark's Trust Film Sales.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: w/o horse on October 26, 2007, 11:12:19 PM
I'm so fucking there.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: bonanzataz on October 28, 2007, 04:03:11 PM
i've never been much of a fan of moodyson. i don't see what the fuss is all about. his movies aren't very memorable and they're all kinda contrived if you ask me. it's like, all his films are stories he's heard about through the news or internet and thought would make really good films but he has no firsthand experience to really convey effectively what his characters are going through. i feel like his movies would make good swedish tv specials but i don't know how or why they make it to america.

then again, looking back on his career, i've only ever seen fucking amal and lilja 4ever. maybe together is one of the best movies ever, but i wouldn't know cuz i'd never eat the filthy mutha fucka.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Just Withnail on October 30, 2007, 02:14:06 PM
Quotemaybe together is one of the best movies ever, but i wouldn't know cuz i'd never eat the filthy mutha fucka.

I certainly think it's his best film, and very much worth a view. In comparison to his other films, it's pretty down to earth. His typical 'big bursts of truthful behavior' are less big and ring more true. I've only seen it once, and might be forgetting some overblown moment.

Quote from: Just Withnail on February 27, 2006, 07:53:33 PMI'm waiting for another fantastic effort from one of the few directors whose films aren't completely emotionally neutered.

I don't mean that, and have no idea of what mindset I was in to call him one of 'the few directors...'.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: w/o horse on October 30, 2007, 07:54:16 PM
The material he chooses mainly, and the way this material, naturalistically in my eyes, opens the characters up.  He seems connected to the pathos and idiosyncrasies of childhood pain and desperation that most other directors soften or convert into more emblematic terms.  Moodysson is right there in the moment.  But I know basically what you're saying bonanzataz, because in one way he's kind of a Swedish Cameron Crowe, the way he pumps the pop tunes and tearjerking moments.  But I think you're off base about his emotional involvement in his stories and it's more likely than not that it's your personal experiences that distance you from his films.  Because I've read Moodysson's interviews, know about his poetry career, know his basic filmmaking philosophy (the more intimate and singular the moment the more universally it can be received) and he's never been a Russian girl forced into prostitution in a foreign land but the matter of shattered conceptions and unfulfilled fantasy has never effected me as much (and my reply from my first viewing is only a page or two back).

It's this sickly blend of romanticism and tragedy and modern culture that elevates him above the competition for me.  Finally, yes,  Together is the best and most complete from his oeuvre.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: wilder on June 10, 2011, 10:08:16 PM
Just found this recent interview with him (very roughly translated):

Lukas Moodysson GP in March 5, 2011

Lukas Moodysson's latest film, Hollywood Production Mammoth, was not a success. Maybe it was his last film as a director. Right now he hatnjuter of that, through writing, war with itself, as in the new book Death & Co..

There was a time when Lukas Moodysson was as big as the biggest kind of rock star, at least in Sweden. Ingmar Bergman acclaimed him for Show Me Love, he gave the whole film establishment the finger wearing bear ears on Guldbaggegalan and then rolled it on with Together and controversial Lilya 4-ever.

But with A Hole in My Heart, Container, and Mammoth, it has not been as easy, either publicly or with critics. While he has with sharp strokes deleted in that he does not care about what people think and feel. He did not do it when he wrote poetry and was a part of the cocky literary gang Malmo league and he does not now.

See you in a conference room in the middle of Bonnier's headquarters on Sveavägen in Stockholm.

Lukas Moodysson never answers short and sharp. Sometimes it feels as if he refuses to answer or thinks that my questions are too stupid. But then, in the middle of the silence in the conference room, he starts talking and his response squiggles and fights its way to where he wants to come. Something like that his writing seems to work. Death & Co. is about Lucas c and his grief and loneliness after his father's death and was written in a snorting speed when his own father died.

When you began writing Death & Co., you knew what you wanted to do?
No, you never know. It is always so that it grows. I start at one end, is some kind of detour and end up somewhere else.

Is it a nervous way of working, you do not know where to go?
The process is not nervous. For me, the process must be transparent, that you may try things out and see. It does not mean I think that what I write so it will be good. I often feel dissatisfied with what I have written and are not sure if it works. But it's almost always fun while working. If you understand the difference?

Yes. But how does it feel now, you sit here and talk about a finished book, are you satisfied?
Two or three people I trust have found it good enough. In the middle of work, I felt it would be a book and that it would not work on a movie. This is the first time in a very long time that I feel I did something that is a book in a kind of pure form.

There is a tremendous energy in the book, a pace that at times, the Formula 1-smelling, it was fun to write?
Somewhere along the way, it was great fun to work and go to work. When I wrote the most, I wrote enormous amounts of text every day. It was an interesting experience that the death could extract something that was full of energy, life and happiness in any way. It was never more than just the beginning, as if I was writing something sad. It was always full of zest for life. It's weird.

It sounds like a nice way to process their grief?
Yes, but perhaps deeper than that, if you do not just talk about literature without talking about death in real life. It was an interesting experience to extract as much life and humor out of something that was so sad. It felt like it dawned on me that there is a lot of life in death. Or at least for us who live there, that in some cases there is something that is fun in any way.

Was it hope?
I experienced enough not to any ends, for it could be painful too. I think of people who lose loved ones and who might not find any humor in it. But to me the basic feeling that death puts an end to anything but that it continues afterwards. The realization feel central to the book.

But it was death you wanted to write from scratch?
Ah, I was also interested in writing me to a kind of parallel life where I could assign my own properties, where I could streamline a small part of me. I was equally interested in, where the parallel with the choices in life. If you change the two-three-four things in one's life will be very different. But Death & Co. is probably also about how to respond to their environment. Lucas throws out on trips and get the idea that he should give food to the homeless on the street. To what extent should we as humans take responsibility for their environment?

Lucas c think a lot of lost youth and the past - do you recognize yourself in it?

I feel enough - much more than Lucas with c - as someone who is very mentally and physically present in the world. Right now. I may end up in the nostalgic and sentimental situations, but I can not and dream back to a lost paradise or something. I'm quite fond of life as it stands right now. Nor are they so afraid of death. I am in a sort of peace compared to the past.

Do you have a relative peace for yourself, too?
No. I do not know. I'm probably very much at war with myself.

In what way?
Writing is a bit like taking against himself. One should question oneself. There is some kind of approach to what you write. It's all about smashing things, reevaluate things and force himself to see things from other angles. And then, afterwards, rarely or almost never feel satisfied with what you have accomplished. No peace with myself I do not think really that I have. Not in my work anyway.

How much do you bring home the writing, you can disconnect when you are like most inside the writing?
It was very difficult before. Usually I'm very good at channeling and in some strange way to get anything between nine and three. Then it enters a period of peace. Then you go to war again, every morning at half past nine, when the kids have gone to school. Det är märkligt.

When you start writing, you feel dread or longing you?

My f ru and I live next door to us, we go out of our apartment and into the apartment next door. But some days I do not even there. For me, it is important to keep some kind of engine running, then throw myself into something entirely different interests. Something that actually keeps me awake.

What could it be?
It can be anything. I had a period where I was very interested in the pens. But in the end, I felt it went a bit at idle because I was perhaps not so much interested. Chess is one of those interests, even if I am stupid. It is useful to engage in things which do not make any demands on himself. We live very much in such a time, where everything must be some kind of achievement. Some things just do it. If you are good or bad. But it would be hard for your family if you were really bad at cooking, if you cook directly disgusting food.

It feels like people's image of you is quite different from where you stood with bear ears on the scene.
I am a person who can honestly say that I have not Googled myself in a long time. I'm not so interested in what people write about me and what people think of me. It is mostly a strange feeling, that people I never met, yet have an opinion about me.

You seem to be very onostalgisk, but if you look back on as Show Me Love, what do you feel?
Show Me Love shows up in the school context all the time. A teacher at my son's school told me that my son would not see it. Otherwise, they tend to show Show Me Love for discussions of sex and relationships education. But just in his class jumped over the Show Me Love. Nice!

Do you long after never doing anything which gives results faster? Writing books and making films, there are processes that take a very long time.
A book work that way for me, it is much faster. I write: I walk down a flight of stairs. Then it is finished. As I have written screenplays I write: Nissan goes down a flight of stairs and then six months later or two years later, I'll shoot anyone who pretends to be Nisse to walk down a flight of stairs. And then it cut together with another picture, of which Lisa is waiting for Nissan or something. It was wonderful to skip it for once, the entire process. Especially with the Mammoth was that very heavy and sad, to sit and think of something and redo and redo.

There are so many people involved in a movie also ...
Yes, it was also nice now, to avoid work. At least in the beginning it was very nice to get out and be among people and work together. You feel trapped right in his own little room where you sit and write. I do not know if it's because I have become old or whatever it is, but I do not really know that I have the desire anymore. But it might come back.

How do you see the film itself, then, do you long to process?
No. Or yes, there are some things I would like to try, no lawsuits and no substance but it feels like I'm in such a case, writing and not directing. If I will be directing it should be something very small. Two actors in a room or something like that.

Do you feel like a part of the establishment in Sweden film?
Do not know what that means really. I have not thought about it. I'm not saying you're wrong, it's probably best that I do not analyze my position so much. So I really do not know what position I have.

How do you see the reception of Mammoth like this two years later?
I'm pretty tired of talking about Mammoth, it feels more fun to talk about my book. But it was a pretty interesting host. There were no situations that I thought were interesting and fun. Someone told me that she was very moved by the movie and cried and then when the movie ended on display in Berlin as the man who sat next to her started storbua. So different reactions from two people who sit so physically close to each other. I think this was funny.

Does it feel like fun, what you write now?
Yes. I do not know what it is. But I also think that I have written me to something where I actually mean what I say. It is not often, usually it will no posturing or pretending to do a certain thing. Trying to write as straight as possible, from the heart, is still the most important thing and it feels like I've done it. And do it now.

My Bookmarks:
- I do not use the Internet. In principle. Well, I play chess on one side but would not say which one. I'm too bad at chess. I use the Internet as a source to find me on to the places where real knowledge is, namely in the books. If you really want to go deeply into a subject so there is not online. But of course I can find out the basic facts on the Internet.

Facts:
Karl Fredrik Lukas Moodysson
Born on 17 January 1969.
Lives: In Malmo.
Family: Married with Coco Moodysson, cartoonist. They have three children.
Current: With the death & Co., his first novel in 21 years.

Source - http://tinyurl.com/3kjbg7z (http://tinyurl.com/3kjbg7z)
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: jenkins on September 12, 2013, 01:44:36 AM
http://lukasmoodysson.tumblr.com

also,
toronto reviews suggest fullfillment of the promise: moodysson, back at it!!
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: wilder on October 24, 2018, 12:47:34 AM
First look at HBO's debut Scandinavian original 'Gösta' (exclusive)
26 March 2018
via SCREENDAILY

Filming is now underway on Gösta, the first Scandinavian original from HBO Europe.

Produced through the company's HBO Nordic division, the comedy-drama is being written and directed by Swedish filmmaker Lukas Moodysson, whose feature credits include Show Me Love (Fucking Åmål), Together (Tillsammans), Lilya 4-Ever (Lilja 4-ever), and We Are the Best! (Vi är bäst!).

The eight-part series is shooting in the Småland forests, south Sweden. Producers are Lars Jönsson for Memfis Film. Executive producers for HBO are Hanne Palmquist, Steve Matthews and Antony Root.

Vilhelm Blomgren will play the lead role of Gösta, a 28-year old child psychologist who gets his first job in a small rural town. Further key cast include Amy Deasismont, Mattias Silvell, Clara Christiansson, Regina Lund, Elisabet Carlsson, Nidhal Fares and Gustav Berg.

The series will premiere on HBO Nordic and across HBO Europe territories in autumn 2019.

Source (https://www.screendaily.com/news/first-look-at-hbos-debut-scandinavian-original-g%C3%B6sta-exclusive/5127785.article)
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: jenkins on October 24, 2018, 02:00:26 AM
cool
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Robyn on July 10, 2019, 03:06:28 PM
Since Gösta, all of his films are available on HBO, in Sweden at least. You have probably already seen Show Me Love and We Are the Best! but Together is really good as well, and worth checking out!

"Washing up is bourgeois!"
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Alethia on July 10, 2019, 04:33:09 PM
I was really into him way back when, should check out his recent stuff. Lilja 4-Ever was a very big deal to me.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: wilder on April 21, 2020, 12:02:58 AM
Has been on HBO Nordic since last July. Wondering if Robyn has seen it. I restarted an HBO Now subscription in hopes of watching with a VPN but I guess that's no dice ("HBO Now is only available in the US")


Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Robyn on April 21, 2020, 03:24:00 PM
It has amazing moments and was a pretty good watch overall, but it suffers from feeling extremely repetitive and the story and character arch of Gösta doesn't really go anywhere until the end. That's not a flaw necessarily because Moodysson is funny enough to make it work most of the time, but it can get a bit annoying when it's drawn out to 12 episodes (especially when Gösta is the most frustrating Moodysson character ever lol). And I also miss the "ugly" look of Show Me Love and Together. Here it almost looks too good if that make sense.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: wilder on April 21, 2020, 11:25:44 PM
Makes perfect sense. fwiw I miss the "ugly" look, too, but enjoyed We Are the Best!. More Moodysson is better than no Moodysson. Will seek out the series if it ever jumps the pond.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: wilder on August 27, 2020, 03:04:16 PM


Quote from: The Playlistall episodes will be available in the U.S. beginning Monday, August 31 on HBO and HBO Max
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: WorldForgot on August 27, 2020, 03:47:27 PM
Thanks for the reminder, wilder. Looking forward to watching this series.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Axolotl on August 27, 2020, 03:59:20 PM
Yep. Fwiw i loved we are the best so I'm looking forward to this.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: wilder on June 21, 2022, 06:17:28 AM
Cannes: Lukas Moodysson to Direct 'Together 99,' Sequel to 2000 Crossover Dramedy
The Hollywood Reporter

Gustaf Hammarsten returns to star in the sequel to 'Together,' which looks at the members of the first film's Swedish commune, 24 years later.

Lukas Moodysson is heading back to the commune.

The acclaimed Swedish director will mount a sequel to his 2000 crossover hit Together, a dramedy set in a Swedish commune in the 1970s.

Together 99 is set 24 years after the events of the first film. The once-thriving community Together is now the world's smallest commune, consisting of just two people: Göran and Klasse, played by Gustaf Hammarsten and Shanti Roney, who reprise their roles from the original film.

Feeling a bit lonely, Göran and Klasse decide to get the old gang back together for a reunion.

"Together 99 will be the world's saddest comedy," Moodysson said. "It's about getting old, looking back, regretting everything you have done, or regretting nothing, lying awake at night missing someone you have not met in 20 years, longing back, looking forward. And about the collective: [are] the dreams from the seventies alive or are they dead? And does Göran still eat porridge?"

Memfis Film will produce Together 99 in co-production with SF Studios and Film i Väst. Shooting is set to start in August. SF Studios will distribute the film in the Nordics, with REinvent handling international sales. Together 99 is expected to premiere in 2023.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Alethia on June 21, 2022, 02:45:31 PM
I was so into this guy's films in high school. Together, yes, but Fucking Amal and Lilja 4-Ever (which dvd release led to my purchasing a region free player for the first time) in particular. Don't think I've watched those in 15+ years, and pretty sure I haven't seen any of his subsequent efforts.

Perhaps I'll do something about that.
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: Robyn on June 23, 2022, 10:47:25 AM
I rewatch Fucking Åmål regularly. Definitely worth it! Together too is awesome.

Container is the one I need to watch. Heard both good and bad things about that one
Title: Re: Lukas Moodysson
Post by: wilder on December 30, 2022, 05:17:32 AM
January 31, 2023

The Lukas Moodysson Collection on blu-ray from Arrow

(https://i.imgur.com/SdckZZZ.jpg)

QuoteEver since his debut was heralded as "a young master's first masterpiece" by none other than Ingmar Bergman, director Lukas Moodysson has been hailed internationally as one of Sweden's greatest filmmaking talents, delighting and confounding audiences in equal measure.

Moodysson's first film, Fucking Åmål (released overseas as Show Me Love), tells the story of awkward smalltown teenager Agnes and her crush on popular classmate Elin, which unexpectedly blossoms into reallife romance; it was quickly heralded as a new queer cinema touchstone and one of the most authentic portrayals of youthful relationships on film. He swiftly followed this with the bittersweet, satirical 1970sset Together, in which the inhabitants of a commune try to reconcile their ideals with their hearts' desires.

Having made a name for himself as the new master of tragicomic, feelgood humanism, Moodysson suddenly frustrated expectations with a trio of startlingly confrontational works: the hauntingly bleak Lilya 4ever, based on a reallife case of a Russian girl sold into sex trafficking in Sweden; the abrasive and semiimprovised A Hole in My Heart, detailing the messy (un)making of an amateur porn video; and the avantgarde Container, narrated in its English version by Jena Malone (Donnie Darko).

After making his mainstream Englishlanguage debut with the expansive Mammoth, starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams, Moodysson returned to his roots with We Are The Best! (based on a graphic novel by his wife and 'consigliere' Coco), the charming and funny tale of three schoolgirls starting a punk band in early1980s Stockholm.

Available together for the first time, Moodysson's eclectic filmography can now be appreciated as the work of a singular filmmaking voice, as avowedly uncompromising and unabashedly political as it is keenly observed, deeply felt and frequently hilarious.