Vi är bäst! (2013)

I have nothing against feel-good movies; if they don't try to manipulate their viewers into dangerous but amiable corners, they're all right. Lucas Moodysson's comeback film, Vi är bäst! struck me as a good movie simply because of its rare life-affirming quality. It tells the story of two 13-year olds who do stuff that kids like and experience things that kids tend to experience. The year is 1982 and their parents give boozy parties where they listen to the insufferable Ulf Lundell. The parents are a bit immature but they have the heart in the right place. Bobo and Klara are rowdy and happy teens who want to do their thing. In that age, it might not always be so clear what that thing is, but one is trying to find it. These two do find it, in punk music - they sign on a list on the youth center just to piss off the dorks that play metal there and the story takes off from that. They realize, however, that their skills in actually handling instruments is not exactly well-rounded yet so they ask one of the school's outcasts, Hedvig, to join them. The trajectory of their punk aspirations tack the issues of rebellion (both its roots in safe middle-class environments and the kids' uncomfortable relation to their classmates), friendship and condescension (being called a 'girl band'). I like Moodysson's energetic pace, the restless cinematography and the three leading actresses performances make you happy for several weeks on end. The only thing that bothered me was the portrayal of the trio's encounter with two boys their same age who play punk music. During these moments, the story follows a familiar path that conjures up the image about girls who are friends only as long as no boy threatens the friendship (to the film's defense one can say that jealousy is treated as the messy phenomenon it is: it is never that clear to the person who is jealous what she is actually jealous about). I was happy that events took another turn that prevented the film from going too far into heteronormative teen-drama territory. But as I said, Vi är bäst is a wonderfully ass-kicking movie about what it is to be young, fragile and tough.