Friday, September 8, 2017

We Are the Best! (2013) - Foreign Film Friday



Number Rolled: 9
Movie Name/Year: We Are the Best! (2013)
Tagline: Three girls vs. the world.
Genre: Drama, Music
Length: 102 minutes
Rating: NR
Production Companies: Film i Vast, Memfis Film
Producer: Anna Anthony, Jessica Ask, Serina Bjornbom, Marie Gade Denessen, Lars Jonsson, Christian Wikander
Director: Lukas Moodysson
Writer: Lukas Moodysson, Coco Moodysson
Actors: Mira Barkhammar, Mira Grosin, Liv LeMoyne, Johan Liljemark, Mattias Wiberg, Jonathan Salomonsson, Alvin Strollo, Anna Rydgren, Peter Eriksson, Charlie Falk, Ann-Sofie Rase
Stunts: Kimmo Rajala

Blurb from Netflix: Refusing to believe punk is dead, a trio of 13-year-old misfits form a band in spite of their collective lack of musicianship.


Selina’s Point of View:
First of all, punk’s not dead. It’s just yelling at you to get off its lawn.

That said… as much as I enjoy glimpses into the punk lifestyle of other cultures, this movie was not for me. I can’t really say there was anything wrong with it… it just didn’t capture or hold my interest. At all. However, it was more of a personal thing.

I lost any desire to watch about fifteen minutes in, and never really got it back again.


The actors were good, especially for children. However, the story was pretty basic and there didn’t seem to be enough to make it stand apart from others like it.

There were a few scenes, here and there, that were amusing. Either they made me smile slightly or cringe expertly… but they didn’t come along as often as I would have liked.

The ending was kind of nice, but I still wouldn’t watch it again.


Cat’s Point of View:
I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. I didn’t really have any preconceived notions going in – I just hoped that it would be less about tween angst and more focus on, well, anything else. Seriously. My daughter just turned 14 and the struggle is real.

Thankfully, the film delivered something really special – in spades.

Not only was this a great movie about young friendship with a liberal dash of comedy – it was also a film about musical diversity and self-discovery. There were so many awesome things going on here.


There was a point where I was afraid that things were going to take a very dark turn, but I was relieved to find that they chose a different path with the story.

This somewhat felt like the tween Swedish version of SLC Punk! (1998). They obviously weren’t trying to retell that particular tale – it just had the same sort of vibe to it that worked well and made it enjoyable in spite of the occasionally uncomfortable moments.

All said, if there was a sequel to this film; I’d definitely want to see it. This won’t be for everyone, but I found it highly entertaining.


Languages
Speech Available: Swedish
Subtitles Available: English

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 97%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 78%
Metascore - 87/100
Metacritic User Score – 7.6/10
IMDB Score – 7.2/10

Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating2/5
Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating4/5

Trust-the-Dice’s Parental Advisory Rating: PG-13

P.S.  Some scenes during the credits.

Movie Trailer:

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