Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Progression or Digression, 16 May 2006
Disc 1 = "Show Me Love"
(86 mins)
+ Bonus short film "Talk"
A love story of the highest class. A rather awkward friendship between two girls matures to one of the most uplifting climaxes on film (excuse the use of language ... bears no connection to this film!).
I think the beauty in this piece has a great deal to do with the innocence held throughout.
I recommend this film to anyone with a sensitive bone in their body.
A wonderful film and an incredible debut.
Rating: ****1/2
Disc 2 = "Together"
(102 mins)
A very popular film.
A comedy in some sense of the word.
Based on a commune of hippies that live free and share everything such as political views, life ideals and boyfriend or girlfriend!!
The sister of one of the "hippies" (for want of a better word!) has an argument with her husband and moves into this hippy house and social ideas come with her.
This is indeed a special film, very humorous in places, wonderfully acted (as in all of Mr. Moodysson's films) and has an array of questions and ideas to be picked apart.
In my humble opinion this is the worst of Lukas Moodysson's films as, for me, I failed to be grasped by the issues raised.
But I most certainly will not dispute that it is indeed a great film and probably the only true "family viewing" film in this box set.
Rating: ****
Disc 3 = "Lilya 4 Ever"
(105 mins)
I really don't want to say too much about this film as I myself watched it without any idea what it was about and was totally blown away.
The filming is wonderful and typically intimate for Mr. Moodysson. The acting is absolutely superb, considering the subject matter I do believe this film should have been thrust in front of my face by the world. But either way I'm very happy I found it.
It's a long way away from his first two films which leave you with some great feelings of understanding, joy and general "heartshine". This film with move you, disturb you and possibly leave you feeling like you have to try and change the world (it did for me!).
This, in my opinion, is one of the greatest films ever made and I highly recommend it for all hardcore film boffs like me! It is not, repeat NOT a family film!!
... which brings me nicely on to the final film ...
Rating: *****
Disc 4 = "A Hole in My Heart"
(93 mins)
I have recently written a full review on the "A Hole in My Heart" (DVD) link. So for a review please go there.
I gave it a 5-star in the page, mainly to bring up the overall rating for the film. When looking at it in comparison to the other films the rating drops slightly, but my opinion does not so please do go there and read that for a fair and critical review ... it'll be the one in-between all the ones that describe it using 4 letter words!!
Rating: ****
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mostly great, 31 Oct 2005
By A Customer
A mixed bag of films, but mostly brilliant. Together & Show me love - very funny and heart-warming. Lilya-4-ever - extremely harrowing but great all the same. A Hole in my heart - errr... not sure what to say about that one - difficult to watch with somewhat nasty sequences. Most reviews say it's absolute rubbish, but I think I went away with some kind of message - basically that people can get trapped in very low-life seedy existences without knowing how to get out. Anyway, moodyson is a fantastic director who reminds me a little bit of ken loach - the actors don't ever seem to be acting, it's as if someone just documented real life with a camera.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The first four films of one of Europe's most important contemporary filmmakers, 16 April 2006
Lukas Moodysson is considered by many to be one of Europe's most important and talented contemporary filmmakers, and this collection presents his first four works.
Moodysson's debut Show Me Love was hailed by Ingmar Bergman as "a young master's first masterpiece", and this is no exaggeration. The film explores the frustrations of being a teenager in a small town in Sweden and centres on Agnes, a lonely sixteen year old girl and the beautiful and popular Elin, whom Agnes is secretly in love with. This is a real feel-good film - tender, sensitive, realistic and funny. An outstanding achievement for a first-time director.
Together is another feel-good film about life in a commune in 70's Sweden. The film swings between comedy and drama, between the poignant, the uplifting and the sad - but throughout the whole thing, you get a strong sense of the filmmaker's tender affection for the characters he is portraying. There are no bad guys really. This is probably the one characteristic that unites all of Moodysson's films.
After the huge success of Moodysson's first two films, he clearly felt that he could afford to make something more challenging, or perhaps he just didn't want to get a reputation for making feel-good movies. Whatever the reason, LILJA 4-EVER is about as harrowing, challenging and socially-realistic as cinema gets. Lilja is 16 years old and lives in the former Soviet Union. Abandoned by her mother, she has to turn to prostitution to make ends meet. When she meets and starts going out with an attractive, friendly young man who lives in Sweden and says he can get her a job and a place to live there, she jumps at the chance of a better life - but the dream soon turns into a nightmare... The direction is absolutely superb and Moodysson manages to make a genuinely beautiful film out of some of the darkest subject matter imaginable. Oksana Akinsjina is outstanding as Lilja, and the enchanting and infectious optimism that she brings to the character help to make the film more bearable than it might otherwise have been.
But if you thought LILYA 4-EVER was dark and unsettling, you ain't seen nothing yet... A Hole in My Heart is a profoundly difficult and challenging film about four people in a small suburban apartment in Sweden, three of whom are making a hardcore porn film together. The fourth, the teenage son of one of the people making the film, hides in his room listening to industrial music. Visually and thematically, A Hole in My Heart is a stunning achievement, exploring controversial and complex issues around human behaviour and sexuality with fearlessness and sensitivity. Reminiscent in some ways of the work of Lars von Trier, this film marks the continuing evolution of Moodysson as a filmmaker. Personally, I can't wait to see what he comes out with next!
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