Review of Falkenberg Farewell (2006) by Sofia Å — 11 Mar 2009

"Farväl Falkenberg" is the critically acclaimed debut by Jesper Ganslandt, who also wrote the screenplay. He enlists his old buddies (which is why the actual old home movies of the guys as children work very well) to improvise around a basically very simple story. Dialogue wise, this works extremely well. Swedish movies are more often than not stilted and theatrical, but the conversations between especially Holger, David and John flows smoothly. The juxtaposition of the sleepy small town life with stifling conversations at the local pub about the weather and the local soccer team with the heartfelt and intimate discussions between Holger and David is particularly delightful.

That said I had a hard time coming into the movie until the last third of it. Before that it possessed too many of the elements I hate â?? loose story, no direction in the dialogue, weird close ups, strange and (for the viewer) inexplicable bouts of emotions. One is constantly asking oneself where this movie is going, is it a documentary, is it fiction, what? Unfortunately, when the documentary mood is replaced by a forceful move forward story wise, the easy dialogue slips and is replaced with a more scripted and directed feeling.

For me, this last third is however what saved "Farväl Falkenberg". All of a sudden it was actually possible to see some sort of direction even in the previous parts. So if you like slow paced movies about Swedish small towns with innovative camera angles and careful editing, this is a winner. Or if you are more into male nude bathing, there is quite a lot of that too�.