Review of We Are the Best! (2013) by Mauricio M — 22 Aug 2014

You want to have a blast at the movies? You know you do. Want to catch something completely off the radar that'll bring sheer joy and an anarchic spirit into your lives? WE ARE THE BEST is that film, the kind that'll make you wanna get a mohawk and bash the sh*t out of the nearest guitar.

I've enjoyed the films of Lukas Moodysson (TOGETHER, SHOW ME LOVE, and LILJA 4-EVER), and here, adapting his wife Coco's graphic novel, he uses his populist story-telling sense and keen grasp of the absurdities of life to tell the story of 3 thirteen-year-old girls forming a punk band in early 80's Stockholm. Our main characters are Klara (hilarious, saucer-eyed Mira Grosin) and Bobo (the droll Mira Barkhammar), two best friends who are out of control in that believable young teen way. They skip out on their parents to go drink and smoke at a party or pull pranks at the local community center. It's here where they eject a legitimate band from the music room and start thrashing away on the available instruments.

Almost completely lacking in talent, the girls enlist their serious, Christian classmate Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne) who has genuine musical talent and an unruly mane of hair just waiting to get SID AND NANCY'd. What I loved about Klara and Bobo is the enthusiasm and slight lunacy in which they form their friendship with Hedvig. One minute they're learning chord progressions and the next they're almost assaulting their new friend. Even when things go wrong, you're reminded how young they are, and like infants, they bounce back mighty quickly from their boo-boos.

It's this resilience of spirit that drives the film and makes it shine. Moodysson shoots the whole thing Cinéma vérité style, giving the film a true documentary sense of immediacy. There isn't a moment in this film that feels like he's fetishsizing the 80s with overly composed frames or garish pops of color. This is closer to how the 80s really felt with its internet-free, dial telephone levels of boredom. It's the true atmosphere in which a young kid would want to rebel.

While simple to adult viewers, you get the sense that every adventure the girls take is monumental to them, whether it's flirting with young guys from another band (a great sequence on a rooftop with haunting, wintry imagery) or playing their first gig. I fully believed that this is how young girls actually speak and interact. Grosin and Barkhammar form such a delightful bond, that you just want to listen in on their phone conversations forever. Looking like little boys, they're two sides to punk - one is outrageous and the other is eternally annoyed. Writing songs like "Hate The Sport", because, well, they hate their gym teacher, the girls' point of view is perfectly captured.

The character of Hedvig is tricky, as she evolves from an almost puritanical figure to something quite lovely. She grows on you in a wonderful way. Same goes for the film. It doesn't matter that they never really improve as musicians. They're too busy making lifelong memories to care. Kinda makes you want to form your own band, eh?

Kinda makes you want to form your own band, eh?