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TOGETHER

Set in 1975 in the ragtag Swedish commune of the gently ironic title, Lukas Moodysson's genial, humane Together steers cautiously between the outrageous anarchy of Lars von Trier's The Idiots and the vulgar inanity of the reality-TV series Big Brother while sharing the loosely handheld style of each. The tone at the commune seems more on the idiotic side when erstwhile head Göran (Gustaf Hammarsten) brings in his sister Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren), who with her kids Eva (Emma Samuelsson) and Stefan (Sam Kessel) is fleeing her alcoholic husband, Rolf (Michael Nyqvist). At a meeting about housework, resident cynic Lasse (Ola Norell) has just objected to the casual bottomlessness ("I've got a fungus") of ex-wife Anna (Jessica Lindberg) by dropping his own pants. Things settle down, however, as aspiring lesbian Anna empowers Elisabeth, Rolf struggles with rehab, Lasse has second thoughts about the attentions of resident homosexual Klas (Shanti Roney), and teenage Eva makes friends with an equally nerdy neighbor (Moodysson, whose previous film was Show Me Love, is at his best with kids). As one departing communal member notes, Göran tries too hard to please everyone. The same can be said about Moodysson, whose enthusiasm about keeping people together makes him less than honest about what keeps them apart. At the Cable Car.

By Peter Keough

Issue Date: December 13 - 19, 2001