Almost all movies about kids create
kid characters who rarely or never existed. They are precocious,
hyper-verbal, and self-aware. The coolest thing about the Swedish
film “We Are the Best” is how real the kids are. These are
genuine 13-year-old girls, silly, sensitive, and confused.
Klara and Bobo are a couple of
junior-high punk-rockers, resisting the New Wave movement that says
punk is dead. With their spiky hair and disinterest in team sports,
they strive to stand out from the flaxen-haired girls at their
school. The obvious thing for punk rockers to do, of course, is to
form a band. With no musical training, the girls start jamming on
the bass and drums at the local youth center, and they make music
that is, well, awful! They do manage to capture the essence of punk,
however, shouting their lyrics about the idiocy of organized sports.
When they add an actual musician; quiet, religious guitarist Hedvig;
to the group, they improve their sound slightly and change the
dynamic of their little clique.
It could be said that not much of
consequence happens in “We Are the Best.” The girls all have
acceptable, if imperfect, home lives. Their band doesn't turn into a
sensation or anything. The biggest conflict in the film involves two
of them liking the same boy. The film succeeds, however, because it
recognizes that these seemingly minor events are very big to the
girls themselves. When you have never had a boyfriend before,
fighting over a boy with your best friend is intense stuff. The
actresses do a nice job portraying the emotional swings and
fluctuating maturity levels of their 13-year-old characters. It
turns out this is not a coming-of-age film. In the end, “We Are
the Best” is fun because it shows its protagonists as still being
kids, playful, and not quite ready to come of age.
3.5 stars out of 5
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