The Fundy Film Society

Vi är bäst! (We are the Best!)

Vi är bäst! (We are the Best!) Ebullient, raucous and irresistible, We are the Best! sees provocative Swedish auteur Lukas Moodysson (Show Me Love) working in a considerably lighter vein. Set in early 1980s Stockholm, the film focuses on three young girls on the verge of puberty who decide to embrace their outcast status by forming an all-girl punk band. The film’s heroines, Bobo (Mira Barkhammar), Klara (Mira Grosin), and Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne), do not have it easy either at home or at school. The adults in their lives are uniformly useless: Bobo’s mother is a serial dater and overaged party girl who seldom knows where her daughter is; Klara’s parents are almost gruesomely happy, except when they are arguing over ridiculous trivia; and Hedvig’s mom is a devout Christian completely out of touch with the realities of her daughter’s life. At school, the trio’s fierce independence, punk-influenced style and in-your-face bravado make them persona non grata with both the girls and the boys. Mocked for being “different,” the girls defiantly take that difference to centre stage when they start their own three-piece punk band, challenging the unspoken rule that only boys are allowed to play rock ’n’ roll. Based on the semi-autobiographical graphic novel by Moodysson’s wife Coco, We are the Best! shows an innate understanding of how pre-teen kids behave, the desires and pressures that motivate them, and the strategies they develop for dealing with the various oppressions of parents, peers, and social norms. Propelled by winning performances from its three charismatic young leads, We are the Best! is an energetic and affectionate tribute to adolescent rebels who refuse to hide their discontent. “Brash and sweet, We Are the Best! captures perfectly the aimlessness of adolescence, the waiting to become something that’s so often intertwined with the desire to make something, to leave your mark on the world in some small way.” (Stephanie Zacharek, Village Voice) “Mr. Moodysson’s film is little only in physical and financial scale. When measured by the pleasure it confers, We Are the Best! is a big deal that will be winning hearts—and even grownup minds—for a long time to come.” (Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal) “You don’t have to like punk rock to fall in love with We Are the Best!; if a more joyous film comes along in 2014, then it’s a good year indeed.” (Alonso Duralde, The Wrap)