Popular Music (2004)

I love this movie so much

Excellent but underrated film

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The movie came out here in our city before 9 months but only some small cinemas showed it. It wasn't easy to find a cinema so I waited till the DVD was out. I rented the DVD last night and I have to admit that I wanted to watch that movie since over 4 months but never found it at my place. I laughed, I felt disgusted, I had silent moments and maybe even a small tear dropped out of my eye ;). And that is what I expect from a good movie - it has to touch me inside and make me wanting to talk about it. The movie has many raw scenes but at the same time also subtle moments. It is about friendship, become and being a man and follow your dreams - it is raw and poetic! And I saw it today again to get every detail of that wonderful movie.

Just saw the film for the fourth time, and thought I'd chip in on the discussion. It seems to me a lot of the criticism the film meets is about the incoherence of scenes, and the kaleidoscopic manuscript. Well, as it is a retrospective view upon a time long gone, I find it trustworthy and natural that the memory of the narrator is thus fragmented. That is how the mind works. And the narration is never torn, but keeps flowing. Yes, it is absurd, yes, it is grotesque, but this is what we call magic realism, a genre often attributed to south American writers. Here, the book that lays basis for the film, intelligently mixes the exotic air of magic with the harsh environment of Pajala. Enough about that. I find this one of the best examples of a successful adaption from book to film I have long seen. I do not see the bad acting that many point out. The dialects may vary, I am not Swedish and cannot tell, so I'm save from harm there. All in all, the ambiance of the film is sort of "happy in spite" and I am impressed every time. But I am a sucker for that magic realism, so bare that in mind. 9/10

And highly so. I haven't read the book, nonetheless the whole setting seemed very promising. But after a few moments of funny and/or enthralling and well-filmed moments and motives, the whole thing just fell apart. Focus on the music and character development was lost almost completely, drowned in bodily fluids (spilled a little bit too freely for my taste). There are some scenes worth watching, but most of the humorous motives are dragged to a slow death, and the serious ones aren't handled very well enough to give identification or deep insight to the characters.As an illustration for the book, the movie may work, especially for those born in North Sweden or Suomi, but not as a stand-alone comedy or drama, because it tries to be both the coming-of-age-with-a-little-help-from-the-Beatles-drama and the life-in-North-Sweden-is-hard-but-hilarious-comedy and ends up being a very weak mixture of them.

As a movie this was pretty much the same as the book: good, but not instant classic. Though I am sure there are lots of people who will disagree with me on the book part.For technical point of view there is nothing wrong with the flick: acting is good, directing is good, the whole packet works. It even has some pretty funny scenes in it.My main problem was with the plot itself: this was hardly anything new under the sun. Just another nostalgic driven view of someones childhood and coming of age.I could have given better score, but my personal favourite scene was left out. I know it wouldn't have much, actually any general plot influence, but I just would have wanted to see it in.Nothing more to say, see it if you like the genre.