His and Hers (2001)

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

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.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

This film surprised me. It was recently televised in Australia on SBS-TV with sub-titles. It's not a great-looking movie; this disappointed me, because, being a Swedish film, I expected lots of beautiful scenery and beautiful people. Not so - both scenery and people were very ordinary, even a bit less than ordinary. But the story - essentially about a young couple whose quest to have a child delves beneath the surface of their relationship to expose the flaws in both the relationship and each other - is quite skillfully told. In particular, I enjoyed how Johan's earlier selfishness, once he finds the truth about his fertility, escalates into child-like temper tantrums. The resolution to the story, whilst a bit quick and too much of a total turn-around to be considered realistic, is satisfying all the same.Whilst viewing this movie I kept thinking that it was so much better by far than all those cheesy relationship films which Hollywood churns out. It's a very universal story, and could have been just as easily filmed in China or Australia or Croatia or Iceland. It's well worth seeing.

I had read the reviews expected it to be a good and funny film. I was _really_ disappointed. The film is advertised as some kind of romantic comedy, but is nothing of the sort. The only funny thing in it is the dog who appears for about five minutes.Ok, so it was marketed the wrong way, but maybe it was good anyway? Nope. I don't think so.The film is set in rural Sweden and watching it I had the distinct feeling that the movie was made by a bunch of people who have spent all their lives in down town Stockholm. Maybe they have once seen the countryside on a photo. The film and the characters in it just don't feel real! And all of them speak with a strong Stockholm accent.Watching it I felt very irritated by how people living in the country side and smaller communities where depicted. Some kind of Swedish-style rednecks all of them, always wearing dirty, tattered clothes. The furniture, curtains and wall papers 70's style. The yards full of wrecked cars and everything looking poor, badly worn and tasteless.Regardless of that, my main criticism is that the movie is so boring and very, very slow. I constantly checked my watch and the seconds just seemed to drag on.

This movie is good in a down to earth kind of way. Especially the actors are great. Jonas Karlsson has the same nerve and presence as Robert de Niro or Johnny Depp. He is absolutely superb in his acting. Johanna Sällström and Ralph Karlsson are very talented actors as well. Actually all actors in this movie keep very high quality. Daniel Lind Lagerlöf is a very promising young director that I expect a lot of in the future. I liked his last picture "Vägen ut" also.