Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious, warm and exactly the way it was
Review: I grew up in Sweden in the 70's, and can attest to this film being *very* realistic. Well, most of us grew up in regular family households rather than communes like this one - yet the tone, dialogue, props, setting, mood, and plot - all hit the mark exactly. Moodysson is a genius to be able to tell a whole generation's painful rite of passage with such a sense of hilarity and warmth.
Rating:
Summary: This film is such a delight... highly recommended!
Review: I had the good fortune to see this film in a theatre in Northern California, where the audience (including more than a few aging hippies) chortled and guffawed with good-natured self-recognition. The opening scenes, -- particularly a drearily, draining, painfully drawn-out, "issue-oriented" house meeting at the politicized/feminist/alternative lifestyle commune where the action takes place -- were a veritable flashback, especially for my companion, who had gone to college in Santa Cruz and had had plenty of exposure to lesbian-feminist process... It was quite funny, but in a loving, self-deprecatory way. Where many would wring laughter out of mockery and stereotyping, the director here was truthful and honest, and gave the characters the respect and depth they deserved. The interplay and fluidity between "straight" and "alternative" culture is handled with exeptional skill, particularly as seen through the eyes of two children who are thrown in the midst of the well-intentioned but disorganized soul-searching of the older generation. And for those of us who grew up in the 1970s and were exposed to similar cultural experimentation, the dual dangers and priceless opportunities of the "hippie" era are brought back in a heart-warming but not overly sentimental way. This film rings true in every way; like Richard Linklatter's "Dazed And Confused," it should be viewed by anyone who'd like to see what the 'Seventies were *really* like.
Rating: 
Summary: Average Swedish Character Study
Review: I saw the original in Stockholm when it came out and recently viewed the version with English subtitles. I am happy to see more Swedish movies making it over to America and this is a fine movie for those who want to experiance the typical Swedish drama coming out of Stockholm or Goteborg today.
Unfortunately, 'Together' doesn't offer anything unique in the way of character types and the emotional revelations they encounter is nothing new. There are the prerequisite white-male jerks (the abusive husband/father), down-trodden women, lesbians, gays and confused children. I realize that since this was set in a commune, it had to be populated with a certain amount of warm bodies to make the plot viable. However, Lucas Moodysson would have done better to limit focus on fewer characters and he could have made a few of them a little more interesting, if even quirky. I guess there just wasn't enough humor to keep me interested. As to the ending - I was happy to see that the drunken husband/father was allowed to grow and change, and that his family was given a capacity for forgiveness.
I will probably purchase a copy of it on DVD to support the Swedish film industry and as an encouragement for them to export more of their art to Region 1. I just hope they send us some fresher plots with more humor.
Rating:
Summary: Average Swedish Character Study
Review: I saw the original in Stockholm when it came out and recently viewed the version with English subtitles. I am happy to see more Swedish movies making it over to America and this is a fine movie for those who want to experiance the typical Swedish drama coming out of Stockholm or Goteborg today.
Unfortunately, 'Together' doesn't offer anything unique in the way of character types and the emotional revelations they encounter is nothing new. There are the prerequisite white-male jerks (the abusive husband/father), down-trodden women, lesbians, gays and confused children. I realize that since this was set in a commune, it had to be populated with a certain amount of warm bodies to make the plot viable. However, Lucas Moodysson would have done better to limit focus on fewer characters and he could have made a few of them a little more interesting, if even quirky. I guess there just wasn't enough humor to keep me interested. As to the ending - I was happy to see that the drunken husband/father was allowed to grow and change, and that his family was given a capacity for forgiveness.
I will probably purchase a copy of it on DVD to support the Swedish film industry and as an encouragement for them to export more of their art to Region 1. I just hope they send us some fresher plots with more humor.
Rating:
Summary: A film with a big heart.
Review: In Shakespearean comedies, there is often a green space, such as a forest, where characters exhausted or repressed by their society or culture come to rejuvenate themselves, or to be liberated. The 70s commune in 'together' performs a similar function - it is a refuge for misfits and the abused, but it is also a place where flawed people of good faith, such as the wife-beating husband, can try to transform. Conversely, the narrowly ideological and selfishly hypocritical are exposed and cast out. 'Together' isn't quite as enjoyable as Moodysson's debut 'Show me love' - there are too many characters, not enough of them interesting or sympathetic - but the pastiche of 70s movie making, all murky colours and incessant zooming, is a delight, while the melancholy Abba music undercuts the optimism of this rememberance of times past.
Rating:
Summary: A warm comedy with serious undertones by Moodysson...
Review: It is the year 1975 when ABBA and the children TV show "Fem myror är fler än fyra elefanter" (translation: Five ants are more than four than five elephants) was immensely popular in Sweden. Elisabeth has just been beaten up by her husband and she has decided to move to to her brother Göran's with her two children. What makes the film more interesting is that Göran lives in a commune with a wide variety of characters that are rather radical on the left side of politics and openly display opinions and thoughts in regards to anything. At first is Elisabeth is bothered by their openness towards one another, but she realizes that she has no where else to go as a jobless housewife. As time passes Elisabeth becomes not only comfortable, but also begins to form her own notions, which strengthens her. Together (Tillsammans) is a marvelous and well directed story as it is a kaleidoscope of notions put into action in an environment where love and confrontations belong in the daily routine. Despite the confrontational situations in the film, Moodysson creates a warm atmosphere where one concept overrides all other thoughts, which is that notions are pointless in the absence of company. This results in a warm comedy with serious undertones that offer much food for thought as Moodysson leaves the audience with a brilliant cinematic experience.
Rating:
Summary: I wish they would release this in DVD already.
Review: It's been available in Europe for around a year. What's taking so long for it to be released in the States? And while they're at it--I wish they would also release "How I Killed My Father."
Rating: 
Summary: Start Over Swede
Review: Routine tread through familiar territory. The camera work is not a pastiche of 70's photography, unless you seriously think every picture of that decade was directed by Micheal Winner. The photography is an entirely contemporary fad and an irritant.
The ending. No, no, no.
Rating:
Summary: The best picture I have seen so far this year!
Review: The best picture I have seen so far this year! In addition to the interesting story about the 70s, I was absorbed and moved by the well-drawn characters--especially the kids. It's been a long time since I was so focused while I was watching a movie. I didn't want to miss one word. I wish more movies were like this.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful film, truly special!
Review: The year 2001 was pretty much a vast and empty one for film. "Together" was one of the few bright spots of the year. This truly wonderful film is set in Stockholm, Sweeden circa 1975 at a commune known as Together. The people who live at the commune are pretty much your "typical" hippies and socialists who believe they are living in a "utopia". Unfortunately, egos and a middle class lifestyle that they never really abandoned quietly sneak into the picture. Also coming into this mix is one of the member's sister fleeing her abusive husband. She brings along her two children who are not in the least too enthused about being here. Oh, but why reveal anymore. See this great film for yourself.
Lukas Moodysson wrote and directed this film and he captures this period better than I've ever seen it caught on film before. He even captures the look and feel of a 70's picture with his filmmaking style. I cant recommend this film enough.
One of 2001's very best.
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