Rating: 
Summary: A Must See
Review: There havn't been many truly funny and endearing films out this year but this film makes up for it ten fold. With all the misery and devastation that is being broadcast at the moment this is your retreat. If you enjoyed 'The Dish' then you'll love 'Together' Go and see it now, GO ON!!
Rating:
Summary: Swedish Harmony
Review: Together is a film about a group of twenty-something idealists living in a hippie commune in 1970's Stockholm. The commune is called 'Tillsammans,' or 'Together.' When the film begins, a woman is faced with separation from her hard-drinking, out-of-control husband. Not knowing where else to go, she moves herself and her two children into the commune, where her soft-spoken and well-meaning but somewhat ineffectual brother is a founding member. In search of a new start, she attempts to fit in with her new-found friends, with somewhat laughable consequences. But some tears fall among the laughter here as well. Her children are torn between missing their father and wanting things to change for the better. Their father's behavior has hurt them deeply, but their new situation, complete with imposed sexuality, and adults who may still be quite child-like themselves, may be hurting them in a different way. Is a better life ahead? Or just a new set of problems? Separated from his family, the father stumbles and falls in his attempt to be a better father, but he does keep getting up again, and part of the storyline is whether or not he will be able to own up to his problems, and come through as a good father/husband in the end. Meanwhile, the mother is also allowed a new freedom to pursue her own interests and desires, for perhaps the first time since she married. The effects of this change on each member of the family, as well as the members of the newly adopted communal family, are what drive the VW van, er, movie. Together is a wonderful, funny, heart-felt movie, filled with hope and a genuine respect and admiration for human beings, in all our akwardness and imperfections. The use of Abba in a film has never been better to cue a heartfelt tear, and the solemn and quizzical expressions on the faces of the children when faced with the quirky inhabitants of the commune are priceless. We care about what happens to these kids, and we want to see things work out for them, and for their struggling parents. Moodyson's innate love of people despite their inevitable follies is something he shares with fellow Swede Lasse Hallstrom, perhaps the best-known contemporary Swedish director in the US (apart from Bergman, of course!). In his view, we all have something to offer. And we can all change for the better, we can all grow. Despite rough waters now and then, with Moodyson at the helm, everything's going to be okay. And sometimes, it's nice to see a film like that.
Rating: 
Summary: Drawn Together, Wishing to be Apart
Review: Together is a Swedish comedy about a group of people living together in an intentional house. It follows the relationships of the members and people who are associated with the house. Its focus is always on the paradox of relationships: our need to be together and our need to be apart. Yet, it never addresses these issues seriously but finds the humour in our human circumstance. Although it presents serious issues such as spousal abuse, child molestation, conflicts in political philosophy and confusion over sexuality, it maintains a light-hearted attitude surrounding the need of the characters to be together. The characters come close to plastic stereotypes of hippies from the seventies, yet this is only because the audience's perspective is almost constantly filtered through the children, the most complex and interesting characters of the film. Surely the representation of the communal living is a way to intensely focus the film's theme as the characters who live traditional lives are made to look every bit as ridiculous as the hippies. From the point of view of the children we understand the futility and clumsy nature of the adult's search for an ideal state of being, yet the struggle to remain together never topples over into the ridiculous as it maintains a genuine sympathy for all the characters involved. While this film shouldn't be taken too seriously, it is a beautiful representation of the difficulty of sustaining successful relationships.
Rating:
Summary: Gently Hilarious
Review: Together won't shake the world, but I'll almost guarantee it will put an enormous on your face.
One reviewer complained about the number of characters - but that's not only the charm of the movie - but its very premise! Certainly there is an amount of predictability but the cast is so into what they're doing that they are believable and work in true ensemble fashion.
The soundtrack is an awful lot of fun (and sometimes "awful") and the secondary story involving the children and how they adapt to the wacky communal ideals of the adults is thought provoking. The film packs its message with little to no subtlety and none is desired or required here.
As tasty as a Swedish Meatball!
p.
Rating: 
Summary: Together
Review: Together~ Lukas Moodysson is a terrible movie that shows a very skewed picture of Sweden. I was a child of the 1970's and we did not live a commune or share any of these ideals or thoughts. I did not recognize that kind of society that Moodyson tries to convey. I found it to be offensive and not realistic at all. It makes me so angry that I rather think about and that is not a good thing since movies are supposed to be enjoyed and not dispised...
Rating:
Summary: Makes you think but ultimately makes you happy
Review: When you think of hippies, what do you think of? San Francisco in the 60's, Volkswagon buses, the Grateful Dead, patchouli oil? "Together," being a film about a commune of essentially hippie-ish folk encompasses a lot of these stereotypes but is really a film about the joy of interaction with those around you. Stockholm, 1975 is the setting for this film about a group of free-thinking individuals living together in relative harmony. Then one night, gentle Goran gets a call from his older sister. Escaping her abusive husband, she abruptly moves in, bringing her son and daughter with her. Naturally things get turned upside down but I won't tell you anymore of the plot. In fact, the plot really is rather superfluous. What makes this film warm and highly enjoyable are the great characters and real empathy one feels for them. Moodyson does a great job at creating a happy but slightly apprehensive mood (one's always worried that things won't work out; you're promised nothing). The ABBA and other "period" music works great in this film. The characters are believable, flawed, anti-Hollywood, and ultimately likeable. My one criticism is that the story is concluded rather abruptly and has a sitcom-like, hasty resolution. See it, it deserves to be watched and not just shown in Nordic film festivals and art house theaters. Drive past the multiplex and don't see just another Hollywood movie. "Together" is different, it's special and it's worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: Makes you think but ultimately makes you happy
Review: When you think of hippies, what do you think of? San Francisco in the 60's, Volkswagon buses, the Grateful Dead, patchouli oil? "Together," being a film about a commune of essentially hippie-ish folk encompasses a lot of these stereotypes but is really a film about the joy of interaction with those around you. Stockholm, 1975 is the setting for this film about a group of free-thinking individuals living together in relative harmony. Then one night, gentle Goran gets a call from his older sister. Escaping her abusive husband, she abruptly moves in, bringing her son and daughter with her. Naturally things get turned upside down but I won't tell you anymore of the plot. In fact, the plot really is rather superfluous. What makes this film warm and highly enjoyable are the great characters and real empathy one feels for them. Moodyson does a great job at creating a happy but slightly apprehensive mood (one's always worried that things won't work out; you're promised nothing). The ABBA and other "period" music works great in this film. The characters are believable, flawed, anti-Hollywood, and ultimately likeable. My one criticism is that the story is concluded rather abruptly and has a sitcom-like, hasty resolution. See it, it deserves to be watched and not just shown in Nordic film festivals and art house theaters. Drive past the multiplex and don't see just another Hollywood movie. "Together" is different, it's special and it's worth your time.
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