Bara prata lite (1997)

Director:

Lukas Moodysson

Writer:

Lukas Moodysson (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Short

Plot:

Birger is old and retired from work. Still, he goes back to work since he has nothing else to do. Back...

Plot Keywords:

Hare Krishna | Retirement | Loneliness | Tragedy | Old Age

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Sten Ljunggren	...	Birger Andersson
Cecilia Frode	...	Mahapadu
Erich Hörtnagl	...	Ernst
Sara Ragnarsson	...	Girl on the bus
Grazyna Göransson	...	Woman
Stig Gustavsson	...	Worker at Volvo
Ahmet Berisha
Anna Greta Ahrenberg
Johanne Brochmann
Sture Eklund
Fredrik Fornänger
Andreas Grönqvist
Yvonne Hellgren
Sanna Jordansson
Rebecca Mjölnevik

Also Known As:

Talk (International: English title)

Runtime:

14 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Company:

Film i Väst

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tillsammans (2000)

The reality of the first half is kind of spoilt by the final few minutes but otherwise it is a great little film that I found touching in a tragic way

Birger works at Volvo and tries to talk to people as he gets the bus to work. However he doesn't work at Volvo anymore as he has retired but has nothing to do but hang around. His loneliness is very hard for him and he is grateful when a knock on the door brings a girl preaching about Hare Krishna to his home. He invites her in but his desire for even a conversation is intimidating to her.

The title of this film in English is 'Talk' and it sums up the content pretty well even if the film goes further than it should have done. In essence the film is quite moving and very real as we see Birger struggling to find anyone who will spend time with him. At my job we have a similar guy who retired years ago but continues to hang around even though many just feel sorry for him – this film has a similar guy in the lead. He tries to talk on the bus and, even in the early scene before we know much about him, he seems lonely and desperate. The film extends this idea well but, in the last few minutes it goes somewhere that I didn't expect and didn't fit with the tangible reality that I felt it had built up till that point.

This is a complaint but it is not one that takes away what it had done in the 10 minutes or so up till this point. The character of Birger is well written but succeeds because of very good delivery from Ljunggren. His natural and pained performance is spot on and he is the cornerstone of the film. Frode is annoying and the film doesn't treat her very well but it's easy not to really notice her part in the end of the film as Ljunggren is pretty dominant.

Overall this is a great little film that blows it a bit at the end by losing touch with the reality that it had set up so well – but this is not enough to make this a bad short film, just a lesser one than it should have been. But the material, the direction and Birger makes it well worth seeing.