Coming on like Mike Leigh on a Dogme trip, Swedish director Lukas Moodysson's follow-up to Show Me Love is the smartest kind of feelgood, fish-out-of-water comedy. Set in a '70s hippie commune, it sifts through the free love and lentils to tell a tale of ideals tussling with a mess of reality.
When strait-laced Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren) leaves her abusive husband, Rolf (Michael Nyqvist), and moves into the home with her children, all kinds of disruptions follow, not least over the fractious issue of Coca Cola. But the film's no easy satire on funny hair and flares. Rather than aiming for cheap laughs, Moodysson explores what keeps these people together despite the day-to-day truths - desire, dirty pots - that divide them.
Respecting their idealism as much as he respects their flawed humanity, Moodysson delivers a warmly acted, deliciously tender comedy of human foibles. Even the Abba tunes sound good in here.
