We Are the Best!

With ABBA splitting, it seems the two most dangerous things left in 1982 Stockholm were boredom and conformity: enter two loveable 13-year-old nonconformists, Bobo (Mira Barkhammar) and Klara (Mira Grosin), who believe punk is the recipe for life – despite the fact that everyone else says it’s dead. They set out to convert shy Christian girl Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne) and the trio form a punk band whose only song is I Hate Sport. All-in-all, it’s a slim basis for a feature film – which even at only 102 minutes seems overly long.

Is there anything sadder than a disappointing film that, made differently, could have been wonderful? Perhaps with better writing and more ruthless editing We Are the Best! might have been just that. It has its moments, but not nearly enough.

Those teens, though – they are a life force! We Are the Best is almost worth seeing just for them. (MMu)

** /5

BY MICHAEL MUIR