Together

Starring: Gustaf Hammarsten, Anja Lundqvist

RS: Not Rated

2001 Drama

Together, written and directed with heartfelt and scrupulously funny attention to detail by Lukas Moodysson, is set in a Swedish hippie commune circa 1975. You sit back expecting cheap shots at these aging leftists holding on to the free-sex, casual-drugs, let-it-all-hang-out values of the 1960s despite the fact that time has moved on and there are children to consider. But Moodysson, a gifted storyteller, allows for varied points of view. Goran (Gustaf Hammarsten), the leader of the commune, is quietly crushed when his lover, Lena (Anja Lundqvist), asks to sleep around. And when Goran's sister Elisabeth (Lisa Lindgren) leaves the burbs for the commune to save her two kids from her abusive husband, thorny questions are raised. Is there a selfishness inherent in rigid nonconformity? This hilarious and humane film nails its subject - not just the unshaved armpits and the lack of underwear - and marks Moodysson as a talent to watch.

PETER TRAVERS
(RS 879 - October 11, 2001)