Klassfesten (2002)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Directors:

Måns Herngren
Hannes Holm

Writers:

Måns Herngren (writer)
Hannes Holm (writer)

Release Date:

27 February 2002 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Varför man inte vill återförenas med sin gamla klass, men ändå gör det

Plot:

35-year old Magnus Edkvist hates class reunions as much as anyone and usually skip them. Still he accepts...

Plot Keywords:

Class | Reunion | Class Reunion | Bully | Gay

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Mikael Almqvist	...	Hasse
Inday Ba	...	Hillevi
Sacha Baptiste	...	Unga Hillevi
Urban Bergsten	...	Leffe Lort
Carola Björnfot	...	Stina
Veronica Dahlström	...	Boel
Johan Ehn	...	Jonas
Malena Engström	...	Sussie
Jessica Forsberg	...	Pia
Ulf Friberg	...	Tommy
Maria Frisdalen	...	Pernilla
Cecilia Frode	...	Lollo
Per Gottfredsson	...	Tomas
Anna-Maria Hallgarn	...	Lisa
Henrik Hjelt	...	Ove

Also Known As:

The Reunion (International: English title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Sweden:7

Filming Locations:

Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden

Company:

Buena Vista International (Sweden)

Trivia:

Marcos Engman who worked as second assistant director on the movie was asked by director Måns Herngren to play a role as a cleaner. Marcos is almost in the beginning and has one line.

Bittersweet comedy afraid of the dark

The high school reunion is traumatic to anyone with a heart and a brain. Our teen years just keep on nagging us, all of our lives. And nothing makes as good comedy, as the sad sides of life.

This film follows the patterns and lands in what could be expected, which is sort of OK in comedy. It does have some amusing twists to it - especially the drastic mixture of past and present. The characters change places with their younger alter egos, like flashbacks but in present time scenes. I would say that this is how our memory works, making us jump in time subconsciously, as if we have forever that teen inside of us. Also, it adds a poetic quality to the film.

It's the most endearing with the main character, who interacts constantly with his teenage self, who tries desperately to make him more cool, and urges him to get out of his sheltered existence. Yes, how kindly would we be judged by ourselves in our teens, if they saw us now? To some extent, we can live with it, having other values than we did back then, but in other cases - well, well.

I would have loved to see this conflict explored and deepened - that between the adult person and the teenager he once was. Unfortunately, the film stays on the surface of it, probably in fear of darkening the comedy too much. But comedy thrives on darkness, not on light. Happy and well-adjusted people don't invite to laughter, but misery sure does - I think already Aristotle stated this, in what little remains of his thoughts on comedy.

Certainly, there is some misery in the film, but just as it is about to really grab us, then comes a smile with snow white teeth, or a joke to release the tension. It is irritating. So also, is the fact that the dialogue contains little worth listening to. The writers/directors have not penetrated the subject sufficiently, or they just don't think so much of it.

Still, there were several moments where I laughed out loud, and in between the film was kind of cute.