En man som heter Ove (2015) Reviews

• Touching, entertaining and deep.

  Graggoz2016-01-30

  This movie is about an old man that appears to be grumpy. The story gradually reveals his back-story in a masterful way to explain his behaviour that will probably change your opinion of the main character. I can honestly say that I have never before felt such a strong connection to a character in a movie. This is an absolute masterpiece. The directing of the movie is also great. It's easy to understand who is who and when a flashback occurs even if you have not read the book. The greatness of the movie will be most appreciated if you understand Swedish, but even if you depend on subtitles it will still be a gem that you should not miss out on. I am very conservative with rating movies 10/10, but this one I think truly deserves it!

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• Depressed women get quiet; depressed men get angry

  Red-1252016-11-08

  The Swedish film En man som heter Ove was shown in the U.S. with the translated title, A Man Called Ove (2015). It was written and directed by Hannes Holm, from a novel by Fredrik Backman. Rolf Lassgård plays Ove, a man in his late 50's who has lost his wife to cancer, and lost his job due to redundancy. He is angry all the time, and demonstrates his anger by berating his neighbors, and making everyone stick to the letter of the regulations of the community in which he lives. You know something is going to change when new neighbors move in. The husband is Swedish, the wife (Bahar Pars) is Iranian-Swedish and pregnant, and their two daughters are adorable. You can see the end coming right from the start. What you can't see from the start is Ove's back story. Life has dealt him some bitter blows, some of them involving deceit by the people he calls "the white shirts." Ove truly loved his wife, Sonja, portrayed very well by Ida Engvoll. Now he has nothing and no one to love, and he takes this out on the world by being a pain in the neck. The movie has some funny moments and some tragic moments, and, eventually, they all fit together. The film is well crafted, well acted, and well photographed. It's hard not to like a movie like this. Think about the movie as "It's a Wonderful Life" in Swedish, and without Christmas. Maybe the plot is obvious, but it moves you anyway. We saw this film at the truly excellent Little Theatre in Rochester, NY. It will work well on the small screen. It's worth seeking out and watching. (A Man Called Ove has an excellent IMDb rating of 7.6. It's interesting that almost every voter liked it, and both U.S. and foreign reviewers enjoyed it equally.)

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• "Gran Torino"-reminding Swedish movie

  paul-allaer2016-10-21

  "A Man Called Ove" (2015 release from Sweden) brings the story of 59 yr. old Ove. As the movie opens, we see him bickering in a store over the price of flowers on his way to visit his wife Sonja's grave. Not long thereafter, he is given the boot at work, after a 43 yr. career in train maintenance. This leaves him with plenty of time to do the rounds of the small (and traffic-free) community where he lives. Then a young family moves in across the street, not knowing the many strict rules of the community. All along, Ove can't wait to join his beloved Sonja in the hereafter. At this point we're 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out. Couple of comments: first of all, if you have seen the trailer, you are probably expecting something along the line of that other recent Swedish movie, the funny and irreverent "The 100 Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared", as certainly the trailer gives that expectation. Let me stop you right there, as "A Man Called Ove" turns out to be almost nothing like it, and in fact I will say that the movie's trailer is outright misleading. "A Man Called Ove" certainly has some funny moments here and there, but in fact deals a lot more with how someone deals with facing life without a dearly beloved significant other. The movie cleverly looks back at the budding romance between Ove and Sonja in a number of flashbacks, and it's not until the very last 15 min. that we get the full picture. (During one of those flashbacks, we hear Demis Roussos' "Forever and Ever" in the background, which I literally hadn't heard in decades. That guy was HUGE in Europe in the 70s.) The movie also looks at the importance of neighbors and the immediate community (and even integration of migrants, as the wide of the young family fled Iran and is now completely fluent in Swedish). The movie that came to mind as I was watching this is Clint Eastwood's "Gran Torino" of a few years ago. Indeed, certain parallels are uncanny (grumpy older guy, love for cars (in "Ove" it's a Saab), dealing with personal loss, adjusting to new neighbors, etc. Rolf Lassgard is outstanding in the title role, and kudos also to Barar Pars as the young wife from Iran. "A Man Called Ove" opened with little pre-release fanfare at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Friday early evening screening where I saw this at was attended very nicely, somewhat to my surprise. So much the better! If you are up for a bittersweet Swedish movie about an older gentleman's adjustment to a new world, I think you will like this quite a bit. "A Man Called Ove" is worth checking out!

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• Beautiful movie

  osonder2015-12-26

  This is a beautiful movie that I warmly can recommend. Rolf Lassgård is acting great as always. This is a movie that will make you laugh and cry. The film is based on a book. I have not read the book, but my girlfriend had. She said that the movie was very good, and the story was well told. The movie have some actors that I have never seen before, but they all act good, and is lifting Rolf's role very well. I can warmly recommend this movie. I guess the movie will fit for all adult people (from 15 to 100 years old), and the movie make you have some thoughts, when the credits roll over the film at the end. I will not write any spoils here. See it for yourselves.

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• pleasant and moving

  nneveregret2016-05-10

  one of you guys may wonder why I am writing a review of this movie now. Im in South Korea so this movie didn't came out in cinema yet. nevertheless, I was waiting for this move after I got to know people seemed to love a book. Luckily, I got a preview ticket and could see it last night. I was kinda expecting this was gonna be good because I checked IMDb reviews for this movie said this was worth to see. I enjoyed this move a lot more than I expected. I like a fan of movie having good story line more than spectacular SF or CG scenes. To be honest, I love watching great nature scenery so it doesn't need to have a good story line. You can find about this movie's story line easily here and somewhere. so I don't write about movies much. I want to tell you why I loved this move a lot. First of all, Main character "Ove" acting is so excellent and involving. and his wife ensembles his character so adorably. Many scenes of his reminisces are very touching and got my eyes watery. I had thought to myself how it could be sad to lose a lifetime partner. and how it could be happy to get a woman I truly love. Someone can truly change your life. Characters and places in this movie were very restricted so it can be boring if you expect a very entertaining movie. If you go for movies that can give you a thought, definitely this will be for you.

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