We Are the Best! Review

Like a lot of people in the age of the internet, I am fascinated by art that is classified as “so bad it’s good”: the type of art made by people who have the ambition of the greats, but none of their talent.  If a person thinks they’re making a masterpiece, there is something in there even if it isn’t a quality product.  This applies to the music made by the trio of girls in Lukas Moodysson’s latest film We Are the Best!  As the girls start to explore music, two of them are genuinely terrible at it at first, but what they lack in chops they make up for in enthusiasm.  It’s the kind of enthusiasm that is intrinsically tied with youth, and it permeates throughout the film.  Because ultimately youth is a time when people should be making mistakes and pursuing whims since those journeys can yield interesting and unexpected results.

We Are the Best! is set in 1982 Stockholm as Klara and Bobo (Mira Grosin and Mira Barkhammar respectively), two misfit 7^th graders with a passion for punk rock but no musical experience befriend a shy Christian classical guitarist Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne).  They form a punk band and the film tracks their ups and downs.  There is no plot here; most of the film is spending time with the characters as they learn musicianship from Hedvig and Hedvig learns lessons in rebellion from the other girls.  Normally watching kids goof around would get annoying fast but Moodysson, whose Show Me Love also dealt with kids around this age, shows a great aptitude of working with child actors.  The three young leads all turn in great performances as three different types of teen girls trying to find their place in the world.

Thinking about the film, the term “winning” comes up a lot and for good reason.  This is an easy film to like.  We are on these girls’ side the entire time: from when they are a genuinely terrible band to an almost OK band.  When they are almost OK, we’ll still side with the eponymous sentiment because they’re so enthusiastic about it.  These aren’t girls out to be rich and famous rock stars; they’re kids looking to create their own identities and find independence.

Punk at its core is about rebellion and letting the outcasts have their say.  Throughout the film the people in power, their parents and their peers often marginalize the core trio, but through the power of music they persevere and ultimately become stronger.  It’s an idea that’s strong for any outsider who has found comfort and strength in any kind of art, and it’s an idea that’s sincerely delivered in We Are the Best!

Grade: B+

Note:

-I really enjoyed the soundtrack.  I’ve obviously not listened to a lot of punk made outside of the US and UK, but this stuff was pretty good, and “We Hate Sports” turned into a pretty catchy song as they got better playing it.

What I've Been Reading: Late Summer/Early Fall Edition

The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman

Lev Grossman concludes his Magicians trilogy (preceded by The Magicians and The Magician King) with this highly satisfying novel.  Series protagonist Quentin Coldwater is down and out and is looking for a new purpose with a mysterious heist mission, while his friends in the faraway land of Fillory find themselves locked in another dilemma of cataclysmic proportions.  True to its roots as a mix of Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia, Girls and Scott Pilgrim, The Magician’s Land reads like a novel about how young creators need to leave the proverbial sandboxes of past creators and make their own.  With a possible show on Syfy in the works, now’s a great time to get acquainted with the world Grossman’s created.

History of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Ten Songs by Greil Marcus

Although it got a little pretentious at times and there are traces of snobbery against modern music, the latest from Greil Marcus is a unique take on the countless books written about the history of rock.  It isn’t about the 10 definitive rock songs, but rather 10 songs whose stories serve as microcosm for larger trends in the musical community.  Some are well known classics like “In the Still of the Nite” and “Money (That’s What I Want)”, others are more obscure.  For readers who don’t want to read another piece about “Like a Rolling Stone” or any other picked apart classic, this is a worthwhile alternative history to one of the greatest cultural movements of the 20^th century.

Ex Machina written by Brian K. Vaughan, Artwork by many more

Another one from acclaimed writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man), this one can be summed up as The West Wing with superheroes (I know I’m not the first person to say that).  The series, which ran from 2004 through 2010, follows Mitchell Hundred as he governs a post-9/11 New York City.  Before he was mayor, Hundred gained the ability to speak to machines and used that ability to become a vigilante crime fighter and a hero on 9/11.  Like The West Wing at its best, the politics in Ex Machina are treated smartly.  A variety of hot button issues are discussed throughout the run and there’s never a sense of straw manning whatever side Vaughan disagrees with.  The reveal of why Hundred got his powers comes a little too late and rushes what could’ve been a satisfying payoff (I suspect it may have something to do with the publisher closing), but the run is still a refreshing spin on the superhero genre.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

For those of us eagerly awaiting the return of Game of Thrones (the show, the next book or both), The Name of the Wind will help pass the time very well.  The first in Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle, The Name of the Wind focuses on a legendary wizard who has gone into hiding named Kvothe (like “Quothe”).  Upon being discovered by a scribe known as Chronicler, Kvothe allows Chronicler to transcribe his autobiography.  The first book largely focuses on Kvothe’s life from young circus performer to struggling orphan to student at the most prestigious University in the world.  Rothfuss has a great talent at world building, with Kvothe’s Walter White-esque logic of thinking everything out helping us understand how the cultures, the history and the magic system work.  Throughout the book there are hints at trouble down the road, which creates some great ominous foreshadowing.  Like Game of Thrones, this saga is also incomplete, but is another great step for those who’ve been to Westeros and want to see more from the fantasy genre.