Pure (2009)

Load of rubbish!!

disgusting, overrated, pointless

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

What would you do to get out of the guat (thanks John Hughes) you find yourself in? This is the central question posed by our protagonist played by Alicia Vikander in an early role before embarking into Hollywood superstardom. In a story w/echoes of the Dardennes' Rosetta, we have a woman whose found her calling in life but due to a mistake in judgment, she'll do anything to keep her station. At once harrowing, traumatic but ultimately uplifting, Pure's heroine gets her due but at what cost?

About music? Or what, exactly.Glam? Music is an art form.To make a film about music, one should respect the subject and performers within the confines of the script.Pretty faces do not music make.Nor does production values film make. Scripting is story, production is canvas,direction is product.Any musician would see, any at all, poor research on behalf of the writer(s).Go for it with gusto next time, practice, practice, practice.Makes perfect.It is with dull merit that I had to include more lines than needed to get this review submitted. So be it. This film does not express what it tried to say, but follies about with faces and drama.

It's hard to criticize somebody's good intentions. But in this case I'll make an exception. This film is not very good. When you receive some of the highest awards from the Swedish film academy, you expect something spectacular. You don't find it in this film. Written, produced and directed by women, this film is meant to express an honest depiction from a female perspective. You don't find that either. Instead we get a very naive and dated (i.e. unoriginal) story that tells us that men are pigs that abuse and exploit women. Really, I didn't know that... The worst part is the extremely unoriginal screenplay that includes such Swedish classics such as: suicide, alcoholism, prostitution, depression, working class misery, nudity and melancholia.If this was the BEST screenplay that year, I'd love to see the worst ones.The writer's intentions might be sincere but far from original and very, very naive.Perhaps this was meant to be a children's movie?Or maybe it was all just a dream.I don't want to rant, but could somebody please show these creatives some good political female oriented movies? Norma Rae, Network, The Piano....Or perhaps the writer's intention is to say that a young woman, who feels upset after having had an affair with a married man, and being left by him, and unjustly terminated (from her trial employment), has the right to KILL that man (pig, oppressor) - and get away with it.Perhaps this movie is genius after all.Or maybe not.

PURE ('Till det som är vackert') is a stunning little film from Sweden written and directed by newcomer Lisa Langseth. It is currently in the 'on demand' section of Eurocinema on television and will likely be released on a USA format DVD soon. The film embraces many subjects - coming of age, the impact of classical music on young minds, affaires de coeur, philosophy, the politics of concert halls, mother daughter relationships scarred by mental illness - and in the end succeeds in dealing with some ethical questions. Katarina (Alicia Vikander, a brilliant, young, fresh 22 year old Swedish actress) lives in poverty with her boyfriend Mattias (Martin Wallström, a handsome, sensitive blue-eyed actor) in an unkempt apartment where Mattias spends his days watching television while Katarina seeks meaning to her grungy life on the streets as a prostitute. Her family is in disarray - her mother Birgitta (Josephine Bauer) is an alcoholic and a mentally ill wasted person - and Katarina is discontent. By chance she hears some Mozart played on the YouTube and has an epiphany moment. She has been a driven, hurt and hopeful soul, but Hearing Mozart somehow changes that. The music draws her to the Gothenburg Symphony Concert Hall where because of some free tickets she and Mattias hear a performance of the Mozart Requiem as conducted by Adam (Samuel Fröler): the experience bores Mattias but transforms Katarina. The concert hall becomes a magnet for Katarina and as she sneaks into the hall for a rehearsal of the Beethoven 3rd she is mistakenly identified by receptionist Nya (Isabella Bauer) as a potential candidate for job in the hall. Katarina's apparent love for music and her openness gain her the position of Concert Hall receptionist: she has escaped her dreary life and is surrounded by classical music. Gradually Katarina meets and becomes friends with Adam who finds her refreshing and in addition to talking about music he introduces her to great literature and philosophy. The bond grows and Katarina and Adam have an affair, a relationship that is transient because Adam is married. When Adam shares with Katarina that the affair must not go on, Katarina is crushed, and because of the fear Adam holds about her omnipresence in the concert hall, he has her fired. The manner in which this abrupt change in Katarina's transformed new life progresses echoes one of the phrases of Kierkegaard the Adam taught her - "Courage is life's only measure' - and the story takes surprising turns and an even more surprising end. Much of the success of the film is due to the extraordinary acting by Alicia Vikander, a young talent who seems wise beyond her years as far as intuitive acting skills. The musical score is attributed to Per-Erik Winberg, though the music throughout the film is Beethoven, Mozart, Bach and Massenet. In addition to the story being well written and directed and performed, there is a secondary message for the audience: the introduction to classical music and to cultural concepts can change lives of young people if they gain exposure. It is a challenge we should attempt of provide. Grady Harp