fucking-amal.com

I just realized this in a quiet minute, thinking about some dialogues from FA...the movie stays a miracle to me.

Just wanted to share since there's not much activity on the board.

np: Fucking Åmål - Show Me Love / Robyn

You'll get no argument from me, mate!

eiger wrote:thinking about some dialogues from FA...the movie stays a miracle to me.

What dialogue in particular is so miracolous?

bruno wrote:

eiger wrote:thinking about some dialogues from FA...the movie stays a miracle to me.

What dialogue in particular is so miracolous?

Yeah, I'd say his genius is in casting and getting a "true" performance out of those actors that evokes an emotional response from the audience rather than in crafting amazing dialogue, but I only have the subs to go by.

I guess you could say that what the actors say is what those characters would say, which is maybe harder to pull off than it seems. The other direction is something like Juno where the writer tries to be too clever and the dialogue sounds fake (swear to blog, that's one diddle that can't be undid home skillet, etc.) even if it reads better on the page.

I agree, I remember an interview where Alexandra D said she had no difficulty in playing her character because it was very natural and similar to herself.
This could mean also, Moodysson was very good at casting actors.
As for dialogues, I got the Australian DVD (the box was destroyed in the long trip but the DVD survived, and amazingly the movie looks worst in its legitimate form than the italian pirate DVIX ) and I see the translaction is almost identical (from swedish to english subtitles, and to italian voice). I was amazed how the dialogue seems natural. And yet I gave a quick look at the script, generally seems they followed it and dialogue was not improvised on the spot. So yes, it's really impressive.
It's a thing I really like in this film, this is one of the very few pieces about adolescent problems that doesnt feel full of crap.

mpox wrote:I guess you could say that what the actors say is what those characters would say, which is maybe harder to pull off than it seems.

I think this is the point. To create naturalness, truthfulness - something that feels real - in a setting that is so completely artifical as a movie set is a real achievement, and there are not many writers/directors out there who can pull off the trick. The simpler it looks, the harder it is. I think everyone who has ever tried to write a piece of fiction or dialogue can feel that. (As I made clear before, I was very fond of Juno the movie, but how many girls are there who talk like her - and how many who talk like Agnes?) You cannot just let the characters "say what they feel" or "say what they think". Doing this inevitably leeds to cheesiness, because that's not how it is in reality. Moodysson's dialogue is fantastic because he knows how to show that the characters do not say the things they would like to say, because they somehow cannot, or dare not, and to show how they try to say something by something completely different. (Talk on the bridge, my favourite example, and of course: O'boy scene.)

kant1781 wrote:

eiger wrote:I guess you could say that what the actors say is what those characters would say, which is maybe harder to pull off than it seems.

I think this is the point. To create naturalness, truthfulness - something that feels real - in a setting that is so completely artifical as a movie set is a real achievement, and there are not many writers/directors out there who can pull off the trick.

Hmm, that was my quote but OK.

I agree that creating a movie that feels real is hard and in a lot of ways FÅ seems almost like a documentary, but to me there's a difference between that and great dialogue. The magic to me isn't really in what Agnes or Elin ever said but in how they say it and the direction that brings all the elements together. Would the bridge scene have been as memorable if it was filmed on a park bench? The dialogue was good, but if it wasn't where it was without the requisite buildup or if you were just reading it I don't think it would have nearly the same impact.

The simpler it looks, the harder it is. I think everyone who has ever tried to write a piece of fiction or dialogue can feel that.

I was just reading an article with a list of quotes from famous people about how brevity was more difficult than the opposite.

http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=84

Sorry, mpox - corrected it. Sure you're right about the way the lines have to be delivered by the actors and the direction. Without that, the best dialogue is wasted. So Moodysson's superb direction and the fantastic actresses he had are equally important; still the quality of his writing is an essential element in the magic of FA.

I think it's fantastic that the dialogue in FÅ sounds so real even to you foreigners

The film was praised by critics in Sweden for having this authentic feel and for not sounding theatrical at all

And what they speak is very much what you'd call everyday-Swedish, with some swearing thrown in, and so on

LOL Well, I've no idea what Sweden is like but it feels real to me, too.

Indeed it does, that's one of the things that made the movie what it is, for me