Lukas Moodysson
Together 99
Tillsammans 99
SE, DK
2023, 115’, sv
Age 16+

 

It is the 24th year of the free-thinking commune Together in the suburbs of Stockholm. As time has passed, only two members remain – the leader Göran and the somewhat standoffish Klas. As they practise a 70s analogue lifestyle, both soon realise that the millennium is approaching, and in many systems the fateful year number will cause no small amount of upheaval. Nevertheless, Göran is determined to celebrate his sixtieth birthday, unaware that Klas has invited those who have left the commune to the celebration. Neither of them realises that the changes, unfulfilled desires, and the idea of a different shared future will once again shake the collective as they reunite.

A sitcom that rips up the wounds of truth concerning midlife, where everyone is lost in translation of their own time. The Swedish director and writer Moodysson (the daring drama Lilya 4-ever (2002)) returns to the characters of his dramedy from year 2000  – the Stockholm community who, over 20 years later, he continues to test with the boundaries of middle-class freedom within a melodramatic capitalist decadence. In this follow-up to Together, the Malmö-born director, referred to as “the hope of Swedish film” by Ingmar Bergman himself, employs a playful, documentary-like close-up approach to examine what's happened over these 24 years in the laboratory of socialist ideas and the collective portrait. Especially since it's had internet access, a breath of greater independence, and everyone is now more of an individualist.