An astute observation based on real cases of bullying. Read more …
In central Gothenburg, Sweden, a group of boys, aged 12-14, robbed other children on about 40 occasions between 2006 and 2008. The thieves used an elaborate scheme called the 'little brother number' or 'brother trick', involving advanced role-play and gang rhetoric rather than physical violence.
It’s audacious, unsettling and perceptive, even if ultimately it poses more questions than it answers.
The message is laid on slow and thick, but it's no less powerful for it.
Ostlund overplays it in the last third by shifting the perspective from teenage bullying to the adult kind, thereby diluting the drama's implicit issues of race and class. But he knows how to build tension from extremes of banality.
An unsettling film that uses long takes and a still camera to capture real-life incidents that have caused huge controversy in Sweden.
It's a bold, ambitious film, extremely well acted by a largely non-professional cast. But there's something uneasy about the knife-edge Östlund is working on, and his film is overlong and inadequately focused.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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