(Not ot be confused with another great film of the same name, directed by Chinese master Chen Kaige.)
"Together" is the second film by Lukas Moodysson, who gave us very charming film "Show Me Love." (If you have not seen it, you are just missing a great thing.) Here, Moodysson tackles different theme, a small commune in 1975 in Sweden, in which their ideals are tested by the new members of the place.
The film starts when a mother Elizabeth left her home with two children, Eva and Stefan, because of the perpetual violence of the drunkard husband. Now, the plot sounds heavy, but this film never gets too serious, so we are quickly introduced to the commune named "Together" where many colorful people are living. They are Erik, young radical student whose ideas go ridiculously too far; Anna, feminist turned lesbian who likes meditating; Goran, who is too kind-hearted (or timid) to tell what he realy thinks, Lena, whose idea of Free Love is a real suspect, and others, including a boy Tet (named after the event of the war in Vietnam) who plays with Stefan, doing "mock-torturing."
Now join the distraught wife Elizabeth and Eva and Stefan. The film tells how the commune react to them (and them to the commune) in a light touch, with many episodes. The general tone of the film is that of a well-made comedy, though for American audience some of the contents are very radical (nudity included). It's a Swedish film, after all.
The most impressive part is, like the previous "Show Me Love," the kids. Eva and the boy living across the street establish a budding relation which might be called love, and their embarrassed feelings towards the unique adults are implied very delicately in the apparently small things -- like staying all the day in a small van (which looks like the one you see in "Scooby-Doo").
And what I liked most is the sly touch of the film, which suggests that the commune is not going to last forever. I do not talk about the ending, but from the beginning you find that the community of the kind -- hippies denying any kind of commercialism, like TV or soft drink -- belongs to the things of the past. Like the music of ABBA, it's definitely 70s. And that's why they look charming, looking back from now.
You may find some of the characters annoying, but the film is delightful enough to make them, if not likeable, certainly irresitible. "Together" has that kind of power, which comples you to keep watching.
