ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

erdmannmartin Based on real cases from Gothenburg, the director has created an almost documentary-looking study of a youth gangs of black immigrant children who exclude younger white children with all sorts of tricks and "games". The younger children do not fight back and - perfectly educated politically - only symbolically set signs that they want to escape from the subtle captivity of the gang. Of course, adults do not help. After all, you do not want to be a "racist" ..The film creates an oppressive mood through the static wide-angle camera with simultaneous subtle violence. Unwittingly, attitudes, macho, lack of imagination and threats of violence are also shown against adults who threaten politically correct with the police, what the gang kids (10-15 years) smile only tired.Here, the original Swedish openness and Christian expectation developed over centuries meet totally disintegrated immigrant children who are unlikely to be integrated in the next three generations and, as Kant would say, work only with slyness, not reason: love and Being nice means being a weakling - just like the police in Sweden. Because authority means in the context of the gang: violence. So you know it from his tradition.If Östlund's current big movie "the Square" is the grand exposure and dismantling of politically correct comfort, one can see the same direction in "Play", only from the perspective of the street: what is going wrong in a society of total anti-discrimination, in which is only abstracted without examining the facts? The end is unbelievably apt and represents the verdict on the concrete facts: A reverse racism breaks down, destroys society and the quality of culture. The last music scenes of the film leave the audience dejected ...Sweden has a new Ingmar Bergman who can display the individual human relationship at the same time oppressive from a political point of view.

lioil A visually interesting and unusual movie. It is centered around rather a chilling story of bullying that is built very slowly thus making it thrilling and terrifying, since we are conditioned to expect some bloody climax; yet the horror happens only in the subtle way of exposing the violence which is in conforming. The main story is cut several times by visuals of a parallel yet empty story that pretends to add to meaning. Again both stories are expected {we are conditioned to expect} to join in some great climax yet it does happen just in quite a meaningless way. The movie is full of visual fluff that is there to amplify any interpretation one can see. Some parts are missing, again to punish expectations. Like when the boy gets to the treetop and an interesting discussion develops. All is cut: somehow he is back down, yet why? To conform with his comrades who had let him down before? Conforming or conditioning that makes people insensitive to what is and so react predictably is also exposed in reactions of shopkeeper, passengers, disturbed ladies at the end. Street-smarts count on predictability of petty minds; bullying may continue. Should have been shorter.

OJT A goodwill idea and important film to make, and it did stir up a debate in Sweden, but still I can't help bring annoyed by the way the film. It's well played by the kids portraying both the bullies and the bullied and robbed, and you can't help getting touched by some of the scenes. This is based upon a true event, and we clearly can see the technical the bully's make. This is not the first time they've done this.Still the problem I've got with the film is it's documentary style. It's a bit too full of art and feelings. It takes the focus off the topic too often, and makes the film boring. When we want to know what happens next, we get to see things which probably is correct in time-line, but still becomes uninteresting in the narration. The director is filming this as too much of "a fly on the wall".This film won the Nordic Council film prize, but is by far the worst film nominated. The prize should have gone to "Kompani Orheim" or "A royal affair", which I both rated a 9. If you like a slow film about this topic, You'll probably be more satisfied. The slowness resembles the one in Gus van Sants "Elephant" which also is a better movie.

stensson Black boys take mobile phones away from younger white boys. It doesn't happen through verbal threat or violence. Most of the job is performed through body language and way of speaking. The blacks know if functions.This has meant a debate about a racist script and a racist film. That's of course not what director Ruben Östlund is up to. He very clearly points out how subtle things, like the way you look at somebody, gives you power. That also depends on the social context, the environment and so on, but it is there. It's certainly not as simple as it's put in billions of stupid action movies.Long takes, brilliant acting by young amateurs. One objection is however the almost parodic ignorance from the grown-up world, an ignorance which is not subtle at all. Anyway, this should be the most important Swedish film of 2011.