Sune Urth Just saw the film for the fourth time, and thought I'd chip in on the discussion. It seems to me a lot of the criticism the film meets is about the incoherence of scenes, and the kaleidoscopic manuscript. Well, as it is a retrospective view upon a time long gone, I find it trustworthy and natural that the memory of the narrator is thus fragmented. That is how the mind works. And the narration is never torn, but keeps flowing. Yes, it is absurd, yes, it is grotesque, but this is what we call magic realism, a genre often attributed to south American writers. Here, the book that lays basis for the film, intelligently mixes the exotic air of magic with the harsh environment of Pajala. Enough about that. I find this one of the best examples of a successful adaption from book to film I have long seen. I do not see the bad acting that many point out. The dialects may vary, I am not Swedish and cannot tell, so I'm save from harm there. All in all, the ambiance of the film is sort of "happy in spite" and I am impressed every time. But I am a sucker for that magic realism, so bare that in mind. 9/10

jk-197 Walking into this movie just more or less accidentally, I went out 105 minutes later with another candidate to my "all times' best list". Formerly employed in movie-jobs myself, I can only say that this is a masterpiece. May be the critics about incoherent use of local dialects is right - I saw it translated anyway. But, if this is a misfit, I must say, there are hardly other minor misfits. The movie is not boring for a second, and the tough scenes are not voyeuristic like usual, but describing the characters and the environment - yes, in a tough way. Highly to be recommended to everyone who was not raised in an accomodance of McD' and Cadillacs. Very close to live, and wonderfully set into scene. Pure live, the hard way, yes, but full of real love. A must for cineastics.

Anna-Klara Dahlén "Populärmusik från Vittula" is about Matti and another character in the book is Mattis best friend, Niila. The book describe Mattis life and how he grows up in Pajala, a small village in northern Sweden. That's what the book is about...I read the book first, then I saw the movie and I almost cried... I was so disappointed! The story is totally changed! In the movie it seems like Niila is the main character, well, he isn't! I think the people who made this movie only read small parts of the book and then picked out the best parts. It surprised me that the movie even had the same title as the book!!The actors were not so good. It sounded like 90% of them were talking right from the manuscript! I liked Greger though (Björn Kellman), he was very much like the Greger I pictured from the book. I also liked Isak, Niilas mean father and I liked the grown up Niila (just to mention some of the good actors)! But they used many actors who didn't have the right dialect. Many of the actors spoke "Standard Swedish", like they do in Stockholm for example...If you haven't read the book, see the movie (then read the book), but if you have read the book (and liked it), don't bother to see the movie! That is my advice for all of you...

skovstrup Very disappointing! A school example of how a hilarious, funny and moving book can be made into an incoherent collection of sound and music. More or less everything is wrong: character description, portrait of the specific era, soundtrack, narrator's role, casting except for a few very good ones, setting etc etc. There is no flow and nothing keeping the project together. It is like watching a long series of sketches with a few good ones thrown in but a lot of cinematic junk food in between. The best scenes are definitely the darker ones which also stand out more prominent than in the book, whereas the funny and warm side is almost completely missing, just being referred to without any enthusiasm. Read the book instead.