Watch A Man Called Ove For Free

I love this movie so much

Awesome Movie

Absolutely the worst movie.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

A story well enough told, but there is no originality. Guess that's why this is so easy to take in: everything seems nicely familiar, and well within one's comfort zone. Problem is, this is not funny enough for a comedy. See, comedy relies on the element of surprise, which this one doesn't offer. The story, lifted from the pages of a popular novel, recycles the age-old theme of a cantankerous old dude who hates the ways of the modern world. While the resourceful Rolf Lassgård is in fine form in the lead, his character is too familiar to begin with. Director carefully follows the path well-travelled, which makes the whole movie seem more like a product than an actual work of art or self-expression. Cinematography, especially, is way too generically "well-balanced".The few merits of the movie include the cast - and the ending, which is - finally - a little bit touching. Too little, too late.

In a Swedish townhouse community, Ove (Rolf Lassgard) is a long-time resident who is recently widowed. His grief only adds to his grouchy attitudes toward people who don't follow his standards of community living. His new neighbours are a young mixed-race family co-lead by Parvaneh (Bahar Pars), a very pregnant immigrant from Iran.Some of the best scenes in the film are those told in flashback as they explain how Ove developed such a negative attitude. The story (screenplay by Hannes Holm based on the book by Fredrik Backman) has a clever way of making us curious about finding the pieces of the past with various hints in the current story; and then satisfying our curiosity once such events are revealed in the parallel flashback story.Parvaneh's character is a bit of an anomaly. She can sometimes be annoying and take Ove for granted. Yet, the story seems to imply that she is there to "humanize" him. This might have worked better if her character had been more developed. Instead, too much time is spent on other subplots, sideshows and other characters that end up overcrowding the narrative. Some of the subplots also seem to be resolved unusually quickly.There seem to be messages like "you can't go through life alone" and themes of 'community values' which may be noble but their repetitions become didactic and annoyingly obvious and sentimental. Other themes work better such as the recurrence of administrators-from-hell ("whiteshirts" as Ove calls them), the insensitive bureaucrats that we can all recognize: Satan in multiple human forms.The conclusion is touching as it makes us have a better understanding about people who appear grouchy. Also, Lassgard gives a fine performance. But overall, the movie was rather mixed. The dramatic scenes are much better than the comedy scenes. Call me old-fashioned but I just don't find humour in repeatedly thwarted suicide attempts.

Ove maintains control over his life by being punctilious in everything he does. He doesn't hoard, like others might, he just insists on the following of rules, both by himself and everyone else. He clearly sees himself as the ideal Swede even to the point of only ever driving a Saab. Early in his life, he recognises another man of similar age who seems to share his obsessions....all is well until the other man, who has defiantly had a series of Volvo cars, buys a BMW. This is the final straw and the two men refuse to have anything to do with the other...despite their shared principles. This is just the surface patina of an ocean of feelings that Ove cannot share as his wife has departed without him. He tends her grave daily and, almost as often, tries to commit suicide in order to be with her again. He is comically inept at this task and is tested sorely by the arrival of a mixed race family who take up residence next door. Through interactions with them, we get to learn of Ove's traumatic and sad life experiences and the joy that his wife Sonja represented to him. The whole is a masterclass in story telling and visual representation. You'll weep but only after laughing heartily at some of Ove's exploits. Well done!

This review of A Man Called Ove is spoiler free**** (4/5)SENTIMENT IS A godsend, and to come across them these days is a real miracle that seemingly can't be done, in blockbusters maybe but in Hannes Holm's irresistible adaptation of Fredrik Backman's eponymous bestseller, A Man Called Ove has that and more. Holm gently matches beautiful material, emotional heft, and loving melodrama all in one and it's wonderful. Ove (Rolf Lassgård) is the grumpy man of the block – a 59-year-old retiree, who several years before the film's setting had been kicked out of the Condominium Association, yet he still angrily enforces rules for the isolated community, this turns him into the most hated man on the block. He writes down rules in his handy notepad, stops cars, and refuses to do the simplest tasks. He blames his wife's death on everyone and everything around him; he's always angry, shouting at people and terrifying animals. This perfect characterization comes with a flaw, he's terribly lonely, visiting the grave of recently deceased wife, and he tries to commit suicide. Until new neighbours move in. A young family of four. The young woman of this new family, Parvaneh (Bahar Pars) wants to meet her new neighbour, Ove doesn't want to know. Character-wise Ove is a lot like As Good As It Gets' Melvin Udall, he hates everyone and everything, until someone special takes a hold of his heart – that is Parvaneh and her two children. He starts to get used to her, he teaches her to drive, and he vows to baby-sit. And it's wonderful. Holms' direction is polished to near perfection, he handles Ove's story with fierce hands, there's no heavy touch, the way his camera moves through the community, the cemetery the detail is exquisite. It excels in its redemption tale setting, it's made with love, carefully mixing melodrama with dark comedy and Holm makes it work well. The material used from the novel is used beautifully. There's sympathy for him as visits his wife's grave, and as he wills to commit suicide. He's hilarious too, with his deadpan expression he's hilarious in his behaviour he utters the word idiot to passers-by, he imitates a Chihuahua plus his rivalry with people who own foreign cars is exceptionally funny. And he's emotional, thanks to timely flashbacks that carefully construct his life from the death of his mother, through growing up with his father, to the meeting of his wife, which combined with Lassgård's tour de force performance is a perfect storyteller. A Man Called Ove excels in brilliance, it's an incredibly human comedy which captures true sentiment and fires it like an arrow at your heartstrings; this could be one of the best films of the year by far. VERDICT: Flawless performances help convert this lovable tale onto the silver screen, with excellent execution in true sentiment and emotional heft.