“Rebellion vs Conformity in ‘We Are the Best!'”: Me at AmSpec

on a terrific new film. And given my readership, I’ll note that Hedwig is one of the most fascinating and nuanced Christian characters I can remember in a recent movie which isn’t centrally concerned with faith:

If We Are the Best! were The Breakfast Club, Allison would make over Claire—and the boys would just be accessories.

We Are the Best! is Lukas Moodysson’s confection about middle-school punker chicks in early ’80s Stockholm. Klara (Mira Grosin) is the cute, strident one with the cool parents. Bobo (Mira Barkhammar) is the mousy, insecure one who gets to stay over at Klara’s place so her mom can get on-again with her on-again, off-again boyfriend. They roam through their world, tiny splinters of arrogance and neediness, little idiots you’ll quickly come to love.

I admit that I’m predisposed to love Bobo and Klara. Their punk band’s big song is called “Hate the Sport!” and it’s about how terrible gym class is. I’m grinning right now remembering the scenes where they amble around the gym talking to one another when they’re supposed to be running punishment laps; where they give each other terrifying home haircuts spiked with soap; where Bobo gets that teen misery-face, the gut-churning face that says, I messed up and now everything is complicated! I remember all this stuff—this is what it’s like.

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