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Garageland
The Clash devolved from punk snots to self-destructive louts. A new live set captures the band in its ragged glory.
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It might not be so big a problem if there were something more to occupy our attention while waiting for Agnes and Elin to get together. But Moodysson never makes full use of his talented supporting cast, including Erica Carlson as Elin's older sister and Mathias Rust as Johan, the boy with whom she has a brief dalliance. Some of what the director does is fine. I particularly liked the way he treats Elin's sleeping with Johan as no great thrill and no great tragedy, refusing to accord it any more importance than she does. And I liked the way Ralph Carlsson, as Agnes' dad, works awkwardly but genuinely to keep the lines of communication with his daughter open. On the other hand, it doesn't make us care any more for Agnes that she's so unresponsive. And Moodysson doesn't show all the sympathy he might toward Rust's Johan, who's trying to open himself up to Elin but is carrying around too much protective-adolescent-guy baggage.

The director makes a horrible mistake with the character of Agnes' wheelchair-bound friend. Miserable for herself at her birthday party, Agnes berates the girl mercilessly, telling her she never wanted to be friends with her in the first place. We see just how much this hurts the girl. But Moodysson seems to be inflicting his own cruelties on her when her character turns out to be sour and petty, spreading rumors about Agnes' lesbianism.

What keeps us watching are Liljeberg and Dahlström, both beautifully natural, and the hope that we'll get to see them together. The payoff, which combines adolescent bravado and tentativeness, is -- in tone if not in staging -- just about perfect. There's humor and sweetness in the way the movie leaves the girls teetering between the shelter of girlhood and the bigger, scarier, more thrilling world of sex. That they don't seem willing to give up either only makes them even more appealing. Like all adolescents, they want it all, a chocolate milk and a nice afternoon fuck.
salon.com | Oct. 19, 1999

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