Fantastic!

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Blistering performances.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

I recently listened to the audiobook version of the novel by Fredrik Backman (narrated by George Newbern) so I went into the movie knowing what was going to happen. While this did give me a "comparing" perspective that I wouldn't typically have, I was still able to settle in and enjoy it.The main actors are terrific and carry the movie. While he's not exactly what I pictured when listening to the book (Ove is characterized as appearing more physically imposing and less "soft"), Rolf Lassgård really nails the most important role in the film. Bahar Pars, while less is asked of her acting-wise, is equally wonderful in the role of Parvaneh. Other than Sonja the rest of the other actors are forgettable in their roles.This movie held up to my expectations for most of the way through, but the ending fell short of the impact that I felt with the book and due to that I'd consider this more of a "good" movie than "great" one.In directly comparing to the book there are a number of details outside of the main Ove/Sonja narrative that had to be left out, which of course is expected. What I do feel that the movie lacks is being able to explain the relationships that Ove has with the other people in his life (outside of Sonja and Parvaneh). Some of those are equally powerful in showing Ove's strong moral compass and at the same time explaining why he acts the way he does.

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.

I have only seen two of the five films that were nominated to best foreign language feature film at the Oscars: 'Land of Mine' and 'A man called Ove'. I haven't seen the one that won the Oscar (The Salesman), but I think this one, and Land of Mine, although completely different, had the potential to win.But anyway, this movie is just excellent in every way. The acting was perfect, I think the protagonist did a great job, probably worthy of being nominated for Best Actor. The secondary members of the cast did an excellent job too. I certainly liked how good the characters of Ove and Sonja looked together.And the plot and script never stay behind. The script was spontaneus, true and hilarious; this, along with the plot and the photography, creates a story that perfectly shows how invaluable is to have someone beside you when times are so hard; to have someone who makes you see that life is truly worthwhile and that everything is not lost.10/10. Although I still have to see The Salesman, by now, I think that it was worthy of the Oscar, and of more nominations. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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.