#coco moodysson

[alanmackcomics]

WE ARE THE BEST! (2013)

Set in Stockholm in 1982, three teenage girls start a punk band. Full of teenage defiance, angst, shenanigans, DIY punk and friendship moments, this film is the best! If you don’t like it then we probably won’t be friends.

Directed by Lukas Moodysson, adapted from the autobio graphic novel Never Goodnight by his wife, Coco Moodysson.

🤘🖤

[tudorscharlot]

Vi är bäst! (We Are the Best!) (Lukas Moodysson, 2013)

This film is so beautiful and generous. And it is so cute and funny (without ever being cheesy or trite). But the heart of it is the love and friendship between these punk girls who are all a little out of step with their respective worlds. Friendship love stories like this just melt me. Between this and the equally endless-hearted Fucking Åmål (a.k.a. Show Me Love) and Tillsammans (Together), I feel that Mr. Moodysson’s standing as one of the finest filmmakers living today is undeniable. I hope he makes another film soon. P.S. - This film was adapted from Never Goodnight, a graphic novel written by Mr. Moodyson’s wife, Coco Moodysson. I haven’t read it yet, but I just confirmed that it is in print and available in an English translation. 

[isobelharrop]

Since leaving uni (and during uni, tbh) I’ve found reading for fun incredibly difficult. My attention span is terrible and I fall asleep after a couple of pages. However, I have recently found a solution and that is in the form of graphic novels and manga. So I thought I would write up a list of a few of my favourites; I would love recommendations too (tweet me @isobeljournal)

1. Azumanga Diaoh and Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma

It was getting the Azumanga omnibus last Christmas that really got me started down this road. I had never really read a manga before (except the first Yotsuba book which I will come back to) and I guess I had always dismissed them as I’m not really interested in magical stuff or anything like that, which I had imagined all manga was full of. However, Azumanga is the total opposite of anything like that. It’s a “slice of life” manga that follows a group of high school girls, and apart from a few surreal (and funny) dream sequences, there is none of the “weird manga stuff” I had imagined. Just a group of characters who you just learn to love and lugh at a lot, and in the end when the girls graduate from high school, it brought a tear to my eye because I had grown so fond of them, I felt like I was there.

Kiyohiko Azuma is the king of slice of life, not just for creating Azumanga, but because he also created the wonderfully sweet and hilarious Yotsuba&!. Whilst this series has a younger lead character and a younger target audience, it honestly warms the cockles of my heart so much, and each panel is so full of expression (he’s brilliant at showing emotion on Yotsuba’s little face) that even the simplest thing can make me laugh out loud reading it. Yotsuba is a little girl who seems to know nothing about the world, and through these comics we watch her experiencing the world through fresh eyes, led by her dad and neighbours.

2. Isabella Bird in Wonderland (Fushigi no Kuni no Bird) by Taiga Sassa

I found out about this manga just the other week after a holiday to Scotland and in particular, a visit to Tobermory (Balamory) on the Isle of Mull. At a museum there I learned a bit about Isabella Bird, an explorer who had lived there and traveled the world in the 19th century.  When I went on Wikipedia to find out more about her, I discovered that her journey to Japan had been translated into a manga, and I was even more excited when I found an English version available to read online.

I didn’t think that a historical manga would appeal to me this much but I devoured the whole thing in a couple of afternoons. Much like the first two, this book is very grounded in reality with none of the outlandish  “manga” conventions those unfamiliar with the genre imagine it would contain. It is also really lovingly done with real attention to detail (especially in the translation notes) and even tackles the issues of Westerners travelling and colonising the East, whilst still being funny and warm and enjoyable to read. 

Here is a link to the online version, as it isn’t available to buy in English unfortunately.

3. Fluffy by Simone Lia

I was given this graphic novel by a literary agent a few years ago and I really really enjoyed it and it’s one of those books I’ve even lent out to friends because it’s such a short, sweet, funny, and sad book. It looks at first glance like a children’s book but it’s actually an adult graphic novel with quite a lot of substance about anxiety and family and just life, really. Yet it is still light hearted; Fluffy is a bunny (who believes he is a child) with a Yotsuba-like outlook on the world. His exhausted dad/owner Michael tries to balance his bunny looking after responsibilities with an unsuccessful love life and family that is falling apart. A lot of unconventional narrative techniques such as looking into the inside of Michael’s brain or the narration being conducted by a dust particle make it stand out from other similar books (if similar books exist!)

4. Never Goodnight by Coco Moodysson

If you have seen the movie We Are The Best you will know this story anyway, as this graphic novel is written by Lukas Moodysson’s (the film’s director) wife, Coco, and it was the inspiration for the story. I recommend both the film and the book - I like her unique drawing style and the sweet and the funny tale of growing up punk in 1982 Sweden is brilliant on page and screen.

5. Ripples by Wai Wai Pang

I’ve followed Wai Wai Pang on the internet for years and always loved her work, and when this comic came out I was so eager that I ended up being the first person to order it from her shop. The artwork in this Milton Keynes-set detective story is really ingenious and uses techniques taken from detective stories such as maps, collections of evidence, and character info cards to tell the story in a really interesting and visually beautiful way. I also like how the characters are a mix of a humans and animals.

6. Solanin and Goodnight Punpun by Inio Asano

These two critically acclaimed manga’s are a bit darker and weirder than my other choices, and most suitable for adult audiences, however they’re both well worth a read, Solanin in particular if you are in a similar life situation to myself and want to read a depressing story about post-uni life. The art work is beautiful in both, particularly in the backgrounds, which are contrasted in Goodnight Pun Pun in his simply designed main character, who is a bird I think? Or maybe a ghost under a sheet. Either way, it looks great. 

Solanin is a stand alone book, whcih makes it a good place to start and see how you feel about Asano’s work, whereas Pun Pun has more installments which I am yet to read, but I am looking forward to finding out what happens next in Pun Pun’s dysfunctional world.

(7. I guess I should be Annoying and remind y’all that I wrote a sort of graphic novel called The Isobel Journal which you can still buy!! Ok thanks bye!!)

[ismynewbandname]

Finished reading Never Goodnight last night, and I loved it. So much so that I’ve woken up this morning with a vision for my own autobiographical comic book story. I’m going to try and just do it without beating myself up about my (lack of) drawing skill constantly. It’ll be a nice project if I manage not to take it too seriously.

Never Goodnight was great. Sometimes I forgot which character was which, because they all basically have the same hairdo, but I loved all the stuff about music and kissing boys. I googled Coco Moodysson afterwards and was really annoyed to find that most of the results were for her (apparently more famous) husband. Reason enough to stay single imo.

An hour and a quarter until I try to get tickets for Bikini Kill in Brixton. Another thing not to beat myself up over if it doesn’t come off.

[culturegazing]

Thematic Clusters | Family

Whether it’s about maintaining connections, recovering from disconnections or seeking approval from thy’s own blood, these films will make you feel a bit better that your family isn’t as crazy as you think it is. 

Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story) (1953) directed by 

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) directed by Wes Anderson

Volver (2006) directed by Pedro Almodovar

Aruitemo Aruitemo (Still Walking) (2008) directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda

Mammoth (2009) directed by Lukas Moodysson

I Am Love (2009) directed by Luca Guadagnino

The Kids are Alright (2010) directed by Lisa Cholodenko

Rabbit Hole (2010) directed by John Cameron Mitchell

What Maisie Knew (2012) directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel

Wish I was Here (2014) directed by Zach Braff

What we did on our Holiday (2014) directed by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin

Juste la fin du monde (It’s Only the end of the World) (2016) directed by Xavier Dolan

Captain Fantastic (2016) directed by Matt Ross

Coco (2017) directed by Lee Unkrich

Boy Erased (2018) directed by Joel Edgerton

[goivonne-blog]

En un comienzo tradicional de un día sueco se puede encontrar con panecillos recién horneados, panecillos con cuajada de frutas y una granola otoñal.

Los suecos son madrugadores, bastante madrugadores diría yo, lo cual es admirable dado que, durante gran parte del año, se despertarán, desayunarán e irán a trabajar en completa oscuridad.

La única manera de pasar por estas desesperantes mañanas de invierno es comenzar con un buen desayuno, esto es algo esencial si quieres sobrevivir a la nostalgia del sol.

Un desayuno típico sueco combina granos integrales con proteínas: lácteos, nueces y semillas, junto con algunas frutas o verduras para obtener vitaminas, fibra y dulzura.

Este desayuno va a mantenerlo lleno durante horas, y es muy fácil de preparar. No se hace mucha distinción entre adultos y niños para esta comida en particular.

El énfasis está en comenzar el día correctamente, con una buena comida y en familia. Como dice mi frase favorita en la película de culto Tillsammans (Together) de Lukas Moodysson:”Mejor comer gachas juntas que filete de ternera solo”.

Cómo es un desayuno en un día sueco

Panecillos con cereza agria y mermelada de vainilla

Ingredientes

25 g de levadura fresca

1 cucharada de miel

1 cucharadita de sal

70 g de harina integral

700g de harina de pan blanco fuerte, más extra para espolvorear y espolvorear

Para la mermelada

400 g de cerezas agrias deshuesadas (frescas o congeladas)

Zumo de ½ limón

1 vaina de vainilla, cortada a la mitad longitudinalmente

150g de azúcar fundido dorado

Preparación

Disolver la levadura en la miel.

Añadir 1 cucharadita de sal y mezclar hasta que la levadura se disuelva.

Añada 600 ml de agua tibia y mezcle bien.

Agregue las harinas y mezcle hasta obtener una masa pegajosa.

Cubrir el tazón con una toalla y dejar reposar durante aproximadamente una hora.

Mientras tanto, haz la mermelada.

Ponga un platillo en el congelador.

Mezcle las cerezas, el zumo de limón y la vaina de vainilla en una cacerola pequeña con 1 cucharada de azúcar.

Deje hervir a fuego lento y mezcle hasta que el azúcar se disuelva.

Añade otra cucharada de azúcar y repite hasta que se haya añadido todo.

Cocine a fuego lento por 20-30 minutos, o hasta que esté hecha una mermelada.

Coge el platillo del congelador.

Coloca 1 cucharadita de la mermelada y déjela enfriar durante 1 minuto aproximadamente.

Empuje con un dedo la mermelada, si se arruga, la mermelada está lista. De lo contrario, cocínela un poco más.

Una vez hecho, vierta en un recipiente esterilizado.

Coloque el horno a 220ºC y engrase ligeramente 2 placas de hornear.

Estira la masa sobre una superficie de trabajo enharinada, espolvoréala con abundante harina para facilitar su manipulación.

Divide la masa en 8 trozos redondos de unos 8-10cm.

Pásalas a las planchas de cocción preparadas, espaciando uniformemente.

Espolvorea un poco de harina extra, luego hornee por 17-19 minutos, o hasta que esté bien dorado.

Deje enfriar un poco antes de que se quede endurezca, cubriéndolo con la mermelada.

Bollo de pan integral con toronja y cuajada de pimienta rosada

Ingredientes

200ml de suero de mantequilla

1 cucharadita de extracto de vainilla

200 g de harina integral

1 cucharada de azúcar

1 cucharadita de levadura en polvo

una pizca de sal

cucharadita de bicarbonato de soda

50 g de mantequilla, derretida y ligeramente enfriada

Para la cuajada

50 g de mantequilla sin sal, ablandada

75 g de azúcar en polvo

2 huevos grandes y 2 yemas, batidos

1 toronja rosa grande, ralladura y zumo

½ cucharadita de granos de pimienta rosada, finamente triturados

Preparación

Primero, hacer la cuajada.

Batir la mantequilla hasta que esté cremosa, añadir el azúcar y mezclar hasta que esté suave y esponjosa.

Poco a poco se van añadiendo los huevos batidos al azúcar y la mantequilla, batiendo constantemente.

Agrega el zumo de la toronja, la cáscara y los granos de pimienta. La mezcla puede separarse, pero no se preocupe, se unirá en la sartén.

Vierta la cuajada en una cacerola mediana de base pesada y cocine a fuego lento, revolviendo constantemente.

A medida que la mezcla se espesa, puede aumentar el fuego un poco hasta que alcance unos 75ºC.

Verter en un recipiente esterilizado y dejar enfriar completamente.

Coloque el horno a 180ºC.

Bata el suero de leche con la vainilla y la mantequilla derretida enfriada en una jarra.

En un recipiente hondo, mezcle la harina, el azúcar, el polvo para hornear y el bicarbonato de soda con una pizca de sal.

Hacer un hoyo en el centro y añadir la mezcla de suero de mantequilla.

Mezclar hasta obtener una masa pegajosa.

Hornee durante 20-25 minutos, o hasta que esté asado y dorado.

Dejar enfriar un poco antes de sacarlo del molde y servirlo con la cuajada.

Granola de otoño con avellanas, centeno, escanda y dátiles

Ingredientes

75 g de escamas de escanda

100g de escamas de centeno

150g de avena laminada

30g semillas de girasol

30g de semillas de calabaza

100 g de avellanas blanqueadas, picadas

30g de linaza

cucharadita de cardamomo molido

1 cucharadita de canela molida

Nuez moscada rallada

2 cucharadas de jarabe de malta de arroz (o miel o jarabe de arce)

1 cucharada de aceite de coco fundido

75g de dátiles picados sin hueso

Yogur griego

Bayas de su elección

Preparación

Coloque el horno a 200ºC y coloque dos planchas de hornear con pergamino.

Mezcle todos los ingredientes, excepto los dátiles y el yogur, en un recipiente grande con una pizca de sal.

Revolver bien, dispersando todo uniformemente.

Divida la granola entre las hojas de hornear y hornee durante 10 minutos.

Mezcle los ingredientes un poco y cambie los estantes del horno.

Continúe tostando durante 5-10 minutos más, o hasta que esté dorado y crujiente.

Dejar enfriar completamente antes de añadir las bayas y transfiéralo a un recipiente hermético. La granola durará hasta un mes en un lugar fresco.

Sirva con yogur y bayas, como arándanos azules y moras.

Si te ha gustado esta receta para iniciar la jornada al estilo de un día sueco, no dejes de compartirlo en las redes sociales con tus amigos y seguidores.

La entrada Cómo empieza un día sueco aparece primero en Cubaneando con Mario.

[filmskribent]

Dagens filmtips: Vi är bäst! (2013). Lyckat drama av Lukas Moodysson, baserat på Coco Moodyssons seriealbum Aldrig natt. Tänkvärt, roligt och massor av punk.

[slaphappylarry]

Film Study: We Are The Best (2013)

Film Study: We Are The Best (2013)

This is an adaptation of Coco Moodysson’s (director Moodysson’s wife’s) autobiographical graphic novel which she never completely finished. PREMISE Three girls in 1980s Stockholm decide to form a punk band — despite not having any instruments and being told by everyone that punk is dead. STORY WORLD The year is 1982. This is the world of punk, and without having the graphic novel in front of me…

[goshinoghetto]

."We Are the Best!" (Swedish: Vi är bäst!) written and directed by Lukas Moodysson

[lukasmoodysson-blog]

vårdcentralen fontanellen

[nevergoodnight]

1982

[archivistariel]

This movie, WE ARE THE BEST by Lukas Moodysson is my favorite film this year & one of the best films I have ever seen. It's a Desert Island film for sure. But what I REAAAALLLY want now??? His wife's AMAZING looking graphic novel that it was based on!! I mean- look at this stuff. SEE THIS FILM NOW. I've seen it in theaters twice. Only gets better. 

Hate the sport! Hate the sport!

[multiphaseflowers]

New Lukas Moodysson movie to be released this September (in Sweden, anyway). Titled Vi Är Bäst! (We Are the Best!) and based on Coco Moodysson's comic about three girls in 1982 Stockholm. In terms of tone it's to be a return to Fucking Åmål (Show Me Love) and Tilsammans (Together), so good news for feels everywhere.

[indiefocus]

With its buzzing punk rock music and spunky, spiky adolescent heroines, "We Are the Best!" sends many audiences out of the theater on a wave of rambunctious high spirits.

Set in early-'80s Stockholm, the film opens with young Bobo (Mira Barkhammar) and Klara (Mira Grosin), social outcasts and self-styled punk rockers, hassling with their parents and at school. Without knowing how to play a single note, the girls decide to start a band and soon enlist the classical guitar-playing loner Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne) to join them. As all manner of obstacles and complications get in their way — teachers, parents, talent, boys, inspiration, jealousy — their combined efforts lead to a raucous public debut.

"I've always said I'm not really a positive person, I don't make positive movies, but I make optimistic movies," filmmaker Lukas Moodysson said. "Which is for me slightly different. Positive is sort of seeing everything in a golden light and everything is happy and everything is fun. Optimism is different. You can have a very negative viewpoint on things going on in the world and still be optimistic."

Moodysson created the film from the autobiographical graphic novel by his wife Coco Moodysson. He adapted her book as he might any other, cutting and reshaping the story to work as a film, adding some elements that were not true to Coco's life but true to the spirit of the story. He also added in anecdotes from Coco not included in the book but that he had heard from his wife through the years.

"We didn't sit down and talk about it," he said of the adaptation. "She gave me a free hand to do what I would do. But it was collaboration in that she did her part first and I did my part after. It really feels like our film even though I made it."

[donnerpartyofone]

WAIT, IT'S BASED ON A COMIC??

[dimthehouselights]

Vi är bäst!

by: Juan Barquin

"I don’t get it. Punk is dead. Haven’t you figured that out yet?"

No one can convince Bobo and Klara that starting up a punk band in Stockholm in 1982 is a bad idea, not even Hedvig, the Christian girl they've coaxed into joining and teaching them to play music. They may look like preteen girls just going through the motions of rebelling by shaving their heads, making little projects about nuclear war, and trying to start a band with little to no musical talent, but in reality, they’re just some kids trying to find themselves by embarking on this little adventure together. They’re young, they think they’re mature, and they just want to find solace in punk in a world where every adult around them disappoints.

Being a rebellious teen isn’t exactly something unfamiliar to most people, and all the overwhelming insecurity that comes with it is something that Lukas Moodysson captures perfectly. Nobody really wants to remember every childish moment by watching them unfold on screen, but Vi är bäst! (a/k/a We Are the Best!) reminds that it’s an essential period of life. This results in moments both fun and frustrating; with lots of arguing and awkward situations that almost make the girls, other than Hedvig, come off as unlikable. But a good movie can pull itself out of the tired situations that one might expect from a collective of preteen girls — fighting over boys holds up a lot of the back-half’s screen time — and this one does that by showing that they’re more than just angst-fueled youths. There’s warmth in the film for these kids, possibly because Moodysson adapted it from a graphic novel his wife wrote. 

It’s a nice little dramedy that mirrors a lot of things one might find typical to all sorts of big bands, just transposed to a tiny situation in the eighties. And the film is drowning in its period, most notably in the punk outfits and bright spandex leotards that contrast them. These aren't girls who want to dance to the Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me,” they want to follow in the footsteps of every punk band they love. Most of the comedy comes from the interactions between the girls when they were trying to start up the band, and the drama ensues from their lives at home and the interference of potential romance.

But, as one is reminded throughout, ”You have two friends who like you. That’s all a person needs.” And friendship is what makes this such a feel-good movie. Even when they’re singing a song about their soccer coach and team being awful (delightfully titled “Hate Sport”), or being told that another band triumphed over them, one can see how much they’re enjoying being in each other’s company. That’s why they proudly go on declaring Vi är bäst!

--

Vi är bäst! will be playing at the Miami International Film Festival on March 7th (Regal South Beach Cinema, 7:15PM) and March 11th (Paragon Grove, 6:30PM).

Directed by Lukas Moodysson; written by Lukas Moodysson; adapted from the comic book by Coco Moodysson; starring Mira Barkhammar, Mira Grosin, and Liv LeMoyne; 102 minutes.