We are the Best! (2014), Unrated, ★★★1/2

A bunch of meddling kids wanting to become punk rockers.

I saw a small little gem called We Are The Best! because I heard of a friend that it was a great film about children becoming punk rockers, actually, girls becoming punk rockers. And I said to myself, "This is ridiculous! It sounds like another film of The Runaways and I do not want to see another movie like that again." After watching this movie, it is not. Actually, it is a lot better but even though it has a conventional arc and storyline, the way the director and writers approached the film is not as predictable because of the timeline and how they handled it and how charming the young little actors are and I think the three young Swedish actresses carried the film real well.

In Stockholm, 1982, Bobo and Klara (Mira Barkhammar and Mira Grosin) are teenage girls that are made fun of because of their affinity of punk rock. They are androgynous and wear baggy clothes but they have to deal with boys who play in their own punk rock band called Iron Fist at their youth center. To get back at them, they form their own punk rock band but neither girl knows how to play music. Bobo does not have a great relationship with her single mother and Klara writes negative lyrics as therapy.

The duo are stuck because they cannot pluck as two people as they need another member and they ask a Christian girl, Hedvig (Liv LeMoyne), to join the band after seeing her classical-guitar performance at a talent show. Hedvig teaches Bobo and Klara about music in general, playing in chords and harmonies. Also, they discuss agnostic beliefs, punk rock, cutting up hair and argue about boys.

This is a great movie regarding an empathetic time in a girl's life in adolescence and I think this is a great companion piece with Boyhood, about a boy's life in adolescence and teenage youth and growing up. However, this is just a chapter and it is a great chapter regarding what they want to do with their talents and it is palpable exuberance to see them discussing various subjects naturally and sometimes with poise. You want to root for these three girls in the end and although it is crude and they are irresponsible, it is just learning what they want to become. It is a pure, nostalgic coming-of-age story that makes you want to listen to rock over and over again after the movie is over.

***1/2

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