Swedish Classic remade as "A Man Named Named Otto

 Tom Hanks is a well respected film maker and was smart enough to remake an enjoyable Swedish film, "A Man Called Ove" (2015).  Remakes are tested and generally able to find an audience.   The Americans do a great job, even updating a few elements and adapting to the American market.  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2017/07/a-man-called-ove.html  Film makers are anxious to get us back into theatres where they can display their talent and technology.  They still raise the needle of our enjoyment.

The basic story is about a grumpy old man who is distraught over his wife's death.  He calls most of his acquaintances "idiots".  His new neighbors including an immigrant woman and her native husband are annoying and they get off on the wrong foot.  But the immigrant is persistent and gives him some of her native food as a gift.  He ignore the gift for awhile, but gives into his hunger is finds it very tasty

One character we might expect Otto to belittle would be transgender.  The transgender male, Malcolm had delivered a paper to Otto, but first he explained that Otto's wife Sonya had been his teacher and had been kind to him.  Otto showed no hesitation in accepting Malcolm and included him in future interactions.

Both films used attitudes towards cars to differentiate people.  The conservative self righteous Ove or Otto made judgments.   In Sweden, Ove was a supporter of Saab while his friend was always buying a Volvo.  In America the choice was Chevrolet vs Ford, but the worst folly in Otto's eyes was imported cars such as Toyota and Volkswagen.  My father  who drove for a living and had won Car rallies told me that the best car he ever drove was a Saab.

Both films depict immigrants as life enhancers for the rest of us.  In the Swedish version they were able to enlist a trained actress from Iran.  The Americans who seem to be concerned about too many Mexicans crossing the border are confronted with a Mexican who adds spice to life.

 A great cast and crew put together a worthy remake.

Tom Hanks spends more time producing than acting.  He manages to combine both disciplines with this film.  He did not get involved in acting until after floundering in efforts in college when a community theatre.  His first film was "Splash" (1988) under Ron Howard and was a box office success.  Another film that propelled him forward was "A League of Their Own" (1992) followed shortly with "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993) and "Philadelphia" (1993) for which he won an Oscar.  "Forest Gump" (1994) won him another Oscar and was a global box office hit.  In 1996 he got into directing with "That Thing That You do" (1996).  In 2002 he became the youngest actor to win the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award.  His film credits include:   "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), "Castaway" (2000), "Saving Mr. Banks" (20130, "Bridge of Spies" (2015),"Sully" (2016), "and "The Post" (2017).   Check a post of an earlier Tom Hanks movie:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2016/05/bridge-of-spies.html           

Rita Wilson, also shared producing duties and in addition helped write and sing one of the songs.  She started acting with an episode of "The Brady Bunch"  (1972).  She acted in various tv shows, and after two appearances in films with Tom Hanks, started dating and married in 1988 with a Greek wedding.  She produced "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" (2002) having helped the lead actress and script writer Nia Vardalos the contract becoming a huge money maker.  She starting recording songs in 2012 including songs she wrote.  Her film credits include:  "Sleepless in Seattle" (1993), "Larry Crowne" (2011) and six episodes of "The Good Wife" (2011-2014).

Marc Forster, the director and executive producer had been born in Germany, but raised in Switzerland,   He attended the New York University to study film.  He directed Halle Berry to an Oscar in "Monster's Ball" (2001).   His film credits include "Stranger than Fiction" (2006) and "The Kite Runner" (2007).

David Magee wrote the script.  Film credits include "Life of Pi" (2012).

Fredrik Backman, a favorite writer from Sweden wrote the original book "A Man Called Ove"  He was a film producer for another of his books "Anxious People" (2021).  A post for his latest book with links to his other books:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2022/11/the-winners.html:   

Mariana Trevino played Marisol, the Mexican immigrant that coaxed Otto into a more relaxed lifestyle.  She has been in over 30 films, mostly in Spanish and from Mexico. 

Rachel Keller played Sonya in flashbacks that lightened  up Otto.  Rachel's acted in "Fargo" (2015) the tv. series.        

Much as I admire Tom Hanks I feel that Rolf Lassgard is the more credible not only as a grumpy old man  but as a jovial bumpkin.  In my favorite film, "After the Wedding" (2006) he was also very credible as fast talking business man.  A Swedish native, Rolf has performed in Danish and Norwegian.  Rolf also played Wallander in the tv. series that has been adapted in other nations.

Bahar Pars plays the persistent neighbor who opens up Ove.  She was born in Iran and her family moved to Sweden after the Iran Iraq War.  She trained to be an actress who who has performed on stage, television and films.

Ida Engvoll played Sonja, the wife seen only in flashbacks.  Ida's film credits include "The Bridge" (2015) and as the lead character for "Rebecka Martinsson" .

Remakes of movies are a recognition of something worth viewing.  If you enjoyed either one you will not be disappointed if you get a chance to watch the other.  Tom Hanks is a strong indicator of something worth watching.  The Swedes have a long film tradition that has enriched the world and their film is a good example.

"A Man Called Ove" a Great movie from Sweden

We all start judging people as soon as we are conscious of them.   It is hard to overcome our initial pre judgment, but everyone is deeper than their appearance.  Movies often dramatize how we are often wrong about our judgment.  "A Man called Ove" from Sweden is a good example that some would call formulaic, but here it is well done and a reminder we are all fallible

Ove is at first sight is hard to like.  He is a grumpy even belligerent nit picker.  Much of it is comic.  At the very beginning you see him deliver flowers to his wife's grave and talk to her giving him a touch of humanity.  He is disgusted with much of the world and wants to join his wife, but his suicide attempts are interrupted

His background is told in flashbacks.  You can see many of his dislikeable characteristics, but he is humanized and you might guess a woman is behind it.  The formula works with Sonja a perky and more sophisticated young woman overcomes his awkwardness.  She sees something in him after a chance meeting, perhaps his honesty (even though he lies to make an impression) and earnestness.

One example of his pettiness is his preference for Saab cars and judging other people's character by what cars they buy.  A close friend drove a Volvo and later a BMW and this really tested their friendship.  My father thought Saab was the best car he had ever driven and had been asked to join their rally team.

Back to the present; an Iranian immigrant woman, Parvanah meets him when her Swedish husband's car backs into Ove's mailbox  She annoys him at first, but she is persistently positive and gifts a Persian treat which he ignores until he eats it out of desperation and likes it.  Her two children make him cringe at first, but over the course of the movie he becomes attached.  This also segways to why he doesn't have children.  Later in the movie when Ove and  Parvanah have formed a friendly relationship as he is teaching her to drive, he calls her husband a loser.  She is a very boisterous and pivotal character..

The ending is not unexpected with everybody appreciating Ove a bit more, although they are not privy to all the flashback information.  It feels so good  I felt compelled to recommend the whole movie as you can't appreciate the ending unless you have seen what led up to it.  A grumpy man has been mellowed with young children loving him.

A first time novel from Fredrik Backman inspired the film.  He is a blogger, a magazine writer and now a novelist with a few best sellers under his belt that have been translated into 25 languages.

Hannes Holm directed and wrote the script.  He started directing in 1987 and writing scripts in 1995.  He acted in films starting in 1981.

Rolf  Lassgard appeared in my favourite movie "After the Wedding," a Danish Oscar nominated movie.   He played a benevolent manipulator and won at least one award for it.  He is also known for playing Kurt Wallander.  He played Ove with a lot of bluster, but also subtlety.

Bahar Pars was born in Iran but came to Sweden in 1989 after the Iranian-Iraq war.  Her acting career is all in Sweden.  She played the title characters in both "Anna Karenina" and "Hedda Gabler" on stage.  She also directed two short films; the second after this film she also wrote and produced.  It concerns a black woman asked to do a voice over for an advertisement that tries to steer her to a stereotypical role.

Ida Engvoll  plays Ove's wife seen only in flashbacks.    She brought a lot of energy as she had to make up for Ove's shyness.  She plays a title role in"Rebecka Martinsson"  tv series and also in some episodes of tv show I had seen earlier "The Bridge" a joint Danish-Swedish production.

The younger Ove was played by Filip Berg who like many Swedish actors gets most of his experience in television series.  He played a strait-laced man trying to make an impression on a vivacious woman.  He was a good complement to the older Rolf Lassgard.

The background music was provided by Gaute Storass, a Norwegian.  A few songs in Swedish and English helped set the mood.

Goran Hallberg was the cinematographer and had also worked on "The 100 Year Old Man who climbed out the window and disappeared."  Back in 2004 he filmed "ABBA:  Our Last Video Ever"

The editor Fredrik Morhedan has done over 40 films.  He was a creator for a popular Swedish tv series, "Blue Eyes"

A husband and wife team of Love Larson and Eva Von Bahr were nominated for an Oscar for best costume and makeup.  It was actually their second such nomination.  The earlier one was for "The Hundred year old man who climbed out the widow and disappeared."  I had seen that movie and even watched a special feature showing how they applied makeup to create the 100 year old in nine stages of aging--they had to speed up the camera as it was a very long elaborate process.  They had done some other interesting films--the Swedish version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" trilogy plus one of the English versions plus the Wallander series in Sweden and Britain.  In addition they worked on "Skyfall."  In Sweden film makers had not opted for expensive digital cleanup so that makeup crews had to be available during the shooting.  These two movies have made me appreciate makeup can have an important impact on a movie.

The producing team was headed by Nicklas Wikstrom Nicastra and Annica Bellander.  Nicklas had been a producer for over 10 films while this was only the third for Annica who had worked in the marketing department for several films.

If you are looking for a serious movie with a few laughs and leave you feeling good, this is good choice.  If you are sick of formula movies then maybe you wouldn't miss it, but really your enjoyments are rare and you should reconsider.