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Something to watch tonight: Tuesday 19 September
A Man Called Ove (Holm, 2015) is a 99c digital rental from Apple
Back on 4 September, I recommended the Tom Hanks vehicle A Man Called Otto which had just landed at Neon and Prime Video and, in the comments on that post, reader JJW of Victoria, Australia (I think) “demanded” that I review the original Swedish film A Man Called Ove which came out in 2015.
Both films are based on the same bestselling novel (published by Fredrik Backman in 2012 and itself based on a series of blog posts) and the Hanks version is clearly indebted to the Swedish movie as much as the novel.
The premise: Ove is an incorrigible grump, a widower taking out his frustrations on his long suffering neighbours. Everyone is else is “an idiot” but for some reason he is tolerated by the community.
A family with young children moves in across the road and despite his considerable misanthrope, Ove discovers there might be a little bit more to life than rage and grief.
Ove is a darker and deeper version of the story. Perhaps it is the Hanks factor at work – Rolf Lassgård as Ove is less familiar than the twinkly good guy persona Hanks has become known for. But the back story – revealed in extended flashbacks – is much more tragic and the actor playing the young Ove (Filip Berg) is stronger than inexperienced Truman Hanks
in Otto.I should point out that the warnings regarding suicide themes are even more pertinent here as the attempts at self harm are treated more seriously than in the Hanks film.
A Man Called Ove is available – presumably for a short time – as a 99c digital rental from Apple.
Truman’s only screen performance credits to date are in films that star his father, Tom.
Something to watch tonight: Tuesday 19 September
YASSSSSSSSSSSSSS. This is the content I demand. And yes, currently in Melbourne, formerly of Wellington.