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Quickie Review - We Are The Best!

If you're my age (44), 1982 was a time of rebellion, discovery and punk rock music. This beautiful Swedish film, captures the very essence of what so many of us were feeling. Everyone else had the cool parents, ours were a burden. Everyone else had issues that were unimportant, because whatever "we" worried about was paramount. We chose our friends this way. We sought out other outcasts and wanted them to join us on our quest for world domination or simply to be noticed, to be different. It's when we cut our own hair or the sleeves on our shirts. It was our way of saving punk music, but for many of us in the US, it was really the beginning of it.

The movie is the story of three girls and their desire to fit in without fitting into what society wanted them to. They truly were the essence of the punk movement. The same way that hip-hop isn't just music, punk wasn't either. It was a style and a mindset. Establishment's rules are for the masses, not us. What's so beautiful about this film is it balances the girl's desire to be rebellious with truly just wanting to be normal. They all want to be something they aren't and by supporting each other, they become this thing, a band. This is by no means meant to be a musical. It's not a grim tale, showing some seedy side of the movement and if you're like me, you might not even know the bands they were mentioning.

It's not for everyone. Nothing happens. It's life. I passed on three hours of Boyhood to watch an hour and forty minutes of what could essentially be called girlhood. But more bad ass.

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