VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

thinker1691 In the 1980's this film arrived at theaters in Stockholm and soon garnered surprising praise and accolades. This is not uncommon as Swedish directors are not as hung up or uptight about life as Americans who are easily offended. This imaginative, stirring, unabashed and wonderful film, originally called 'Children's island' became " Barnens O " for the Cinema. With a refreshing sense of originality, it tell the story of Reine Larsson (Tomas Fryk) an eleven-year-old Swedish boy on the verge of puberty. Noticeably disturbed by the onset of his twelfth birthday, he displays a deep seated fear he will become as corrupt as every other adult. Living with his single mother, Harriet (Anita Hirdwall) and her abusive boyfriend Stig (Ingvar Hirdwall) in a less fashionable part of the city, he is informed he will be going to Camp for the summer. Realizing this is not his choice, he decides to forgo Camp and instead spend his vacation wondering throughout the city. Once he tricks his mother, he soon discovers each day must be recorded in his journal as he is certain each brings him closer to maturity and death, something which he dreads with impending doom. The movie becomes one long segment of Home Alone (Swedish Style). Traveling about, he encounters the lessons of life with stark brutality. Seeking the 'Purity' of first love, he is threatened with many dangers, and somehow discovers each has cost him a bit of innocence. The film is long on story and punctuated with brief nudity and stark images which only the Swedes could offer an audience. The main star, Tomas Fryk personifies the true talent of an emerging Thespian. Recommeded to anyone longing for an honest portrayal of youthful adolescence. ****

jm10701 The very few reviews I could find online of Barnens ö really do not do it justice. I read them all before ordering the DVD, but for some reason I ordered it anyway. I regretted it almost immediately, but the order had already gone through so I couldn't cancel it. I'm very glad now that I couldn't. It's an extraordinary movie.I won't give a synopsis of the plot, because other reviewers have already done that. But I will say that I don't understand comments that it's bleak, shocking, weird, clinical, depressing or pornographic. It is certainly very unusual, which I suppose could make it seem weird to some people, but the other criticisms must reflect the reviewers' own issues, because I didn't see any of that in the movie I just watched. I'm not attracted to boys, so the nudity didn't seem pornographic at all to me--it's just a kid trying to figure out who he is with no help at all from the irresponsible adults in his life. And it's Sweden, not Utah, so topless women are no big deal.But what surprised me most is how positive the movie is in its depiction of this gutsy lost kid who goes on a sort of Odyssey through all sorts of strange experiences, looking for--and ultimately finding--himself. It's fascinating, thoroughly original, and deeply satisfying.I'm not at all surprised that Barnens ö won three major Guldbagge awards, for best film, direction, and actor, but I'm absolutely astounded that the actor who won was not Tomas Fryk, the kid whose fearless performance as Reine must be one of the most remarkable ever filmed, but Ingvar Hirdwall in the relatively insignificant role of Stig, Reine's mother's sleazy boyfriend. I don't understand that at all, but it doesn't alter the fact that this is a great movie.

ninoguapo I did not quite get Barnens O – it is one of the weirdest ones I have watched. The soundtrack was quite unusual as well – written and performed by Jean Michel Jarre - it makes the movie weirder than it was. I have to admit that I was almost going to change it and watch another one instead –at times the movie seemed plain dumb to me, or boring – or confusing. There are quite a few sexual references in that movie – trough they too are kind of messed up . Probably the only phrase that I will remember out of it is going to be "When you are alone, you can control things "– and "I will show them "- or something like that .The boy in that movie was obsessed with the idea of not growing up – "the last summer as a child "he thought once – and he sure lived it to the max. So if you have few hours to spare you can watch this movie – but you won't miss much if you don't.

jpjensen 10 year old Renee lives in a Stockholm suburb alone with his mother. She has only limited time and heart for her boy. Her lover Stig is a scary and frustrated loser. When Renee's mother leaves home for a summer job in another town, Renee is "deported" to a summer camp. But he chose to stay home alone, living one last summer of innocent childhood in the city. He soon meets and befriends some of the lower existences and gradually slides towards criminal activities. The boy has a very special live-philosophy: Lust is what makes grownups crazy - and only children are sane. And his experience of miserable and selfish adults only supports this view. But the boy knows, that he himself will come into puberty - where everything ends! Therefore he makes a daily inspection of his genitals in search of pubic hair. He thinks that hair is the sign of corruption, and he befriends an adult young woman with no hair at all. He thinks she is "pure", but the bald woman turns out to be just as lustfull and selfish as everyone else. There are a lot of dirty words, sexual references and nudity in this movie, which might offend some. It could even be considered (child)-pornographic. But it is a highly artistic and very conscious film, and it has been shown several times on Swedish and Danish TV, public channel prime time. The film gives a very remarkable and outstanding, but also depressing, view of childhood.