johno-21 Review of Involuntary

Involuntary (2008)

Best foreign film? No. Worst foreign film? A contender.

[3/10 · 16 January 2010]

I recently saw this at the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival. After 25 years the effects of the radiation fallout from Chernobl that drifted over Sweden are now evident as it must have affected the minds of the committee who selected this drivel as Sweden's official submission to the Academy Awards as Best Foreign Film. The chances of this being one of the five nominations are slim to none. This film deals with five different stories that have nothing to do with the other except that they all take place in Sweden and all deal with alcohol to some degree. There is a man who accidentally gets hit in the head by a bottle rocket, two school girls who get drunk, an actress on a bus trip, a teacher whom none of her peers at the school really care for and a group of young straight men who enjoy homo-erotic behavior. The film is shot from unusual camera angels that give the viewer a sense of eavesdropping in on ordinary mundane conversations. After about five minutes, this technique gets pretty old and after about 10 minutes it becomes evident that the stories are going nowhere and people start walking out of the theater. Lessons learned from the film include; if you hit yourself in the eye with fireworks you should not self-treat it but see a doctor immediately and don't be shooting off fireworks under the influence of alcohol, if you are a teenager don't get drunk and pass out, if you break something it's best to confess, if you don't seem to fit in then learn to have an interest in your co-workers or maybe look for another job and pretending to be gay is not emotionally healthy. I would give this embarrassment to the Swedish film industry a very generous 3.5 out of 10, as low as I personally go on reviews, and recommend it to no one.