Lukas Moodysson

Karl Frederik Lukas Moodysson (born January 17, 1969) is a Swedish film writer and director. He has three children with his wife Coco.

Related Topics:
January 17 - 1969 - Swedish - Film writer - Director - Coco

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Born in Malmö, Sweden, Moodysson grew up as an outcast, expressing himself through poetry. By the time he was 23 he had written five poetry collections and a novel. He decided to move to film to produce works that were less introverted and could be enjoyed by a wider audience than poetry. After studying at what was then Sweden's only film school, the Dramatiska Institutet, he directed three short films before moving to features.

Related Topics:
Malmö - Sweden - Poetry - Novel - Dramatiska Institutet - Short film

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His directorial breakthrough came with Fucking Åmål (retitled Show Me Love in English speaking countries.) A classical love story, filmed in a highly naturalistic, almost documentary style, it is set in the small and boring Swedish town of Åmål, and follows two young girls, one gay and one previously straight, who awkwardly fall in love. An often bitingly honest yet always tender and affectionate look at the agony of young love, the film was a huge success with both the Swedish public and the critics. It won four Guldbagge Awards, including best film, best direction and best script.

Related Topics:
Fucking Åmål - Guldbagge Award

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His next film, 1998's Together (Tillsammens), followed the antics of life in a commune in suburban Stockholm in the 1970's. The film achieved a sense of the era through extensive use of period Swedish pop songs, including a powerfully melancholy placement of ABBA's hit "S.O.S." It was a colossal hit in Sweden, outgrossing Titanic that year.

Related Topics:
Together - ABBA - Titanic

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Moodysson followed up these two sunny, cheerfully optimistic films with the absolutely wrenching Lilya 4-ever in 2002, named to many American critics' ten best lists for the following year. The mainly Russian language film follows a young girl living in the former Soviet Union as she is abandoned by her mother, drops out of school, is forced into prostitution and then is kidnapped into sex slavery. Moodysson has said he could not have made the film without his strong Christian beliefs, and they infuse the film with a stunning hopefulness and sense of peace, beyond the physical world, that alternate with the agonies Lilya endures and make them bearable for the viewer.

Related Topics:
Lilya 4-ever - Russian language - Soviet Union

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

His most recent film, the controversial A Hole in My Heart, is a fascinatingly bizarre work, intentionally designed to be off-putting. It uses frequent screeching noises, close-ups of female genital surgery, and other assorted oddities, in connection with a vague plot about two pornographers shooting their latest video in a filthy apartment, with an attention-craving porn starlet, while the webbed-handed son of one of the men stays holed up in his bedroom. Although featuring moments of stunningly simple humanity, it descends to profoundly degrading levels at the end. It received a special certificate for shocking images in Sweden, and was largely reviled by critics and audiences.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Moodysson is an outspoken left wing socialist, feminist, and vegetarian and at the same time a profoundly spiritual Christian. All of these traits that have become more and more pronounced in his works.

Related Topics:
Socialist - Feminist - Vegetarian - Christian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~