KnotStronger
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
Amanda Pavani
I love how the movie treats the themes with delicacy. At some parts of the movie, you just think the characters are probably insane, but they are really captivating, well developed. The best parts about it are: the music, the characters, the silences, and the themes.It is a surprising movie. You start watching it thinking it will be some sort of creepy romance with, hopefully, a romantic ending, but it turns out to be so much more than that. It is funny because it shows an entirely different view of people, what we can expect from them, how we love and even the horrible situations we endure for loved ones.I highly recommend it.
proletinchen
If you wonder what to do on a rainy night, then this might be just right. It is a slow, calm love story about two small town lonely souls. She is a waitress in a diner, he is a mechanic. They both lost their way and don't know how to communicate with people anymore. She - because is being abused by her father, and he- because he lost his family in a car accident. Eventually they overcome their fear of trusting someone - they start actually talking about their lives and fears and realize you can only fall in love with someone you know. Watching your life from a distance isn't a good option. You have to start living it, even in small portions. This said, the movie has its pro's and contra's: Pro's: - It is not overwhelmingly romantic cliché kind of love story. The actors make their characters very believable. Plus, you can really feel for them. The script is actually not surprising, but that doesn't mean its bad. It seems sincerely enough to intrigue you. Contra's: - It is a bit slow on places. Plus, I am a girl and even I can tell you Lukas Haas doesn't know a thing about cars (and he is playing a car mechanic, I mean - its not like a rocket science. He should have prepared better). The other thing I didn't like was the ending- its kind of a very corny, unreal ending to a very realistic and pragmatic view of the life of those people. It seems to me they didn't know how to end it, so they chose the easy way- but it just doesn't fit the whole movie. This said, as a whole the movie is a good debut of the director, Lukas Haas shows one more time he is a very good actor with lot of potential (that's why I like most of his movies!)and January Jones is very very very believable. She doesn't overact, which often happens when a beautiful actress has to play some small town "normal" girl.
tigerfish50
'Swedish Auto' opens with an excruciatingly slow camera pan across the yard of a Charlottesville auto-repair shop until the screen is filled with the image of a young man sitting in the rusting hulk of a vintage Volvo. This is Carter - a sensitive, greasy-haired loner who needs no further introduction because IMDb cognoscenti will have met his socially inept outsider cousins in numerous other Indie films. Carter's life follows a regular routine - he rises early in his humble abode beside the railroad tracks before heading off to his auto mechanic job. At lunch-break Carter frequents a diner where he gazes ardently at pertly demure waitress Darla, whom he lacks the courage to approach. Carter's eccentricities come into full bloom at dusk - after shutting up the workshop, he habitually stalks a beautiful young violinist from UVA's music school back to her apartment, and observes the girl's practice sessions until she retires for the night. Eventually Carter gets around to stalking Darla back to her own home, where his voyeuristic skills reveal she is being terrorized by her junkie mother's abusive boyfriend. In due course events conspire to break the ice for the shy twosome, and they subsequently embark on a lukewarm romance.Writer/director Derek Sieg struggles to keep his clichéd clunker on the road as Carter begins restoring the vintage Volvo to a gleaming ride fit for his oddball prince and waitress princess. Unfortunately, tedium and implausibility result in total engine seizure long before the film's road-trip conclusion with multiple loose ends fluttering in the slipstream. One suspects that flashing blue lights will shortly appear in 'Swedish Auto's' rear-view mirror, but happily that story is for another day.
greg g
I guess some people find these slow art flicks exciting. The sad downtrodden guy who can't seem to connect with anyone finally breaks out and finds out how to love. This film tries to do that, and fails miserably. First off I will say that the acting and cinematography are great, I just wish the story held up to the talent that was on the screen. When I heard that this was a new writer/director it didn't surprise me. The story lacks any immediacy until halfway through, and with this forward momentum virtually non-existent we are left watching Lukas Haas change tires and dig through car parts. At the end of the film (had I been able to stay awake), I am sure I could have tuned up my own Volvo.
