Jalla! Jalla! (2000)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Josef Fares

Writer:

Josef Fares (writer)

Release Date:

22 December 2000 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Memfis Film presenterar en skön rulle av Josef Fares

Plot:

Roro, a foreign worker in Swedish parks, loves his girlfriend but is about to marry another girl to prevent her from being sent back to Lebanon...

Plot Keywords:

Lebanon | Love | Wedding | Arranged Marriage | Immigrant

Awards:

4 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Fares Fares	...	Roro
Torkel Petersson	...	Måns
Tuva Novotny	...	Lisa
Laleh Pourkarim	...	Yasmin
Leonard Terfelt	...	Paul
Jan Fares	...	Farsan
Sofi Ahlström Helleday	...	Jenny
Benyam Eriksson	...	Benson
Khatoun Fares	...	Farmor
Abdulahad Fares	...	Abdul
Ingemar Carlehed	...	Pappa Ulf
Harry Goldstein	...	Sexbutiksägare
Tommy Andersson	...	Peter
Christer Fjällström	...	Polis
Jacob Tamm	...	Simon Pramsten

Also Known As:

The Best Man's Wedding (Australia)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Sweden

Language:

Swedish | Arabic

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Iceland:LH | New Zealand:R16 | Australia:MA (cable rating) | Australia:M (original rating) | Finland:K-11 | France:U | Germany:12 | Netherlands:AL | Norway:11 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud)

Filming Locations:

Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden

Company:

Memfis Film

Trivia:

The scene were a little girl runs after Lisa saying, "Lisa, wait Lisa. Wait," was not planned. It was a little girl who had threw sand at 'Torkel Pettersson', who finally threw some sand back. So she went away and ended up on set believing it was all real.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scene where Roro, Yasmin and Paul are spinning in the car, you can clearly see four or five tire tracks on the street.

Quotes:

Polis: [Måns is arrested by the police after throwing out furniture] Well, how did this happen?
Måns: Ehm, what?
Polis: Well, there's furniture on the street, under your balcony...
Måns: I accidentally dropped them...
Polis: Really? How?
Måns: I don't know... I was going to... refurbish... a little and then i tripped... it was some little... edge that...
Polis: On the balcony?
Måns: Yes, exactly...
Polis: With a whole drawer, a TV and an aquarium?
Måns: Mm...

Movie Connections:

References First Blood (1982)

Soundtrack:

Long Arm of the Law

Genuinely funny and happy drama comedy from Sweden

Well this is pretty rare thing as I'm reviewing on Swedish comedy oriented drama, the genre I'm not so familiar with. I got the DVD for a birthday present and I probably would not have bought/rented/watched the film otherwise. The film is however pretty positive experience and recommended highly for most of the people.

It tells the story of Swedish youths that are having little problems with relationships, relatives, impotence and other stuff. I won't tell too much about the plot but there are many things found in normal every day life, too, so I think many will be interested once they start to watch the film.

The director is young and talented Josef Fares and many of his relatives also act in this film. The actors are mostly young people, like 1978-1982, and couple of older, too, but they all are very talented and natural. It took 30 days to shoot the film, and technically the film is very great as there are many different techniques used by the director and the story is also very interesting, and genuinely funny, not some stupid slapstick comedy.

The themes of the film are mainly about love and the total misunderstanding of it. It shows that love cannot be "arranged" or planned, it is born once the two right people meet and there is no need for help from another parties. This is important issue and is more powerfully depicted in Jane Campion's masterpiece The Piano.

There are also other things that are topical all the time, and the impotence of one character is one of them, despite I don't know how usual impotence is in these age groups of 30s or so. Well, that subject matter is also depicted warmly and with positivism and the subject matter of love is once again the main key for the problem. And many hilarious scenes about the impotence are also included!

The dialogue and scenes are often hilarious and I found myself laughing very much throughout the film. This is positive cinema at its greatest, and therefore this can be recommended for everybody with interest in cinema. There are many great actors and actresses in the film and they really do their job fine, and this was feature debut for many of the actors. It is not visible, though!

I give this positive piece of life 8/10 and high recommendations!