Hannes Holm’s “A Man Called Ove”

A Man Called Ove (En man som heter Ove) (2015)

Swedish comedy melodrama (recently given the remake treatment with Tom Hanks) is a sweet and weepy Capraesque fairytale that doesn’t always hit the mark but is carried by pitch perfect casting

Having seen the nauseating trailer for the remake of this film with Tom Hanks, I went into this with low expectations but despite its sometimes oversentimental storytelling, it managed to hang together in what is an entertaining Capraesque fairytale. Much of this is thanks to its cast with particular emphasis on Rolf Lassgård as Ove with whom I’m not familiar and immediately eminated an air of misanthropy. It’s hard to imagine how this could work with someone like Tom Hanks no matter how good his performance.

Telling the story of recently widowed, suicidal and seemingly misanthropic Ove, it flits through time from his childhood to the present where his life (and death) are disrupted by the arrival of new neighbours. In a forgiving mood, this is a light comedy melodrama. In a less forgiving mood, this is a twee and sentimental fairytale. As a film, it isn’t perfect but I did enjoy Lassgård and Bahar Pars as his neighbour Parvaneh quite a bit.

It’s a disposible but entertaining weepy with some dark humour, old school sentimentality and a particularly good performance from a cat.