It is a hard kick from the bottom up. A film where the very parliament of the street smashes the display window of the welfare state. A film about the rebels Kenta and Stoffe, to all appearances happy and carefree. They chase girls, drink and smoke hash. And they amuse them-selves by making fun of the white-collar workers on their way to work in the morning. But behind their light-hear-ted facade there lurks a dark threat. If the film's opening scene is a jubilant euphoria, the final scene resonates in a minor key. A 30-second sex scene had some TV and radio personali-ties in a twist, but the move to censor the film came to naught and Misfits was released in its original version.
“A film that is at once hard and tender, and that I hope many will see, if not for any other reason than to sleep worse at night.”
/Aftonbladet"I was 14 when this movie premiered, in the tumultuous year of 1968. It immediately impressed me as a very accurate portrayal of teens alienated by society's materialism, frustrated by the prospect of one day having to conform.
Stefan Jarl, a director of great integrity, follows two teens, Kenta and Stoffe, through their everyday life, which is Bohemian indeed. Nothing much happening, not much of a plot, more like a documentary - I guess that to a large extent it is. Still, it is fascinating. Jarl manages to capture their sentiments, their world view, and how it provokes society.
Although the 60's are long gone, my guess is that teens of any decade can relate to this movie. Those who have left their teen years far behind, should use this movie as a revisit. We should never dismiss the thoughts and feelings we had when young, or the world will quickly become a ruin.
Jarl made a follow-up movie, A Decent Life, eleven years later, returning to Kenta and Stoffe, and what their lives had become. Again in 1993, in The Social Contract."
/Stefan Stenudd from Malmo, Sweden [from imdb.com]FACTS:
35 mm, 1:1,33, b/w, 100 mins, 1968 (Co-director: Jan Lindqvist)"Stefan Jarl, 30 years of work" article by Jan Aghed"They Call Us Misfits" article by Mats NilssonShop
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Stefan Jarl, född 18 mars 1941, dokumentärfilmare och filmregissör. Stefan Jarl är känd för att göra filmer med ett socialt engagemang. Stefan Jarl
