Editing (We Are The Best!)

Part Four - Editing

We Are The Best!Lukas Moodysson (2013)

We Are The Best! is a film based on the semi-autobiographical graphic novel of Lukas Moodysson's wife and as such it explores the strong themes of adolescence and punk spirit through well thought out editing. This film "smacks of lived experience with all its awkward nostalgia and remembered embarrassment [...]" [3]

An example of one of the more "erratic" hand-held camera shots of Bobo and her friends.

The editing style of the film is fast paced and this is accentuated by a very mobile camera. Towards the beginning of the film we see a lot of still shots but the further into the film we get the more handheld camera shots are used. Together with "ragged editing rhythms to match - [it] feels uncannily true to the episodic, pell-mell rhythms of adolescence." [1] This is emphasized by the transitional editing techniques that are used. For example there is an unusual level of zooming used to transition between shots which has quite a jarring effect. The zooming almost ‘screams’ at you and this reflects the erratic punk rock music that is central to the film. 

There is also the use of jump cut shots which has a counter-continuity effect also known as disjunctive editing. Corrigan and White state that “when the viewer is asked, or even forced, to reflect on the meaning a a particular cut because it is so jarring […] he or she not only participates more fully in the film experience but may also develop a critical perspective on the film’s subject matter or on the process of representation itself." [2] This disjunctive editing also makes the film seem more fast paced in the beginning and slower towards the end. This could simply be that the shots are longer towards the end than they are at the beginning or it could also be argued that its because we were more attentive to the techniques at the start and had become used to them as the film went on. Either way as the film progresses we are drawn more and more into the themes and content of the film due to the film form used.

One of the rare shots of Bobo and her two friends all in the same shot, although we can see she is on the far edge of the screen while the other two are in focus (use of depth of field)

The editing that is used also plays a key role in capturing a sense of the young girls aspirations, energy and emotions, involving us in the narrative drive and tensions of the story. An important example of this is when Bobo climbs up onto the roof with her friends. The jealousy and isolation that Bobo feels comes through in the editing of this shot. Bobo is always standing away, on the edges of the frame, and we rarely see all three characters in the same shot. Therefore a shot-reverse shot technique is employed and this emphasizes the distance in physical space and ideals between Bobo and the other two characters. At the end of the scene we are also subjected to a long shot of Bobo walking along the roof top. this is one of the longest takes in the whole film and the film form makes us uncomfortable because we are unsure whether or not she is going to jump. The duration of this take builds up the tension and it means so much more for the audience when she doesn't jump.

The way the film is made serves the content of the film. The film form tells more about the psychology of the girls than the characters themselves do.

Works Cited:

[We Are The Best!. Dir. Lukas Moodysson. Film i Vast, Memfis Film, 2013. Film]

[1] The Guardian. 30 April 2015. Web. <http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/may/28/we-are-the-best-film-review-spirited-anarchy>

[2]Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience, 3rd ed. Boston, New York: Bedford/St Martins, 2004, 2009, 2012. Print.

[3]The Guardian. 30 April 2015. Web. <http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/apr/20/we-are-the-best-review-lukas-moodysson>

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