Stumbled across this on an afternoon expecting nothing more than melodrama. Don't know why this affected me so much. Everyone experiences grief in different ways but survivors guilt must be a much harder feeling to overcome. I found myself smiling, laughing, cringing and crying. The father son relationship or lack of it, probably hits home for a lot of people. The supporting cast were just that, seemed completely believable and the focus placed on them by the director shows how much we rely on other humans to make it to the other side. Loved this movie and can't understate how much it affected me. Please watch.

My post contains extreme spoilers, be warned. Mostly because if I summarize the whole movie, I'll be doing you a favor.

Movie revolves around a father and son dealing with the loss of his son and wife, that die during an accident.

The entire film is them on vacation, trying to forget the bad.

Jonas, the son, meets a really hot girl on the beach, that, despite being so attractive, has no friends throughout the entire movie, and spends too much time stalking Jonas and hanging with him at her house, all day.

Jonas is a completely unlikable character, both from our point of view and the girls; he hardly speaks, says nothing interesting, and only talks about how him and his dad never talk. All the girl does is tell him to talk to his dad, and get over the loss of his mom and brother. At times I had to pause the movie and go job a mile, just to stay awake. Jonas is just unbelievable dull and has no charisma or personality, no one can feel sorry for the character.

There is no real conversation for 70 percent of this movie; just people complaining to other people about their dead family, and the man and son lashing out on anyone that mentions the past if it's related to the dead son and mom, even if they just bring up a "Wedding", the dad starts to cry and yell.

Slow paced, frustrating dialog(or whine-alog) and no satisfactory story or ending. Avoid it. It could be a 20 minute short film if you cut out all the dead air and repetitive "my families dead and it really sux" talk.

This is film as slow poetry. The style and lighting, pace and music all combine to produce a tremendous sense of presence. A beautifully shot and realized film about a difficult subject - how families cope after sudden loss - is handled in a meaningful and authentic way. It is NOT maudlin, or sentimental - it is rather honest, direct, and very watchable.

What lies at the center of Underbara Älskade is an authenticity that lends much to Von Trier and has even hints of Dogme. Yet it is highly accessible and watchable - provided that you admire the pace for what it is - one of the key skills is that the gaps are the power center of the conversations and here Mikael Nyqvist is at his usual best - he is truly skilled at acting for film - the smallest gesture or pause.

Johan Brisinger likes exploring the recovery of human beings (His other film En Del av Mitt Hjärta covers much of the same territory). Underbara Älskade is a film of moments and vignettes - one of the overall pluses has to be the excellent cinematography, color grading etc; it is extremely beautifully shot, emphasizing the Swedish color scheme of greys, blues, and whites to very good effect.

The setting on the Swedish island of Härmanö part of the Gullholmen Archipelago is perfect and adds much to the overall beauty.

The story is a simple one: a the beginning of the film Lasse (Mikael Nykvist) crashes the family car on a country road killing his wife and youngest boy. The older boy Jonas (Anastasios Soulis) and he nearly a year later make the trip to their summer cottage off the Stockhom Archipelago. Here Lasse and Jonas fall in an easy summer relationship. Jonas meets a free spirit in the older Helena (Moa Gammel).

The pace never seems to alter - but the healing process is slowly evident - as people learn to be themselves - but at the center lies an honesty that is all too rare in film. It looks and feels very Swedish - and really looks like contemporary Sweden - from the coffee cups to Helena's style - and this is no bad thing.

While not a total success it is a surprisingly easy and rewarding watch.

Definitely worth viewing for its quiet contemplative elegiac approach - a real gem in its simplicity and loveliness.