Published on 12:00 AM, May 03, 2014

Lukas Moodysson Moody by name...

Lukas Moodysson Moody by name...

Karl Frederik Lukas Moodysson, born 17 January 1969, is a Swedish novelist, short story writer and a film director. First appearing in public as an ambitious poet in the 1980s, he had his big international, breakthrough directing the 1998 romance film 'Show Me Love'. He has since directed a string of films with different styles and public appeal, as well as continued to write both poetry and novels. In 2007, the Guardian ranked Moodysson 11th in its list of the world's best directors, describing his directorial style as “heartfelt and uncompromising.” By the time he was 23, he had written five poetry collections and a novel published by Wahlström & Widstrand. He decided to move to film to produce works that were less introverted and could be enjoyed by a wider audience than poetry. After studying at what was then Sweden's only film school, the Dramatiska Institutet, he directed three short films before moving to feature productions.
His directorial breakthrough came with Fucking Åmål (retitled Show Me Love in English-speaking countries). A classical love story, filmed in a highly naturalistic, almost documentary style, it is set in the small and boring Swedish town of Åmål, and follows two young girls who awkwardly fall in love. The film was a huge success with both the Swedish public and the critics. It won four Guldbagge Awards, including best film, best actress, best direction and best script. Lilya 4-ever (2002) was included in many American critics' top ten lists the following year. The mainly Russian language film follows a young girl living in an unspecified country in the former Soviet Union (filmed in Estonia) as she is abandoned by her mother, drops out of school, is forced into prostitution and then is kidnapped into sex slavery. At the time of the film's release, critic Dave Kehr of The New York Times declared Moodysson to be "Sweden's most praised filmmaker since Ingmar Bergman".
His 2004 film, the controversial A Hole in My Heart, is more an experimental film than a traditional narrative, and he has said it is intentionally designed to be off-putting to the audience. It received a special certificate for shocking images in Sweden, and received terrible reviews from the vast majority of critics. He followed this with another even more experimental film, 2006's Container, featuring narration by actress Jena Malone. The only audible sound in the movie is a stream of consciousness narrative, which is only loosely related to the visual content.

All of Moodysson's feature films have been produced, or co-produced, by Memfis Film, a small Swedish production company based in Stockholm. Moodysson is an outspoken advocate of left-wing and feminist politics and at the same time a deeply committed Christian. He has three children with his wife, graphic novelist Coco Moodysson.
FILMOGRAPHY
1995 - Det var en mörk och stormig natt
1996 - En uppgörelse i den undre världen

 

1997 – Talk
1998 - Fucking Åmål
2000 – Together
2000 - The New Country
2002 - Lilya 4-ever
2003 - Terrorists: The Kids They Sentenced
2004 - A Hole in My Heart
2006 - Container
2009 - Mammoth
2013 - We Are the Best!