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Bunch of Five (1998)
6/10
A gang of teenage boys bungle a drug deal
4 August 2000
Erik Poppe's Oslo is a multi-racial, graffiti-covered anywhere-city like Manchester or Berlin or Paris. As a portrait of wasted youth, Schpaaa is a better film than its Anglo-French equivalents, La Haine and Human Traffic. It's an angry film full of love for a group of people without love. A lean film telling a human tale with a perfectly apt cinematic style: snapshots of scenes in the last weeks of two young teenagers before their aimless anti-social behaviour catches up on them. It's a film of wonderfully human moments, such as the grins on the boys' faces when Jonas returns from an unexpected ride in a car from which he was stealing; the resignation on a young boy's face when he approaches the door of his dysfunctional home. The highlight is a beautifully acted scene when Jonas, having been kept behind by the supply teacher for falling asleep in class, pretends to be his own best friend, and naughtily tries to get the 'too careful' teacher to touch a hollow on his head.
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