"Never wipe tears without gloves" must go down in history as one of the great melodramatic titles; unfortunately, for this viewer, the tripartite mini-series does not live up to its great title: although in the first minutes of the first episode I thought maybe this was going to be as great as Peter Watkins' "Munch" (also upon its release a three-part docudrama), whose cinematic idiom - adult life back and forth, the jump-cuts, the angles, the voice-over - informs NWTWG.
Unfortunately, the umpteenth time I had to witness father wiping out son's hand-print upon glass, I had passed from the first revelation that had signaled so movingly the trace of a life now, already erased (with an almost biblical poignancy since it is the father not acknowledgedly perpetrating the erasure), to frustration and then to disappointment why this had to be repeated so many times; of course, this is a three-part TV series so I suppose a little reminder has to pass from one week to the next, and I saw the series in one sitting, so it doesn't cut both ways...
What I found oppressive was the unvaried juxtaposition of the group, the couple and the parents; for most of the series, it seemed no take lasted more than thirty seconds, and this for me means I am not allowed the ground to sufficiently root for the characters.
The 80's footage was very atmospherically mingled with the involving period details, and I was transported now and then to the dark side of the 80's, but in general the series seem to me a hit and miss: now delivering a punch, then again lacking focus.
The focus was neither on the couple, nor upon a sense of (lost) community, and it swayed on both the docu and the drama sides without actually taking sides. I wanted more sex between the couple which did not really ignite for me - two things: since we know from the first time Rasmus has sex he is doomed, then why not give us some sex between the couple for the suspense, the sweat, and the sheer, transient beauty of it? If it is only the random encounters that are depicted, then this bends to the moralizing side of it. Second thing, since on the day Rasmus finds out he is just another serial, anonymous positive patient has, arguably, just broken up with Benjamin, then the latter's mournful dedication (the sudden, operatic appearance in the third act, of a wall full of his pictures is not really prepared) is tinted by the question to what extent Benjamin does not idealize his lover-on-the-loss; his mourning becomes then not wholly justified.
The two Adams play it to that pitch, though: they are both first men to witness the day, and even if the series is not quite successful, we are pierced by their beauty and their youth, one in glowing conviction and smiling innocence: their eyes! Especially Adam Lundgren's (who seems an improvement upon Elijah Wood, if you don't mind my saying so) are haunting; he also has the good skills of making us feel him as the more solid, and maybe more lonely, character.
This is then what will stay with me: their beauty, the liquid light upon their eyes.
Unfortunately, the umpteenth time I had to witness father wiping out son's hand-print upon glass, I had passed from the first revelation that had signaled so movingly the trace of a life now, already erased (with an almost biblical poignancy since it is the father not acknowledgedly perpetrating the erasure), to frustration and then to disappointment why this had to be repeated so many times; of course, this is a three-part TV series so I suppose a little reminder has to pass from one week to the next, and I saw the series in one sitting, so it doesn't cut both ways...
What I found oppressive was the unvaried juxtaposition of the group, the couple and the parents; for most of the series, it seemed no take lasted more than thirty seconds, and this for me means I am not allowed the ground to sufficiently root for the characters.
The 80's footage was very atmospherically mingled with the involving period details, and I was transported now and then to the dark side of the 80's, but in general the series seem to me a hit and miss: now delivering a punch, then again lacking focus.
The focus was neither on the couple, nor upon a sense of (lost) community, and it swayed on both the docu and the drama sides without actually taking sides. I wanted more sex between the couple which did not really ignite for me - two things: since we know from the first time Rasmus has sex he is doomed, then why not give us some sex between the couple for the suspense, the sweat, and the sheer, transient beauty of it? If it is only the random encounters that are depicted, then this bends to the moralizing side of it. Second thing, since on the day Rasmus finds out he is just another serial, anonymous positive patient has, arguably, just broken up with Benjamin, then the latter's mournful dedication (the sudden, operatic appearance in the third act, of a wall full of his pictures is not really prepared) is tinted by the question to what extent Benjamin does not idealize his lover-on-the-loss; his mourning becomes then not wholly justified.
The two Adams play it to that pitch, though: they are both first men to witness the day, and even if the series is not quite successful, we are pierced by their beauty and their youth, one in glowing conviction and smiling innocence: their eyes! Especially Adam Lundgren's (who seems an improvement upon Elijah Wood, if you don't mind my saying so) are haunting; he also has the good skills of making us feel him as the more solid, and maybe more lonely, character.
This is then what will stay with me: their beauty, the liquid light upon their eyes.