Arne Goes To Space

An odd couple comedy seems an unlikely setting for a sprinkling of sci-fi but Lars Vega attempts just that with Arne Goes To Space. The barn door sized comedy is designed for maximum appeal, but the picture’s sense of humor frequently feels out of date.

Siblings Arne (Lennert Jahkel) and Stefan (Rolf Lassgard) may still live together on the farm where they were born and raised, but they couldn’t be more different. The locals in their northern Swedish community dub them Happy Arne and Sour Stefan. Arne enjoys reading the same Kronblom comic book over and over again, laughing with fresh delight each time, while Stefan silently sticks his nose in gun magazines. Arne will take a glass of milk with dinner, with Stefan preferring beer. Arne loves to talk, while getting a word, let alone a kind one, out of Stefan is a fool’s errand. Despite their differences, or perhaps because of them, the pair create a perfect balance. They go through their daily routine with clockwork efficiency, and in the evenings, they eat together and watch Swedish soap operas before bed. But there’s just one problem, a secret Arne is keeping from Stefan — his cancer has returned and he doesn’t have long to live.

Enter Roland (played by the legendary Kiran Shah). That’s the name Arne gives to the extraterrestrial that crash lands in the nearby forest that he brings home one day. Stefan isn’t fazed at the sight of an alien; instead he’s annoyed to have a freeloader under his roof. Of course, Arne sees in Roland a new friend. The pair do the only thing that makes sense in their world: they throw some flannel on the diminutive martian and show him how things are done around the farm. Even though the only words Roland can speak are “blub blub,” the siblings and the creature from another world easily understand each other. But as Arne gets weaker, Roland soon becomes a conduit for Stefan to better appreciate the things he took for granted about his brother, and grapple with what life might look like without him.

Leaning more Paul (the forgotten 2011 Nick Frost and Simon Pegg sci-fi comedy) than E.T., the picture’s peak of intergalactic hilarity is Stefan getting Roland drunk on moonshine. The screenplay by Vega and Theodor Österberg doesn’t quite punch down on Sweden’s small-town citizens, but they are depicted largely as drunk, dim, and emotionally stunted. Certainly, comedy is subjective, but it might be hard to find anyway who doesn’t give pause at the unrelenting streak of gay jokes the filmmakers put in Stefan’s mouth. Whether or not they’re deployed to underscore his small-minded view of the world, they’re unfunny and unnecessary, coming off like an unwelcome throwback to the casual homophobia of 1990s comedies. It’s an ugly touch that stains the picture’s earnest sentimentality. Even if sticky sweet, there are moments when this strange, alien dusted buddy dramedy succeeds in hitting its emotional target. But much like the characters in the picture, it’s almost as if the filmmakers are afraid of getting too touchy feely.

There will be no surprises how the story winds up playing out (it’s right there in the title) and its conclusions are fairly pat: life is worth living and it moves by you in a flash; there’s a whole world out there to explore, and love offers its own well of happiness. It’s a message that has been elucidated with more warmth, heart, and distinction in countless other movies. Arne Goes To Space offers a high concept that it technically manages to pull off. But in forgoing a more earthbound approach, and treating their characters as punchlines instead of people, the filmmakers reveal they may also have to learn, just as Stefan does, about how to move through the world with a little more grace.

Director: Lars Vega
Screenplay: Lars Vega and Theodor Österberg
Cast: Rolf Lassgård, Lennart Jähkel, Kiran Shah
Producers: Anette Brantin
Cinematography: Christian Karlsen
Production design: Lena P Cederlund
Costume design: Viktoria Mattila
Editing: Cecilie Damsgaard
Music: Maria Jagd
Sound: Christoffer Demby
Production companies: Nexico (Sweden)
World sales: TrustNordisk
Venue: Toronto International Film Festival (Discovery)
In Swedish
101 minutes