"Alla Alskar Alice" (Everybody Loves Alice)

"Alla Alskar Alice" (Everybody Loves Alice) is a poignant film that delves into the touchy subject of divorce stemming from marital infidelity and its effects on the children involved. Natalie Bjork plays the protaganist Alice in the film, pulling off the role of the hopeful, yet distraught preteen brilliantly.

Alice lives with her parents and younger brother Pontus (Bisse Unger) in a small town in Sweden. Alice is an avid soccer player whose most enjoyable past time is practicing the game with her father. He is, however, spending more and more time at work, which takes away from his time with his daughter. Alice, although often disappointed at her father's lack of time spent with her, is nonetheless ever hopeful that she will eventually become more important than work to her father.

As the film progresses the viewer eventually begins to discover that it isn't work that is distracting him from his duties at home, but rather a co-worker. To complicate the matter even more is the fact that the woman is the mother of one of Alice's classmates, Patrik (Anastasios Soulis), who lives just down the street.

Although Alice's mother is hurt and angry, she still appears to want to try to hold the family together and work things out, but Alice's father has made up his mind. He will be moving in with the woman and her son, and Alice and Pontus will visit him every other weekend.

As strong as Alice seems to be, the fact of her parents' separation and impending divorce is more than she can handle, and even after the whole town seemingly knows, she continues to deny the fact saying that her father is away on business. This causes more conflict when her best friend decides the truth needs to be told and begins to tell everybody. Alice has one teacher who can empathize with her and lends her a shoulder to lean and cry on.

There is a minor subplot involving Alice and a boy, Anton (Marcus Ardai-Blomberg), whom she has a crush on. "Everybody Loves Alice" is a superb film that deals with a tricky subject in a way that doesn't make it seem sappy or redundant.

Viewer discretion: there is one brief nude scene when Alice and her friends spy on the boys in the shower.

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"Broken Noses" A Boy Boxer Documentary

"Broken Noses" is a documentary about a boxer, Andy Minsker, who was never able to make it big, but who never lost his love for boxing. Andy was the son of a boxer who also never made it to the top, but through his skills and dedication, instilled a passion for boxing in his son. In order to pursue his desire of boxing, Andy takes young boys under his wings and teaches them the intricacies of pugilism.

Throughout the documentary the viewer is led inside the private life of Andy from his childhood to the present. Interviews with both sets of parents (his parents are divorced and both have remarried), gives some insight into how Andy was raised, how he developed his personal philosophies, and how he came to be a boxer.

Throughout the film Andy seems to pour out his passion for boxing, and even though he didn't make it to a full professional level, there is no doubt that this young man had and even now has a passion that won't die. This can be seen in his interaction with the young boxers he is mentoring.

Several of the boys give personal interviews describing how they have benefited from training under Andy Minsker. He never lets them get too cocky, chiding them when they have won a fight but are rubbing it in to the loser of the fight.

In one poignant scene we see Andy lying on the ground with a group of boys huddled around him. Even as they joke and play, you can see that they have a great love and respect for their teacher. His love of teaching the boys is just as strong as his love for boxing.

Although the film may drag in some areas, the overall effect is overwhelmingly beautiful in its portrayal of a boxer who is in love with his sport and who has a knack for passing that passion onto the next generation. One may get the sense from watching this documentary that Andy is more in love with himself than boxing or mentoring, but that impression isn't a fair assessment of this film. This is a great boxing film that sheds a light on the inner workings of a boxer. A must see for any fan of boxing.

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