Mitt liv som hund (1985)

Lasse Hallström's film has qualities and moments that I know will resonate in me for a long time. It's a simple drama about everyday people. The central character, a young boy named Ingemar, often tells himself it could be worse, using examples, his favorite being Laika, the dog that was left up in space and died of starvation, to put things into perspective. While living with an aunt and uncle to give his ill mother time to rest, he encounters all sorts of interesting people in their quirky town, such as Mr. Arvidsson, an old man who likes to have Ingemar read lingerie ads to him, or Fransson, a man who obsessively is perpetually fixing the roof of his house.

The film deals a lot with feelings of sexuality from the young boy's perspective, something not tackled often in mainstream cinema. There's a long list of examples: Ingemar getting his penis stuck in a bottle after unwittingly being dragged into an exhibition of procreation, Lilla removing her stockings under a bridge and urging Ingemar to join her, Saga a tomboy who disguises herself as a boy to be on the soccer team, tries to hide her burgeoning breasts, and is attracted to Ingemar, voluptuous local Berit, who while posing nude, finds Ingemar falling through a skylight to get a glimpse, uncle Gunnar's fascination with breasts, etc.

It's truly a wonderful movie. It deals with loss in a humane and profound way. All the actors, including the young ones, felt natural and authentic. The little Swedish town is engrossing, you feel during the film's duration that you are there in it, as a voyeur, watching as these people's real lives play out before you.