Hivos Tiger Award Competition screening - review - SOMETHING MUST BREAK (Nånting måste gå sönder) by Ester Martin Bergsmark

An androgynous boy named Sebastian, but who prefers to call himself Ellie, falls for a straight boy named Andreas. When Andreas returns his affections, thus begins out unorthodox and non-conventional love story, which nevertheless has as much tenderness as it has sexual charge.

Something Must Break signals the burst into the international cinematic scene by Ester Martin Bergsmark, who here shows great skill and ability in creating a trendy twenty-first century love story through an appealing style, careful cinematography but also a script that strips itself of narrative conventional structuralisms in favour of a more down to the bone simple approach. Because indeed, the visual style of this film may seem beautiful and complex, with the cameras sometimes seeming to caress the characters especially in the most tender of love making sequences, but what really gets over in Something Must Break is the fact that this is a simple love story at heart.

Thus we witness the pain and the pleasure of romance. We witness it mostly through the eyes of Sebastian/Ellie, who experiences heartbreak quite often and deals with it by vulnerably getting his kicks elsewhere in the most extrovert and fetishist of ways. This is what, in fact, makes the second nature of the film – sex. There is a stylish examination of sex, and while this is quite explicit and graphic it is never truly tasteless as it is not used as a gimmick but rather as a way to portray an even more intimate side of our central character.

Eccentric and uproarious in its most ‘punk’ moments, the sweetness and softness of Something Must Break is really what charges the viewing experience. This was also possible due to the chemistry shared by the two leading actors. Nevertheless a big chunk of the praise goes to the director for his match and balance of technical competence with genuine emotional connection.