At Queerguru we can’t just give you all steak and sizzle. Sometimes it’s our duty to ensure that you are getting a varied diet. Occasionally we need to give you a little milk and cookies. This time it’s in the form of the family-friendly Swedish rom-com Mini Zlatan and Uncle Darling, told from the perspective of the kid who is putting all the obstacles between two true loves.
Ella (Agnes Colliander) is known as Mini Zlatan due to her love of soccer. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a very famous Swedish soccer player, and yes, we did have to google that. Her favorite person in the whole world is her gay uncle Tommy (Simon J. Berger). Guncle Tommy dresses hair, loves monsters, and is always ready to dress up in crazy costumes. What more could a kid ask for? Unfortunately, he also has a love life, into which steps Steve (TIbor Lukacs), and Ella begins to fear that she will have to share her bestie. That is not an acceptable option to her.
Ella begins a campaign of sabotage. Along with her schoolmate Otto (Danyar Zeydanioglu) she concocts a variety of madcap schemes to break up the couple. At first, Tommy does not realize what is going on. However, after Ella has shaved off some of Steve’s hair, dyed the remainder green, and subjected him to the embarrassment of making a speech while a fart machine distracts his audience, the clues are beginning to mount up. Eventually, all is revealed and Ella is forced to confess her role in driving away Steve. In a big nod to traditional Hollywood romcoms, it is Ella who then has to race to the airport to stop Steve from returning to his home in Amsterdam.
Filmed in saturated colours that evoke the memories of childhood, the storyline is simple and sweet, though a little too sugar-coated for this cynic. A reminder of the times in our lives when an argument with a best friend is the most devastating thing that can happen. It contains a lesson about how to treat your friends and that love shared is not halved, it is doubled. We said we would bring you milk and cookies, and there it is. For the diabetics amongst you, we apologize. Next time we will return to our more usual fare of sour and spicy.
Review by ANDREW HEBDENQueerguru Contributing Editor ANDREW HEBDEN is a MEDIA & CULTURAL STUDIES graduate spending his career between London, Beijing, and NYC as an expert in media and social trends. As part of the expanding minimalist FIRE movement, he recently returned to the UK and lives in Soho. He devotes as much time as possible to the movies, theatre, and the gym. His favorite thing is to try something (anything) new every day.
Labels: 2022, Andrew Hebden, BFI London, Mini-Zlatan and Uncle Darling, review, Rom com, swedish
