Lieber John (1964)

Lieber John: Directed by Lars-Magnus Lindgren. With Jarl Kulle, Christina Schollin, Helena Nilsson, Erik Hell. John is a shipmaster on a very small transportation boat which regularly attends a very small harbour to buy food, actually from Anna’s father. She is a waitress and has a young daughter. She tells John that her name is Anita. They have met many times, but their first personal meeting is when both are swimming in early morning. John is asked to have morning coffee with Anna’s family. He invites her and her child to a trip to Zoo in Copenhagen. Both have genuine feelings for each other. There are lovely three-some scenes when John is proud of “being” a father, and beautiful love scenes. Christina Schollin’s naked body is cute but never obtrusive. But at that time girls were depreciated if they “gave in” too soon. So these scenes repeatedly alternate with hot misunderstandings, well-known exactly when two people with genuine feelings fear misunderstandings and try to preclude them. In the last minutes of the movie, when each has left the “harbour village” on the next day, and John has learned the real name of “Anita” and calls her from the boat, both realise without saying anything about it, that this is the beginning of a long relationship based on mutual feelings.

“Lars-Magnus Lindgrenu0026#39;s Academy Award-nominated u0026quot;Käre Johnu0026quot; (u0026quot;Dear Johnu0026quot; in English) almost seems as if it simply depicts people doing what they naturally do. Very little of the movie feels scripted. The relationship between John and Anita simply develops as relationships generally develop.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThese things are what make this an especially good movie. Even if you canu0026#39;t fully relate to the characters, you still feel that theyu0026#39;re realistic characters. I should note that because itu0026#39;s a Scandinavian movie, much of it deliberately moves slowly. Thereu0026#39;s no attention-getting action, but there is a shot of a Beatles poster.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFine movie. I recommend it.”