Simon and the Oaks (2012)
Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 32
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 15
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 13
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 5
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 399
My Rating
Movie Info
An epic drama spanning the years 1939 to 1952, this is the gripping story of Simon (Bill Skarsgaard), who grows up in a loving working class family on the outskirts of Gothenburg but always feels out of place. He finally convinces his father to send him to an upper-class grammar school, where he meets Isak, the son of a wealthy Jewish bookseller who has fled Nazi persecution in Germany. Simon is dazzled by the books, art and music he encounters in the home of Isak's father Ruben (Jan Josef
Cast
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Bill Skarsgård
Simon -
Helen Sjoholm
Karin -
Jan Josef Liefers
Ruben -
Jonatan S. Wächter
Young Simon -
-
Stefan Gödicke
Erik -
-
Karl Martin Eriksson
Young Isak -
Erica Lofgren
Klara -
Josefin Nelden
Mona -
Cecilia Nilsson
Inga -
Lena Nylen
Olga -
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All Critics (32) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (15)
"Simon and the Oaks" branches out in ways unusual and interesting enough to hold your attention and then even shake it a bit.
Top CriticThe sheer sincerity of everyone concerned bolsters the whole enterprise so that Ohlin's historical novel-on-film holds us.
"Simon and the Oaks" is not merely the story of two boys from opposite sides of the tracks. It's also a larger meditation on life's hardships and what endures: love, art and civilization.
[A] lush, handsomely crafted middlebrow epic ...
It's a warmly done family and personal drama that seems to cover familiar territory, but only up to a point and very much in its own way.
Poetic, romantic and idealistic, it begins in 1939 and concludes after the end of World War II.
Contains more than one emotionally potent scene and never takes the easy shortcuts.
Significant enough to be name-checked in the title, the trees hang over the film, threatening to impose heavy metaphor on what is otherwise a straightforward family saga.
The German occupation barely makes an impression in Lisa Ohlin's sluggish adaptation of Marianne Fredriksson's novel.
Simon and the Oaks is a lot of things, but above all, it is too much.
So much is thrown at the audience, it makes it difficult to focus or choose the important points in this sprawling story.
What starts off as an intriguing coming-of-age story, ends up being a convoluted movie with too many characters having problems.
With its fool's-gold cinematography, over-emphatic musical score and self-important protagonist, "Simon and the Oaks" is a puny acorn that dreams it's a towering achievement.
Foreign-film comfort food...at its best in exploring the psychology of the adopted.
Loses steam the longer it tries to articulate uninteresting asides, with the effort's coming of age inclination best served on an intimate scale of unspoken tragedy. Inflating the troubles only emphasizes storytelling shortcomings.
Think about climbing a tree instead.
A sensitive character study chronicling the considerable challenge of coming-of-age Jewish with the specter of the Third Reich lurking just over the horizon.
Simon and The Oaks covers the various paths taken by a sensitive and smart boy and then young man in his quest for meaning.
With beautiful period trappings and picturesque backdrops, the film doesn't skimp on visual details, though the resulting product is inert.
Audience Reviews for Simon and the Oaks
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Latest News on Simon and the Oaks
October 12, 2012:
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Foreign Titles
- Simon (DE)
- Simon and the Oaks (UK)
The theme of Simon and the Oaks is one of reality, and finding our own to reality to live in. Often times, the reality we think we need is not the one we really need. Simon is constantly trying to find someone/something who really understands him. Simon's father represents the far side of the spectrum, the one who tries to bar Simon from living in a reality that is not conducive to the real world. His mother is the guardian, and plays a really central role: she is the one who provides Simon's "real world Oak", a sounding board for him whenever his father was unresponsive to his needs. She is the central key to Simon's struggle, because his moral problem is that he is unwilling to recognize the family he grew up with. His need to escape his father made him turn a blind eye to his mother, no doubt exaggerated by the news that they aren't really his parents. This reality, the one that his foster parents were the ones who really loved and understood him, was something that he was blind to. This, of course, is something the Simon comes to realize.
There were also some good moments when the lighting turned really blue, giving off a very moody feeling. Generally this was when Simon shunned his family, or when we saw his struggles as he tried to find himself.
Overall, it was a good film with some interesting character dynamics. There were some moments when some characters were seemingly left out, such as Isak, which was somewhat baffling because some were major players early on. But it was an interesting take on a story we don't hear much of: the ramifications of the holocaust long after it's over.