What I love about film festivals is finding hidden gems among the big hitters. It is always fun to see what smaller titles play because most of the time you have no idea these movies even exist. Beyond the general synopsis the festival gives you, it is fun to go into these movies blind, with no expectations. This is exactly what happened for Arne Goes to Space. Perfectly programmed in TIFF’s Discovery section, Lars Vega’s film is among the festival’s best. 

Arne Goes to Space follows two elderly brothers living in northern Sweden, Arne (Rolf Lassgård) and Stefan (Lennart Jähkel). An alien spacecraft crash-lands in the woods in their backyard, and the brothers are forced to acclimate to this discovery.  The film never explains the alien itself or its language. The brothers automatically understand the alien when it speaks, and when they meet it, they aren’t shocked that it exists. They just act like it is something you see in everyday life. It’s a unique, smart story move. 

What surprised me most is that what starts as a sci-fi comedy slowly turns into something more poignant. About 30-40 minutes in, Arne becomes sick with a terminal illness, which leaves Stefan and the alien alone at their home. To help with this, Stefan teaches the alien the basics of humanity, whether that be work, love, and friendship, as he slowly comes to realize life without his brother. This shift in tone could easily not have worked, but it fits seamlessly because the film never explains the alien except through the situations it experiences with the brothers. 

The script works wonderfully, pulling on the heartstrings while making you laugh from great bits in the very next scene. Vega balances these two aspects, directing the heightened situation with a grounded sensibility. This approach allows the more heartfelt moments to shine; it feels like this alien is part of their family. 

My main skepticism going into this small-budget film was how the alien would look, potentially throwing the suspension of disbelief out the window. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, and I was shocked by how great the practical and virtual effects are. As soon as he stepped out of the spaceship, I enjoyed how he looked, and it was the first of many moments that really made me appreciate everything that happens inside of this movie. As the film goes along, you also find out he has certain powers, which never look out of place either. 

The alien is nice and curious rather than mean and wanting to take over the world. It adds to the grounded nature of the film — he just wants to learn everything about our planet while he is here. His only lines of dialogue are “blub, blub” to us, but in the context of the movie, everyone can understand him, which is great for the flow of the story. The way the alien reacts to everything he learns about humanity is wholesome, and the alien uses that knowledge for the final payoff. 

Multiple moments made me smile, and when a movie can do that, I know it is accomplishing what it is trying to do. The back half of this is just moment after moment of payoffs, especially as Stefan deals with his brother’s sickness. That’s partly because Arne is the happy, cheery brother, while Stefan is the sourer, grumpier one. As the film goes on, the alien makes Stefan realize how great life is and appreciate those small moments. They teach each other these ideas. This is where Arne Goes to Space reveals how deep its story goes. I applaud it for heavily subverting my expectations, as it will for a lot of other people as well. 

Jähkel’s central performance as Stefan is great, taking what could have been a simple journey from grumpy to happy and making it feel real and believable. It never felt out of place for his character to go on this journey. There are many movies with this story arc, but having the alien be the catalyst for it is a big difference, and it never felt like I was watching something I had seen before. It’s a refreshing movie, the kind that will continually surprise you. 

Arne Goes to Space was arguably the biggest surprise of TIFF for me, and festivals are the perfect place to have these hidden gems highlighted. It absolutely deserves to be seen in a movie theater, and I hope it gets distributed widely enough that most people can see it. The performances and the script alone are worth the price of admission, and the surprises you get along the way make it all the more worth it. 

Review Courtesy of Jacob Diedenhofer

Feature image credit to TIFF and Filmpool Nord