The title character in "Simon and the Oaks" is fascinating. Unfortunately, I am talking about the trees.

"Simon and the Oaks" would have been better off as a miniseries, where there would have been room to explore its five tragic romances and all of the other melodrama that takes place in Sweden during World War II and its aftermath. But in a two-hour movie, things get awfully convoluted.

When we meet him, Simon is a dreamy lad whose best friend is an oak tree. From there, the film shifts awkwardly between time periods, tracing his coming of age, his school friendship with another outcast, his romances, his and his friends' parents' romances and his discovery that he lives in a family with many big secrets. Somewhere in there, I think there's an allegory about Sweden's shady history of collaboration/neutrality during the war, but it's hard to know for sure.

I'm serious when I say the best thing about the movie is Simon's favorite tree. Tall and canopied, it's a beautiful specimen that the movie photographs as carefully as Hollywood did Joan Crawford. In fact, all of the cinematography is lush and pretty, peaking with a bewitching montage that shows us what Simon hears when he listens to music.

The characters though? There's not much life there, starting with the two actors who play Simon and who are, I'm sorry to say, wooden.

-- Chris Hewitt


Directed by: Lisa Ohlin

Starring: Bill Skarsgard

Rated: Not rated, but contains nudity, strong language, perversity and violence

Should you go? Think about climbing a tree instead. *-1/2