Patrik, Age 1.5 drops us into a colorful gingerbread neighborhood in Sweden where suburbanites wear pink dresses and hand out cocktails. A shy, swishy Dr. Göran awkwardly introduces his husband, Sven—a stoic man of principle who has probably been to prison and made his peace with it—to his neighbors. As a gay couple in suburbia, it’s almost impossible to get included in a life that seems never meant for them. Sven seems uncomfortable around knickknacks, and Göran’s patients think he’s a pedophile. But worst of all, their attempts to start a family are thwarted by a typo—instead of Patrik the infant (1.5 years old), they get Patrik the gay-hating delinquent (15 years old).
Full disclosure: I am neither Swedish nor gay, nor do I typically enjoy heart-curdling family films. Honestly, I was terrified by the premise of the movie—a cutesy setup like “gay couple accidentally adopts a homophobic teenager instead of a baby”? Ick, no thanks. Lots of movies like this get billed as “family comedies” and wind up being 15th-century morality plays.
But… all of the characters are just so damn likable. All of the internal conflict produces moments that can wrench a smile from your bruised heart. When Göran (Gustaf Skarsgård) kicks a garbage can in frustration, shame makes him meticulously pick the trash up again. Patrik (Thomas Ljungman), though originally so brimful of vitriol that he causes Sven (Torkel Petersson) to descend into whiskey and country music, starts to warm to his parents when Göran offers to pay him to help out in the garden. The kids of the neighborhood, usually incorrigible little shits, learn some skateboard tricks from the rapscallion. Hey, our protagonists think,
this kid might just be our ticket to getting some recognition in this bizarre Swedish candyland!
Though it’s exactly the same length as The Expendables (103 minutes), Patrik, Age 1.5 feels a hojillion times longer, vacuum-
packing time and character into dense, flavorful chunks. The dramatic action is so accessible that it never needs exposition, but the narrative still manages to compress detail into every moment—in atmospheric shots of Cadillacs speeding through the streets, in Patrik’s solemnity as he examines once-lost family photos, and in Sven’s tattoos of naked girls from around the world. Nothing halts the narrative, and what’s more, it’s beautifully shot: The high contrast and bold primary colors lend the film an abstract, fairy-tale quality that settles unobtrusively into the background.
However snugly Patrik fits into its colorful Scandinavian box, the story is so well constructed it could be set anywhere, about any marginalized group. Patrik, Age 1.5 clears prejudices away because it’s not about marriage or homophobia or raising a kid: It’s a character drama about a bunch of compelling fuckups. It’s well told and deserves every bit of sympathy we have to give. Ella Lemhagen never leaps from the director’s chair to throttle her audience into caring. She doesn’t need to. She earns it. 
I’m assuming that neither dad sleeps with Patrik’s biological mother? Cause that stuff happens, y’know.