Show Me Love
|
List Price: Our Price: $10.48 You Save: $9.51 (48%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $7.58 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Canada
Movie Reviews of Show Me Love
Movie Review: Chillingly poignant
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, I admit now that I rented this movie for its depiction of a lesbian couple. What can I say - I'm a desperate teenager. I expected to see something of the dramatic worth of, 'But I'm a Cheerleader' - something nice, but corny if it were a standard heterosexual film. How wrong I was.If anything, the relationship and love of the film's title play second fiddle to its exposure of human inadequacy and the clumsiness of youth. From those first few shots of Agnes' very teenage diary writings, to the good intentions of her family as they lovingly yet ineptly profess acceptance of her unpopularity, this is starkly insightful stuff. Lingering shots of characters' silences and solitary moments allow the direction to be reminiscent of Lars von Trier's work in 'Dancer in the Dark'/'The Idiots'.
Particularly powerful are the scenes at an adolescent party. Those awkward, teenage encounters, fuelled by furtive first experiences with alcohol and made so hellish by teenage isolation, are depicted with painful accuracy. Of a similar vein are the scenes in which Agnes' family realise that no one is coming to her party ... and those awful scenes with the girl in the wheelchair. Those are so ridiculously painful and awkward that you don't know whether to laugh or be appalled.
If there is one thing that detracts from any of this, it is the intrusiveness of parts of the soundtrack, particularly in the scene where the girls first kiss. While blaring guitars are kind of teenage, tacky music always detracts from the delicacy of intimate scenes. Still, this is a small gripe - the film isn't driven by cheap romance, so a small deficiency in this area is negligible.
In summary, if you're looking for chicks having sex, rent "If These Walls Could Talk 2". If you're looking for something a little more sophisticated, hire this.
Movie Review: "I don't want to be like everyone else"
Summary: 5 Stars
Show Me Love is the unfortunately sanitised alternative title of ... Amal with the result being that it sounds like a B-grade Mills & Boon romance, rather than the gritty and realistic insight into the trials and tribulations of teenage life that it is. The outstanding achievement of the film is that it doesn't fall into the same trap as many other teen flicks - the pitfall of unrealistically glamorising teen lives. Life in Amal is boring, trivial, angst-ridden, small-minded and definitely not at all glamorous. The titular town is in Sweden and is perhaps best summed up by bored teen Elin contemplating another evening of hanging around and getting drunk: "Why must we live in ... Amal? When something's in, it takes so long to get here, it's out already because we're so ... behind!" In order to liven life up a bit, Elin accepts a dare to kiss Agnes, a socially awkward classmate who is rumoured to be lesbian. The kiss affects Elin more than she cares to admit - she likes Agnes, but Agnes isn't 'cool'; anyone who is different is the butt of cruel jokes, and Elin has her reputation to worry about.
Alexandra Dahlstrom and Rebecca Liljeberg deliver outstanding performances, as indeed does the entire largely teenage cast. This combined with the 'fly on the wall' camera work creates a film that is both naturalistic and engaging (despite the fact that non-Swedish speaking viewers must rely on subtitles). The story builds to the penultimate scene in the school bathroom when, sick of being messed around, Agnes confronts Elin, in a particularly memorable and funny yet touching 'coming out' sequence.
Movie Review: Love, even with alien names, is universal
Summary: 5 Stars
It's the agony and fun of school days which one recollects from Agnes's (Rebecca) character. Though brought up in a Steel city of Durgapur (it is to Calcutta as Amol is to Stockholm), where life is not all so FREE and OPEN; sex at that age is unthinkable, still there are many many things common between the characters of Amol and those I grew up with in Durgapur. When I was infatuated with a girl at that age, my love was similar to Elian; crazy about the limitations of the other sex. And the embarassment I had in store for my parents was too common as Agnes's. My father has always been kind ofan watchdog for me, atleast economically since he was always afraid about myself getting spoiled. A similar picture comes out of Agnes's mom who not only breaks Agnes's privacy but also disregards her reservations cooking beef in Agnes's birthday inspite of knowing that she's a vegeterian. Even my father has always been very insisting, though as I grew up I found others' father are sometimes more nagging and maybe I got an optimal one! The agony of being tricked by Elian as Agnes slaps her and consequent madness is well expressed by Rebecca. But the toilet scene, which comes as an acid test of Elian's love for Agnes is just too good. For Agnes, who had always been bullied by the tall smartie, it was a time to amaze her when Elian introduces Agnes as her new girlfriend. It's an ultimate joy for Agnes. The movie is a really well thought one. But the way the handicapped character has been dealt, it can give a blow to a handicapped spectator and could have been avoided.Movie Review: So real, it hurts
Summary: 5 Stars
Show Me Love, also known under the 10 times better foreign title of F**king Amal (isn't there some sort of statute of limitations on Puritanism?), is an incredibly frank and naturalistic story about what it is like to be 14, in love, and trapped in a one horse town. The fact that the movie is based in Sweden and focuses on a relationship between two girls does nothing to harm the universal appeal of this intelligent and remarkably well-crafted film. The director, Lukas Moodysson, has such a fine eye for the day to day minutiae of the teen years you will recognize many of the film's best moments whether you are from Lubbock, TX or a place like Amal, Sweden. Alexandra Dahlstrom plays Agnes, a retiring teen who has only one outcast friend even though she has lived in Amal for three years (a fate made more acute by the fact that rumor has it she is a lesbian.) Agnes is of course in love, Who wasn't at 14?, with the most popular girl at school Elin (Liljeberg). One night Elin kisses Agnes to fulfil a cruel dare, and she discovers to her surprise that it wasn't all that bad. Elin reacts to this shock by taking up with a doltish boy to show how "normal" she really is. The resolution to this tangle is not the standard simplistic run down you would get from a Hollywood movie. Throughout the film you are constantly reminded that kids are cruel, even the ones you might be rooting for, and that life is filled with unexpected turns. Overall, a terrific movie that deserves to be seen by more people.Movie Review: An easier pill to swollow
Summary: 5 Stars
While I will probably say some things that may seem to contradict my 5 star review let me explain. Yes the movie is good and the acting for the most part is excellent, among those being the acting of Rebbecka Liljeberg, Alexandra Dahlstrom, the father and the mother. The rest was just pointless banter that I could not just wait to get over with, mostly the scenes when the cool kids are hanging out drinking.The realism of what it is like to be different in junior high was no where near what I remeber and I didn't have to deal with the stigmata of being labeled homosexual.
However I digress and will give cudos to the evolution of Agnes and Elins relationship. I say it is a easier pill to swallow because if you have ever seen the movie "The Truth About Jane" which is based on actual event you will no what I mean.
By watching this film you can say I watched a coming of youth film about lesbians without really having to sit through any real gut wrentching scenes. Sure you do get the one suicide "attempt" but it is not believable and I don't think it was meant to be.
In short sit back and watch a great coming of age movie starring two brilliant young actresses in a movie you'll be sure to watch over and over.
Oh and if your worried about the subtitles once you get into the movie you almost forget your reading them plus a lot of the words you may recognize anyway, but that could just be me and my slight know knowledge of European languages.
Enjoy!