ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Palaest recommended

Sammy-Jo Cervantes There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

ckd-42924 I'm a 20 years old woman, and the lead character, Mia, is 15 years old. I can't help but compare her life with my life of when I was 15 years old. She doesn't go to school. she has few friends. In addition, she shows her mother a rebellious attitude. I can't believe her bad behaviors, but I can understand her feeling a little. She believes she can do anything by herself and everything is going to be all right. But the reality is not that easy. I think people grow up experiencing failures.All of this movie are so natural that I think this movie seems to be a documentary.

Red_Identity Michael Fassbender is pretty much one of my favorite current actors, and he's really the only reason I sought this out. He's really good in it, sinister, charming, super sexy. The film isn't all that, and it goes in places you'd expect and in others you wouldn't expect. The lead character is really unlikable in many ways, but the actress does a great job with her. The final 5 minutes sort of hit emotionally in a way that one would think impossible, going by how the rest of the wasn't emotional at all. The ending provides a nice contrast but it also puts much of the film into perspective. As a whole, it's nothing special, but good performances elevate it.

Melanie Mann I never thought it was possible for any movie to make me hate Michael Fassbender; hell, I saw Shame. That was a tough film, but it still didn't disgust me the way this movie did, and that's saying something.A terrible movie about terrible people being terrible to each other. Not to mention the glaring fault of it having no plot whatsoever. Oh, and let's not forget the part where a 30-something MARRIED man rapes a 15 year old girl. And then the girl kidnaps his kid, sort of drowns her but doesn't, and then takes her right back home for no apparent reason. But hey, I'm sure that's just 'realism'.So the lead actress did nothing to earn her role but argue with her prat bf in a train station, that doesn't mean this movie has 'grit'. "Hey, there's a homeless guy down the street who eats excrement, but he's NEVER acted before let's put him in a movie omg we'll get tons of awards!" Sadly, that last bit would probably earn an Oscar.TL; DR: at least in Flashdance the chick could actually dance. Don't watch this movie, spare yourself 2 wasted hours.

lula-pec This film truly has something quite profound and important to say, but does so without straining to say too much. This contradiction is one within which the film operates throughout and which gives it a sense of a painful and claustrophobic reality. Nothing is linear, or obvious, and everything has its moments of humanity and beauty.Desperately trapped in her 'fish tank' of a world, Mia is loud, unpleasant and aggressive. The viewer isn't allowed to get too comfortable with these first impressions and soon we learn that she also clearly yearns for moments of quietness and humanity; this is most starkly symbolized by the chained horse which she is inexplicably drawn to, desperate to release it. There are also moments of solitude devoted to her amateur break dancing, which is filmed beautifully to look almost balletic,giving it the gravity it deserves. Here once again, Mia is trapped within the limitations of her untrained body. There is so much beauty within, which is painfully expressed through her limited physical abilities. The horse is ultimately put down, just as Mia's own hopes of a future as a dancer are dashed.The contradictions continue as Mia makes painful attempts to step outside of her world. Her touchingly naive sense of her own sexuality and power to seduce are in stark contrast to the role of the aggressive little adult that's been forced upon her. So when she is taken by surprise by her mother's boyfriend's sexual advances (even after provocatively dancing for him), and later walks out of the strip-club auditions after, somewhat naively, realizing what they were, it all makes perfect sense. The same girl who wanted to release the horse is simultaneously possibly capable of harming a young child, whilst the man who awakened in Mia a quiet joy in nature and gave her the sense of a caring paternal presence, is also an adulterer, who takes advantage of an underage girl. This is a film that does not seek moralize or preach - it lets the viewer have a sense of agency, but also forces us to stay in that uncomfortable grey area, where, rather than celebrating adversity overcome, we are confronted with it head on and left to draw our own (possibly painful)conclusions. Life circumstances do shape us, but rather than giving us a neatly tied up Hollywood ending, where our protagonist is released from her shackles, we are given a much more quiet celebration of profound moments within a bleak and dreary life and landscape.