Girl Picture

Originally premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival for the World Dramatic Competition selection. I originally brought tickets for this movie during the virtual festival but after watching 30 minutes of the movie, I turned it off because I was tired. However, the festival ended the next day as I got caught off from my schedule so I wasn't able to finish the movie. Recently, I found another screening at another festival so I rewatched it again. Was it worth it? Sort of.

Directed by Alli Haapasalo and its a story about three girls name Mimmi, Emma and Rönkkö who are at the cusp of womanhood, trying to draw their own contours. During three consecutive Fridays, two of them experience the earth moving effects of falling in love, while the third goes on a quest to find something she's never experienced before: pleasure. Finland cinema isn't common from where I am so it was nice to see a movie from Finland. The presentation is really good as the 1:33:1 aspect ratio did feel purposeful for the most part. Trying to capture the theme where the girls are stuck in their youth still while trying to grow out of it soon. The chemistry between the characters were mostly interesting however some felt like there could be some improvements. Each performances from the cast is pretty good as there wasn't a single weak performance from the actors. The nice production design and pacing helped to make the movie feel wholesome and fun to watch throughout.

Most of the characters have their purpose but some felt like they are just there for the plot honestly. Nothing too special that comes out from the story. It's the average basic story about an coming of age story on girls. The musical choice honestly gets annoying as the song called "Slip Away" from the band Perfume Genius is over played at this point. That song has been played since Eighth Grade and Booksmart which fits perfectly, but now its kind of over used which is annoying. Some of the dialogue could be improved since some of the words did feel like something Jaden Smith would make from a bad record album. Despite these problems, the movie never fails to become boring and there are some wholesome moments to connect with our main three characters. Good job for the effort.

Rating: B-

A rather frank Finish feature of girls deciphering hormonal urges as they mature into adulthood. The matter of fact sex talk is blunt, refreshing, insightful and often funny, as director Alli Haapasalo avoids the sensationalistic and exploitative Hollywood pratfalls of bedroom romps. These are kids, experimenting, exploring, learning, fumbling, growing and most importantly, discussing. A talkie, not a humpy.

Mimmi and Ronkko swap sex tales whilst serving up ridiculously named smoothies ("It Takes Two To Mango") at the local food court, when clique preppie figure skater Emma disrupts their world. The punky, cynical and rebellious Mimmi (Aamu Milonoff) argues with, then falls for the forbidden fruit, and we have story. A story that feels natural, flows true, views like a diary.

Milonoff is sensational in the lead, owning the screen at every emotional turn: burning embarrassment at her mother's neglect, seducing her target on the dance floor, and lashing out physical for attention. Though this is a three girl story across three Friday nights, and Haapasalo splits the plot pie in equal portions, Milonoff as Mimmi steals the show. "Girl Picture" is her movie.

Watch out!

• hipCRANK.

This film depicts three affluent European high school girls in the middle of some coming of age issues - I would not go so far as to call it problems.

The structure and the feel is a derivative of the Norwegian Internet series SKAM, which was made on a string budget with authentic real aged teenagers.

In SKAM, characters were balanced, multi layered and above all believable, while the characters here are quite shallow and, for that matter, portrayed by over age women. This gives it a somewhat awkward feeling at times, especially when it comes to portraying first sexual encounters. It is worth noting that Aamu Milonoff is 23, Eleonoora Kauhanen is 24 and Linnea Leino is 30 when the "girls" keep on experiencing these first (random) sexual encounters and discuss them on their job in a fruit juice stand, usually right after high school classes.

There is an abundant supply of cliches, like singing to random music playing on the car stereo while driving to parties or bouncing around each other in luxury apartments like happy young kittens.

All characters, even more so the male characters, feel constructed with a need to cover cliches. For the sake of comedy this is okay and at times it is entertaining. Anything beyond that feels contrived. The teenage love stories do not have the kind of pull that some teenagers actually feel when they are in it, thinking they experience the end of the world.

There is a lot of sexuality in this film that obviously comes from teenagers watching too much pornography. While it is true that European teenagers are highly exposed to pornography, portraying this issue with over aged actresses playing teenagers recreates a feeling of sexual exploitation that was declared as the arch enemy in feminist film making. In this aspect the film has failed. It could have been a chance to authentically rewrite the way teenage girls are portrayed in modern cinema.

Movies about teenagers are difficult, since adults make them and commercial distributors are part of the financial decisions. So, they can tend to be exploitative or even just adults imposing their own perceptions of what it means to grow up. Not this film. It's really brilliant and reminds me of John Hughes' groundbreaking THE BREAKFAST CLUB. Each of these three girls are flawed in her own way, but all remain relatable throughout the movie. The dialogue is often startling in its candor and performances are passionate, poignant--especially when the girls are confused or mistaken, which I think is the point of the movie.

It doesn't do anything radically different; it's pretty much your standard coming of age movie... but by the end, I'd bought into, believed and come to love these characters - just as much as they loved each other, when all was said and done... Girl power.