Joven y alocada

Graphic images however the strong sense of such issues are realistic

Ever since the surprise success of "Y Tu Mama Tambien", Latin American filmmakers have realized they can compete with Hollywood, and even successfully export Spanish-language films to North America, if they make films that contain a strong dose of the kind of sexual explicitness their more Puritanical northern neighbors tend to shy away from. Unfortunately, few of these films are nearly as good as "Y Tu Mama Tambien" and are more likely to approach the dismal depths of something like "Night Buffalo".

This Chilean movie is about a girl in her late teens who is kicked out of her evangelical school for having sex and decides to start a blog to rebel against her community and overbearing religious mother. Her blog involves her talking about having all manner of sex (oral, anal, you name it) with partners of both genders. And, not surprisingly, a lot of this sex occurs on camera. The problem with this movie is it is neither fish nor fowl. It kind of wants to be a serious art film, but the character is just not particularly believable. Nothing that happens to her really justifies her rather extreme rebellion. The movie wants to take it as a given that religious repression will inevitably result in promiscuity and jaded sexual attitudes, but it doesn't SHOW how it happened with THIS character very convincingly. I would compare this movie--unfavorably--to the excellent Argentinean film "The Holy Girl", which much more believable portrays the nexus between religion and sex.

The lead, Alicia Rodriquez, is definitely very cute, and with all the graphic sex scenes this movie could have at least been solid exploitation. But while it definitely has enough hot sex scenes to qualify, to really do this it would need to make the character LESS realistic and sympathetic and much more satirical. An example of this would be the recent US indie film "King Kelly" about very hot, but very stupid, fame-obsessed young woman who sets out to become an internet porn star. This movie is only slightly more realistic than that scathing satire, and it is also not as much fun.

This one was a surprise for me. I expect most foreign films to be good, but this one was really different, and make you really engage your brain. First of all, if you don't understand the language, you have to read subtitles, and there's such rapid dialogue, that you have to read fast or you'll miss out. Which means you tend to miss a bit of the visuals, but it can be done without missing too much.

As for the story, it's fascinating, and pretty disturbing, to see the lengths an evangelical family will go to try to keep their daughter from having sex. Let's just say "slut shaming" is taken to an extreme level in this family. You can feel the poor girl's angst; it's not pleasant.

This movie explores the darker side of growing up and trying to find one's place in the world. It's not for prudes or people afraid of human sexuality. 7/10 stars.

The film is made beautifully close-up and is high-key almost entirely. It depicts love and sexual troubles of a young woman in a religiously orthodox family.

While the film is very slow, it is pleasant to watch and it will make you feel good.

The film is very bold in nature as it attacks some common taboos present in religious communities around the world, and does it in a wonderfully natural way. You can fully believe characters in the movie are real, as normal life is "boring" in many ways, just as it is depicted in the movie.

Sex scenes are wonderfully made, they are positively beautiful. They look authentic and will make you feel happy and light.

Wholeheartedly recommended.

Despite the pros and the cons, me, I liked it. Very much! I saw it 3 times, to understand it better. First, I saw the Spanish version on You-tube, without subtitles, and I don't know Spanish perfectly. Very bold and very naturally interpreted by all actors. If you don't like the movie, because you are too puritanical and you will be shocked by the porn scenes, you will definitely like the music, abundant and very beautiful, especially the Spanish version of "Je ne regrette rien" by Edith Piaf, sung by Javiera Mena and the Italian song "No voglio mica la luna" originally performed by Fiordaliso, which became "Yo no te pido la luna", sung by the same Javiera Mena. Me, I'm young and wild even now, at 62.