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Agnes is a lonely teenage girl without any real friends. She's secretly in love with Elin, a popular girl in school. Elin is bored with living in a small town.

Before this, we were used to rosy depictions of teenage life. You wouldn't get a lot of cursing and underage drinking. Then a movie called F---ing Åmål hit the theaters. It dared to give a more realistic portrayal of being a teenager at the time. About the title, Åmål is an actual small town in Sweden. It's a Swedish language film, but I suppose cursing in English is cooler. For English markets, it had to be retitled as Show Me Love, after a song by Robyn we hear in the movie.

This became a mainstream hit in Sweden, which was unusual for a film about homosexual love. This was, after all, before Brokeback Mountain (2005). But it was most influential in another way: In the years that followed there were several tell-it-like-it-is teenage dramas made in Sweden, such as Hip Hip Hora! (2004). I see these as knock offs and don't find them as interesting.

You might have seen films about a nerdy girl or woman being into a popular guy. They never feel real to me. The story always seems to progress in an improbable way that only happens in movies. Show Me Love doesn't have the same problem. It feels like the events could unfold in much the same way in real life. By the end of it you have forgotten that you're watching a movie and you feel that you know these people. The characters have their flaws, but you sympathize with them-even with Elin, who can be both mean and annoying, because you realize that she's an already frustrated teen that is put in a difficult situation. It's easy to relate to the important characters even if you haven't been in the exact same predicament. There are plenty of things that you will recognize from your teenage years.

They found songs that fit the mood for different scenes, from Yvonne - Drifter capturing a feeling of angst in one part of the film to Broder Daniel - Underground almost giving you a feeling of invincibility in another part.

Although it's not a mockumentary they were going for a documentary look, which shows in the camera movements, but also in that it's rather grainy and sometime yellowish (from the older kind of lightbulbs). This makes the film feel raw and unfiltered. The audience at the time would get it, but to a teen watching today, it might make the film seem older than it actually is or very low budget. I think there's a risk that some young people will turn it off without giving it a chance, but if you keep watching for just a few minutes I guarantee that you will forget it and just accept it as part of the style. They changed the color grading of certain scenes on the Nordic Blu-ray and Netflix to give them a more neutral look. I honestly don't think it's an improvement. In my view they removed some of the atmosphere.

Younger viewers might think that this will be slow and boring because it's old. I don't think Show Me Love would be told at a faster pace if it was made today. Things are happening all the time. Films were actually relatively fast-paced in the '90s, and then became slower again after the Lord of the Rings trilogy became a success in the next decade (and films started getting longer running times).

Fashion changes. Technology changes. That doesn't change the fact that this film deals with topics that were relevant then, are relevant now, and will be relevant a hundred years from now.

I recommend this to all teens and all former teens.

Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle, a celebrity who became famous when she was young and beautiful. Now she's older (but in good shape) and we will see what aging does to her career and self-image. With outside help, she creates a younger version of herself called Sue (Margaret Qualley), but she is warned that she has to periodically switch between living as the younger and older version of herself. She must not be late to make the switch!

To make this film they started off with a big bowl of drama, added a teaspoon of sci-fi, and a pinch of mystery. These elements work well together because everything is connected to the main story. At the end they added a whole bucketload of splatter à la early Peter Jackson (only they had a bigger budget and the effects were of course more modern.) This switch doesn't work so well for me.

I think they got the right actors for the parts. Besides Moore and Qualley I should also mention Dennis Quaid as the dirty, old boss. The cinematography was good. It had some weird close-ups, but those added to the mood of those scenes. The film had some body transformation effects that I liked, because it felt like something physical was on the screen. (The eyes were probably digital, however.)

Although I think this is in some ways a well-made film, I don't know who to recommend it to. Some will think the first three quarters of the film are interesting and appreciate that it takes its time to tell the story, but they might be put off by the ending. Others will think that the start and middle of the film are too slow and boring and might complain that we don't get any action until the end. I can appreciate different kinds of films, but it's distracting when you take a too sharp turn from one genre to another late in the film. For others it apparently works better, considering that From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) is a cult-classic, while I've always felt that it's two great films that were combined into one decent film.

If you're not too squeamish, and like strange films with some surprises this might be for you. Maybe.

A group of campers inadvertently disturbs a gathering of devil worshippers and get hunted around the woods. They call the special forces who show up to help with the situation.

The reviewers claiming that this movie changed their lives are of course totally serious. Nah, kidding, this was not meant to be a thought-provoking film. You can tell a bunch of friends made it, because everyone on screen is the same age. The camera was likely a consumer grade camcorder. The high ratings are for the entertainment value and not because it revolutionized cinema or anything.

It's low-budget, but I wouldn't call it bad. It's made with a lot of (intentional) humor. It's like a Swedish Bad Taste with devil worshippers instead of aliens. There are some cool-looking practical effects, for example when people get shot, and when a guy's head is smashed in with a giant club. There are even several explosions (real, not digital). The filmmakers were quite creative, and I enjoyed seeing what action sequences they could pull off with the resources they had.

There is room for improvement. The story is as simple as it gets. Character development? Don't make me laugh. They don't always follow filmmaking rules, so someone walking to the left could be walking to the right in the next shot. However, despite, or maybe sometimes because it's shortcomings it will be great fun to those who are into low-budget or rare movies.

You can tell they had a blast making this. It's the crazy film you talked about making with your friends, but never got around to. What I learned from this masterpiece is that with the power of Satan, you can accomplish anything! Microsoft Paint might also help.

Now you are probably thinking you have to get the Special Edition 4K Blu-ray. At the time of writing the officially available versions are the DVD version and DivX. I recommend the DVD version for the higher resolution, but it's missing an opening short film included in the DivX version.