À Flor Da Pele

This film deserves a chance to be seen. This teenage coming-of-age story from France tells nicely against a backdrop of martial arts (judo), competition, and sex. But it goes beyond to show some nice subtleties where class, success, and desire play out against one another to really give you a sense of what the main character is going through. I was pulled in. And the story just seemed to work and be very real and personal for me.

The director, who was present at this Toronto International Film Festival screening, mentioned the story started out as a school project -- something that garnered accolades beyond his expectations. It then grew into a judo documentary, before morphing again into a personal coming-of-age story with the director's personal story touches.

The result was excellent and succeeds on many accounts. I'd say it's worth checking out.

The movie is fresh, poignant and real. For a non-professional actor, Johan Libereau manages to touch you with his raw humanity. If he polishes on his acting skills, he will become a formidable actor. Salome is captivating with her open frankness. The other actors were quite realistic too, in their different ways. There are a lack of continuity with many scenes, creating the impression that somebody had cut out a big piece. One example, is when the Chinese boy(his arm was in a sling)walked up with the coach and the next thing, Michael is outside kicking a ball!? Some scenes could have been left out altogether, like the night swim which Michael had with Vanessa. My major pain was with the camera work. I cannot understand why a lot of the scenes had to be done in close ups. The most annoying was the group shower scenes where the boys were making fun of the Chinese boy. At one point, somebody's back covered the entire screen. I felt that 70% of the movie was done in close ups, causing you to miss a lot of the details, like with the judo scenes. A lot of the close ups were done exclusively to mask the frontal nudity. This shame is normal for American directors but with a Frenchman? Even the Parental Advisory sticker created the impression of disgust and abnormality which nudity is definitely not. I strongly recommend seeing this movie and if at the end you feel like strangling the cameraman, you are not alone! By the way, this movie is NOT a gay movie and the 3-way sex scene was too dark and lost in the close ups.

Other reviews have talked about how frank this film is, especially in terms of male frontal nudity. Well, those who've seen Grande Ecole with its frequently naked actors and expect something similar are in for a big disappointment. Other than a few seconds in the judo team locker room, the two leads' side by side shower lasts a grand total of 15 seconds. The female lead has comparably brief frontal moments. A lot of this film's marketing is geared to the gay male audience, but those expecting even a hint of homoeroticism between the two male leads (best friends who have a three-way with the girlfriend of one of them) will be most disappointed. There is not even the hint of either one's being interested in the other, or even scarcely aware that the other is part of the menage a trois. As a film, Douches Froides is curiously uninvolving; the viewer gets very little sense of who these three young people are, of how they are feeling, of why they behave as they do. About one hour of the original cut was deleted; perhaps this is why the finished film seems frustratingly undeveloped. Stick with Grande Ecole, a French film which more than delivers on its promises.

Love, friendship, family crisis, judo, ambitions of a young man, desolation, competition and ambiguous end. A French movie about small things of existence , mirror and lesson, without great ambition and little result. Interesting but not memorable, nice but not new,part of a very long series about teenagers, sport or lost relationships.The good part is role of an interesting cinema tradition. All ingredients are at perfect place. The circle of public is large and the end is good occasion to give your solution. Crumbs of nudity or social problems are only special gifts. Bitter solitude of character - seed for memories of love song and new beginning. In fact- nothing special. Only speech. About old small things.

Not original. far to be impressive. a correct image of the frustrations of a teenagers and his universe. about love and sport, competition and conflict with parents, love and sexual interest, desires, confusion, angry, joy. a bitter blend of emotions and gestures who are far to be original and who seems be, after the final credits, almost a demonstration of improvisation. because the end is confuse and entire tension goes to nowhere. because the old French recipes of the exploration of emotions as basis of complex characters falls in this case. it remains one of many European films about teenagers. dramatic, seductive in few parts, amusing and nice. and, maybe, only problem remains the lost of direction in the middle of story who impose to reduce at classic clichés a promising theme.