Bande de filles

I like films like this one. They have purpose, relevance, and seek to connect us with lives we have not lived but can empathize with.

It's easy to see these characters as punks until it becomes difficult to. Writer/director Céline Sciamma makes no effort to judge the actions of the characters and thereby gracefully detaches her ego from the story. This makes for a film watching experience that is more absorption than hard analysis and intellectualization of this protagonist's life. This does not make it any less a provocative work, but allows for understanding we would not get otherwise, as with a camera less subtle.

Yes, it's a coming of age film, but without the climactic moment when the character comes- of-age (whatever that means). Instead the film is about comings and goings of identity and security, and why a person would seek these things.

It's socially relevant in the way it poses the character's environment and socioeconomic influences as factors to her motivations. We get a true sense of her circumstance. It explores low income, predominantly black areas of society untouched by most films. The attention it gives to people of this circumstance and the understanding it promotes is certainly a means to social change if only these sorts of films could reach more people.

Much attention is payed to bodies, skin, and faces, which the lighting often compliments. This is the source of the film's power rather than extraneous camera movement. The fascination here is intriguing as it's not out of lust but… well maybe it's just about the fascination. We are sensitive towards our physiques and appearances, and the camera shares this, only the bodies it shows are not just the characters' bodies but the actors' bodies. Bodies are a source for both power and insecurity to the characters. I don't feel the need to analyze this, only to comment, so I won't say any more.

While Girlhood won't be in everyone's movie watching range, it's definitely worth seeking out if you're inclined.

Girl power comes from French cinema in this classic coming-of-age story; female centric and empowerment driven, Girlhood is centered around 16 year old Marieme and her struggles with peer pressure and self discovery. While the tale may be repetitive, director Céline Sciamma gives fresh visuals and dramatic flare to the film, which is captivating from the very start. Set in the lower class suburbs of France, Girlhood is as much an emotional journey as it is a visual one, and a satisfying film from beginning to end.

Girlhood, which, by the way, is not a female answer to Richard Linklater's Boyhood, is very performance driven and an actor's dream. Karidja Touré carries the film on her small shoulders, projecting various emotional moments with strength. One scene in particular is very special to the film; the four girls rent a hotel room and get all dressed up in formal wear to just hang out with each other and drink alcohol. Eventually, they play Rihanna's "Diamonds" and begin dancing away their problems from the outside world. This moment in the film is captured so beautifully, it could have (and should have) been Rihanna's official music video. The blueish tones of the room, the general feeling of sisterhood, and the miming of the lyrics while dancing around in beautiful dresses show the girls' dreams of a better life, but making the most of what they have in that moment. It's a very powerful scene, which ultimately gives Girlhood its authenticity as the perfect portrait of the undeniable complexity of adolescent life.

All-girl "gangs" may offer female teenagers a safe space to experiment with the trappings of womanhood - a step-up from childhood, but a transitional stage nonetheless. This social dynamic is explored in 'Girlhood', but against the backdrop of an impoverished, ethnic minority community in Paris, where every choice made has wider repercussions for life. Unfortunately, the film feels disjointed, in part because it doesn't seem to know whether it wants to celebrate this "girlhood", or look on aghast; of course real life isn't black and white, but the film seems to alternate between portraying these two extremes, instead of managing to paint a subtler shade. Beyond the fact that life's hard and people (and especially men) are hard as well, I didn't take too much away from this film.

Defense business affairs place in 92 area in France is powered by black companies. Young black skins have some dreams too, lost their minds at moment and are applying their own community laws. They are respecting their rules and don't need to discuss long time about to agree many points of views. Without parents to guide them in right way, danger to be recruited by criminal organisations is an eventuality. Some of them will never pass general college school cycles how they would expect. The folies of a young sister would not copy her mother for a richer social life with accepting criminality risks' choices. A story full of expectations, tribal attitudes, feminine community helps and comparison to each others.

The film follows the life of a teen growing up in a rough suburb of Paris. The technic on display is solid, creating strong visual motifs that carry and modulate throughout the film. The director likes showing characters in groups, dominating the frame. The film understands the attraction of a posse to a person not fully confident or formed, and communicates it soundly. She contrasts these images with the more personal shots of people alone, lost. These shots are rare, and really work all the better for it. A two-shot is also in use, but also frequent. There is a dissonance, something not fully confident about these shots, showing the heroine's inability to fully be herself and complete with just one person.

While the visual strategy of the film is sound, it also comes off as somewhat simplified. There is only so much you can tell the viewer with a specific shot structure. And one of the things that stays bland is the main character. She never seem to come together as a person, and while thematically it makes perfect sense, it feel frustrating to watch a film that ask you to follow a progression, only to not get to see any kind of payoff. The development is really minimal, with most of the broad changes happening when we're not around.

Overall, the filmmaking kept me interested moment to moment, and the film does take bold turns in order to take the story and character into different places. But the characters leave a lot to be desired and I just never got into the main character arc.