Fucking Amal is the original and far superior title of Lukas Moodysson's debut film, Show Me Love. According to the director, the name was changed because Variety magazine would not run an advertisement for the film with that title. Moodysson chose the new title from the name of the song that plays at the end of the film. I guess it shouldn't come as a surprise to me that the film would lose its original title in the States. I'll leave that rant for another day.
This is a simple and honest movie shot in a grainy, almost documentary style. Teenagers are captured realistically and with non-professional actors. The cinematography is intimate and clumsy, perfectly fitting for a movie about teenagers.
Taking place in the small town of Amal, these teenagers suffer from ennui and the usual dosage of teen angst. It is a movie about identity. It is a movie that explores alienation and loneliness. Ultimately, I find the honest portrayal of these characters--their awkwardness, their inability to communicate emotions, their cruelty--to be an accurate depiction of life as a teen and therefore rewarding in a way most American teen movies never seem to be.
Show Me Love
Score: 72%
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