She Monkeys
Delivering one of the most intense and complex feature debuts to come from Sweden since Lukas Moodysson (...), helmer Lisa Aschan thrillingly subverts the coming-of-age genre, political correctness, gender roles and (without ever becoming graphic) just about everything to do with the depiction of developing sexuality in the taboo-breaking She Monkeys. [P]ic plays with traditional expectations in an unsettling manner that sometimes feels almost dangerous.
(...) With situations and characters developed more through sophisticated, psychologically astute setpieces and performances than through dialogue or backstory, the film centers on sisters Emma (Mathilda Paradeiser), a talented teen gymnast, and Sara (Isabella Lindquist), a precocious 7-year-old. (...) When Emma joins a riding stable where other teens train to perform acrobatics on horseback, she meets the slightly older Cassandra (Linda Molin), and the two begin a relationship fraught with physical and psychological challenges. Soon, lines are crossed and the stakes become higher and higher.
(...)Exploring girlhood in the context of modern society, Aschan's provocative visual language links pleasure and pain as she focuses on the arousing nature of unpleasant things.
Alissa Simon, Variety
Original title: Apflickorna
Duration: 83 min
Dialogue: Swedish
Subtitles: Finnish
Age limit: K11
