Show Me Love review

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Previously know as Fucking Amal, this Swedish teen movie was a big hit at the Scandinavian box-office. Written and helmed by former poet Lucas Moodysson, it's set in the soporific small town of Amal, where 15-year-old Elin (Dahlstrom) is going out of her mind with boredom. Attractive, popular and rebellious, she's desperate to do something with her life. Meanwhile, fellow classmate Agnes (Liljeberg) confides to a computer diary the depth of her own crush on Elin...

This isn't so much a film about lesbianism as about the emotional maelstrom of adolescence, with the accompanying feelings of frustration, yearning and despair. Show Me Love contains some admirable performances from its non-professional cast, skewering male shortcomings and parental ineffectuality.

Avoiding prurience in its depiction of Elin and Agnes' relationship, it all adds up to a wonderfully upbeat feelgooder.

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