a film review and some loosely related thoughts

Somehow I never mentioned the great movie I saw earlier this month - Big Girls Don't Cry (Germany, 2002, directed by Maria von Heland). A very intense drama about friendship, family and growing up. Two teenage girls, Kati and Steffi, have known each other since early childhood and are closer than sisters - until Steffi discovers that her father is cheating on her mother, and decides to "punish" all the guilty parties involved (along with some innocent ones who just happen to be in the way). It's a great character study of young, fragile hearts and minds, struggling to find their way around in the big, scary adult world. For some reason, the topic resonates with me very strongly - I have watched dozens of films centered on the "coming of age" theme... and, funnily enough, I always identify with the young protagonists, despite currently being the age of their parents.;) Could be because I've never gone through the experience of being a parent - while, on the other hand, I remember the constant angst of being a teenager all too well. Or maybe I just never quite grew up, and I am somehow subconsciously hoping that those movies will help me figure out how to do it.:P Or maybe I just want to feel better about being my current age; as in, "at least I am not going through all that teenage drama anymore". Whichever is the case, those movies usually have a strong impact on me - an this one is no exception. I was particularly impressed with Anna Maria Mühe, who played Kati - she put some serious character development into the role. It was her first movie, btw; but her face looked familiar to me, and indeed, she later played a supporting character (the female BFF) in the gay/transgender love story Romeos, which I saw at the Chicago International Film Festival last October (I did post about it at the time - all my reviews can be found under the "movies" tag).

But I digress. My point is, I always feel deeply comforted by stories where female bonding and friendship wins over various trials and tribulations - just like I am often upset by scenarios where women are mostly shown as being mean to each other and basically stepping over each other's dead bodies to "win the competition" over some stupid guy. I know this is a popular stereotype, perpetrated by women themselves as much as by men; but it has always struck me as rather contrived, because in my experience, most women aren't like that at all. ( Read more... )