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(Girl Picture London
ICA Cinema
Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall, St. James's
Fri 7th Oct @ 16:30 Wed 12th Oct @ 16:20 Thu 13th Oct @ 13:45
Riverside Studios Cinema
101 Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith
Fri 7th Oct @ 20:30 Sat 8th Oct @ 18:15 Sun 9th Oct)
"Girl Picture"
Best friends Mimmi (Aamu Milonoff) and Rönkkö (Eleonoora Kauhanen) have each other’s backs, always. Mimmi and Rönkkö work after school at a food court smoothie kiosk, frankly swapping stories of their frustrations and expectations regarding love and sex. They navigate the ups and downs of love, sex, and personal identity, always comparing notes at the smoothie stand where they both work. They want to live adventurous lives, loaded with experiences and passion. A proud outsider, tough-minded Mimmi must learn to let down her guard when she begins to fall for high-achieving figure skater Emma (Linnea Leino). Volatile misfit Mimmi, unexpectedly swept up in the thrill of the new romance with Emma, struggles to adjust to the trust and compromise required by a lasting relationship.
Emma, on the contrary, has given her whole life to figure skating. Meanwhile, the offbeat, indefatigable Rönkkö’s determination to have gratifying sex leads her into a series of clumsy hookups. She hits the teen party scene, stumbling through a series of awkward encounters with members of the opposite sex while hoping to find her own version of satisfaction. Nothing gets between her and success. But when the girls meet, life opens new paths, and they all rocket in new directions. While Mimmi and Emma experience the earth moving effects of first love, Rönkkö is on a quest to find pleasure. Mimmi, Emma and Rönkkö are girls at the cusp of womanhood, trying to draw their own contours.
Brought to life by a lively, endearing trio of performers, "Girl Picture" is a look at female friendship and sexuality that feels infused with the open-minded, joyful spirit of it's young characters. It's a fragment of the lives of three girls at the cusp of womanhood, when every moment is so amplified, that even afragment may include a whole universe. It's a film about the need to be seen. 17–18-year-old Mimmi, Emma and Rönkkö are girls at what we call a liminal age, right at the cusp of womanhood, fluctuating between childhood and adulthood. At this age the gaze of another person feels like a superpower, it can define, strengthen or change one’s self image in an instant. Closeness with the other is very inviting, it hooks us. And then suddenly, an overwhelming realization takes over, how to be close to another person, if you’re only just drawing your own contours? The story follows the girls on three consecutive Fridays, during which Mimmi and Emma experience the earth moving impact of falling in love, while Rönkkö goes on a quest for something she hasn’t yet experienced: pleasure.
The condensed timeframe means it’s a fragment of their lives. But because teenager's lives are so amplified, and every moment counts for everything, a fragment may very well encapsulate a whole universe. And there, in center of the universe emerges the picture of us. Of the film’s many themes, the one that became the most important for me, is the safe freedom of the girls. Mimmi, Emma and Rönkkö get to concentrate on exploring their identities without any threats. They catapult at full speed toward emotions, situations and sexuality, on their own terms, and they never end up in danger. They're not punished for desiring. They don’t get warned, belittled, shamed or patronized. In that sense, this is perhaps more a film about the world we aspire for, than the world we live in. And that’s why "Girl Picture" invites us not only to look at girls, but to really see them.
Written by Gregory Mann
