While probably not the worst film about childhood ever made as one poster said..I agree that just a quasi cinema-verite style is not enough to make a person become emotionally connected to the film.
Parts of the film, especially when she hangs with the young boy reminded me of "My Girl" , but without the humor or pathos...
Among many other stronger serious films about children abandoned and feigning for themselves...watch "Forbidden Games" ..or the more contemporary film, "Nobody Knows" (Japan-2004) And the list goes on...
There are too many films that portray abandonment issues of childhood better. While a pretty film with an attractive (in a child-like sense) heroine, this film will be ultimately forgettable.
The director avoids any serious issues and presents an almost idyllic childhood experience, which never actually gives the viewer the dynamic tension needed to make this a memorable film experience.
Spoilers:
The only thing near to a sense of peril or endangerment (and the examples are really not even that) in the film is the taunting and stripping of the boy, and his unfortunate fall in the barn. Even then, the boy is just momentarily embarrassed, and recovers from the fall with no more than a broken leg or ankle.
I kept waiting for a punch line that never came.
The obnoxious neighbor teen and her friend didn't go anywhere, and I half expected the neighbor father when in the house alone with the girl (esp. while she was taking a bath) to allude to maybe a more malevolent outcome. but no...the girl just bounces from one scene to another seemingly without a care in the world.
I DO understand that themes may be quietly understated and the main theme of the film was the girl's transition from pure child into the world of adulthood (symbolized by the tadpole turning into an adult frog and escaping its confinement) But did the film have to do it is such a ho-hum way?
While some will call this a "slice of life" film...It is more a slice of stale Wonder Bread.
Parts of the film, especially when she hangs with the young boy reminded me of "My Girl" , but without the humor or pathos...
Among many other stronger serious films about children abandoned and feigning for themselves...watch "Forbidden Games" ..or the more contemporary film, "Nobody Knows" (Japan-2004) And the list goes on...
There are too many films that portray abandonment issues of childhood better. While a pretty film with an attractive (in a child-like sense) heroine, this film will be ultimately forgettable.
The director avoids any serious issues and presents an almost idyllic childhood experience, which never actually gives the viewer the dynamic tension needed to make this a memorable film experience.
Spoilers:
The only thing near to a sense of peril or endangerment (and the examples are really not even that) in the film is the taunting and stripping of the boy, and his unfortunate fall in the barn. Even then, the boy is just momentarily embarrassed, and recovers from the fall with no more than a broken leg or ankle.
I kept waiting for a punch line that never came.
The obnoxious neighbor teen and her friend didn't go anywhere, and I half expected the neighbor father when in the house alone with the girl (esp. while she was taking a bath) to allude to maybe a more malevolent outcome. but no...the girl just bounces from one scene to another seemingly without a care in the world.
I DO understand that themes may be quietly understated and the main theme of the film was the girl's transition from pure child into the world of adulthood (symbolized by the tadpole turning into an adult frog and escaping its confinement) But did the film have to do it is such a ho-hum way?
While some will call this a "slice of life" film...It is more a slice of stale Wonder Bread.