'Turn me on' is the story of Alma
(Helen Bergsholm), a 15 year old living in Skoddeheimen, Norway. In a
twist from the norm, we see the life of a sexually frustrated girl
struggling to live her life, rather than watching from a male
perspective. The film is broken up by her fantasies that range from
Artur, the boy she believes she is in love with, to practically
anyone who happens to be near her. From the offset, we see Alma on
the phone to a sex line, with her hand in her underwear doing, well,
I'm sure you can guess what [family blog blah blah blah], and realise
that we are on for a full on film with no holds barred. While at a
party, Artur pokes Alma with his old fella, but later denies it,
making Alma look the fool and ostracising her from everyone at
school.
As I don't watch a lot of Norwegian
cinema, I'm not sure if using unprofessional actors is big, but it
certainly worked this time. Doing this gave the whole film an aura of
originality, no, REALITY that wouldn't have been able to be
accomplished using big names that we are used to seeing. In her first
acting credit (according to IMDB), Bergsholm seems perfect. She isn't
known and isn't 'Hollywood beautiful' which allows her to claim the
role as her own, without the pressure of previous characters and
ideals being forced upon her. She, along with about a dozen other
main characters do a great job of making the boredom of Skoddeheimen
seem real, even though (from what I can find) it is a fictional
place. The credit must also go to the director, Jannicke Systad
Jacobsen, for using such a bleak backdrop, from the desolate, yet
frequently used bus stop to the youth centre, whose outer seating
area is reminiscent of something you'd find under a bridge.
I'm not quite sure how to describe this
film as it's not something I'm familiar with, but I what I can tell
it is that it is a solid watch. - 3 tubes of lip gloss out of 5
