Dirtylogy
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
Kaydan Christian
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
Marva
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Turfseer
"It Felt Like Love" is first-time writer-director Eliza Hittman's coming-of-age meditation on a Brooklyn teenager's burgeoning sexuality. The teenager in question is Lila who lives with her permissive, aging hippie of a father and occasionally brags about imaginary sexual exploits to Nate, a boy who lives in the neighborhood. The mother is not a factor, having died of cancer some years before.Lila spends most of her time with her good friend Chiara and her boyfriend, Patrick. While with them at the beach, she makes the acquaintance of Sammy, an older college student who she ends up pursuing. When Sammy gets drunk and passes out, Lila crawls into bed with him. The next morning Sammy can't remember anything and Lila implies that maybe they had sex together.Mike D'Angelo, writing in "Dissolve," bemoans the generic nature of the world Lila inhabits: "Lila exists in an art-movie void, with no friends or interests that don't directly reflect her predicament; the film is set in the present (characters text each other, etc.), but so strenuously avoids any sort of cultural specificity that just a few revisions could shift it to 1987…That sort of sparseness can be deliberate—a means of conveying timelessness—but here it just seems like a failure of imagination, turning Lila into an emblem rather than a girl."Eventually Lila finds herself over her head when she finds herself alone with the older guys. Matt Seitz of "RogerEbert.com" describes the encounter but remains dissatisfied: "Several scenes in which Lila hangs out with Sammy and his buddies in a man-cave are mortifying. She is clearly an interloper, and they treat her like one, and somehow their snickering indifference and dimwit innuendo are part of the male-female dance in this world. Lila's closed-off expressions suggest that she if not welcomes, at least expects to be treated with contempt. These rec room scenes rank with the most pessimistic depictions of teen sexuality in recent cinema. Yet however heartfelt and keenly observed this pessimism is, it becomes monotonous. A.A. Dowd of the "A.V. Club" gets to the essence of "It Felt Like Love's" limitations: "Lila, for all the authentic awkwardness Piersanti breathes into her, is defined so entirely by her mission—embarked upon with an equal measure of anxiety and anticipation—that she never quite comes alive as a character.""It Felt Like Love" has some impressive cinematography but Ms. Hittman's one-note portrait of teenage obsession, prevents us from believing that these are real people. Nonetheless, I see good things for this director in the future, as this film still shows potential.
RealSmiff
There's a lot of talent here, Gina Piersanti may be a future star. Great editing, great camera work, solid directing, decent acting all around. Reminds me again of Lukas Moodyson and other European directors, there's some of that dogme style that's fairly unusual in American films. For a first feature this is promising.But I'm not rating it higher because it's so monotonous and flat. Other films have told similar stories with humour and fun. I'm not sure if it was fully intentional or not, probably it was. one of those films that's better after you've seen it, if you can make it through - one of the longer "good" 1hr20 movies i've seen? Also slightly awkward to watch as a guy. I'm presuming it's somewhat autobiographical? Will be interested to see what the director does next.
yzzordorex sayar'u
Hittman's beautifully composed sequences could function as still photographs. Not a good choice for a casual viewer looking for a "Spring Breakers" thrill, Hittman's film puts a very fine point on the heavy, achingly quiet loneliness of adolescent girlhood. Certainly not an experience shared by all, it will still resonate with some: fourteen year old Lila navigates Brooklyn neighborhoods both alone and with her best friend two years her senior, Chiara. In the sweaty late summer nights, she boasts untruths to her younger neighbor and frequently finds herself a third wheel with Chiara and her boyfriend. She chooses to focus her attention upon the older Sammy, a local college kid who grudgingly lets Lila insert herself into his hard-partying scene.Ebert, in his review, compared the film to the oeuvre of Larry Clark and Harmony Korine: "Clark and Korine's work, whatever their other virtues, often seem to take place in a universe of users and abusers that's devoid of real love, indeed any possibility of anything but a fleeting connection. " It is an apt comparison. It isn't obvious what Lila is looking for, and we as the audience aren't sure if she got what she wanted, either.
Justin Bell
A movie about a 14 year old girl who decides she wants a boyfriend, because her best friend always seems happy with hers, and pursues an older guy. We follow her throughout the film, and watch her thought pattern, decision making, and emotions.I...am not sure on this one. I watched it about a week ago at Sundance 13 and every time I think about it, I can't decide if I liked it. The production of the movie felt fine. It didn't feel poorly made, and the actors all played their characters pretty well, however, the main character didn't seem to ever show emotions. The movie definitely stirred up some weird feelings inside of me, and wasn't all that comfortable to sit through at parts.All in all, I'd probably not suggest it.
