There's a scene early on in "Fucking Åmål (Show Me Love)" where the protagonists (loner Agnes Ahlberg and school queen Elin Olsson) try to hitchhike to the capital (they're fed up with the small town they live in), but their plan doesn't work. Clearly, it's commentary on how teenagers aren't always realistic about important things. If that's the case, why does the movie also frame their declarations of love as something to celebrate? I'm not saying that they don't have a connection, but it's not that strong. Another reason why I thought that was the intention was that the movie was filmed with a raw visual style... but that's also contradicted by the use of upbeat mainstream pop songs. One of them is played during the resolution of the climax and another one is played during the end credits, as if they represented the overall tone of the story. There are other questionable choices made by writer/director Lukas Moodysson, from a filmmaking point of view (abrupt scene transitions; random camera zoom-ins) or a moral point of view (having a 14-year-old actress without a shirt in one scene and without pants in another scene; writing a certain character as someone who cuts their wrists and then doesn't show any signs of self-harm or clinical depression in general for the remainder of the running time (as if it's something that goes away just because a positive thing happens in their life)). That being said, for the most part, it does feel like a down-to-earth portrayal of adolescent life. Agnes and Elin constantly make mistakes in a way that makes them feel like real people. And it's easy to root for them to get together and start building a relationship.

 

7/10