Turn Me On, Dammit! (2012)

I loved watching this movie. It gives the viewer a good perspective of how it's like for a teenager to live in a small village where hopes and dreams seem to be unreachable or only possible to achieve when living in a big city like Oslo. The changing of the body when growing up and dealing with new emotions and sexual feelings are well told and shown in this movie. The characters are realistic and the actors are fantastic! It has this slow and almost boring feel to it but combined with some smooth camera actions and some nice surprises your attention stays focused on the movie. To me movie is a piece of ART! This movie reminded me of 'Fucking Åmål' (1998) Lukas Moodysson

Norwegian director and screenwriter Jannicke Systad Jacobsen's feature film debut which she wrote, was shot in Western Norway and is an adaptation of a novel by Norwegian writer Olaug Nilssen from 2007. It premiered In competition at the 10th Tribeca Film Festival in 2011, was screened In competition at the 22nd Stockholm International Film Festival in 2011 and is a Norwegian production which was produced by Norwegian producer Brede Hovland. It tells the story about Alma, a fifteen-year-old girl who lives with her single mother in the village Skoddeheimen. Alma spends most of her time with her two girlfriends Sara and Ingrid and she's got a crush on a boy from her school named Artur, but after an awkward incident at a home party Alma is accused of being a liar and all of the sudden everyone is bad-mouthing her, she becomes an outcast at school and is abandoned by Sara and Ingrid. With no one's support except for her mother and unable to get across her side of the story, Alma leaves the Norwegian countryside. Finely and engagingly directed by Norwegian filmmaker Jannicke Systad Jacobsen, this quietly paced and character-driven fictional tale which is narrated from the protagonist's point of view, draws an acute portrayal of the hardships a rebellious and hormonal teenage girl who lives at a very quiet place faces when she is perceived as a fraud by everyone at her school. While notable for its naturalistic milieu depictions, fine cinematography by cinematographer Marianne Bakke and use of sound, this charming and nuanced coming-of-age tale about friendship, sex and family relations depicts a singular study of character and contains a good score by Norwegian composer Ginge Anvik. This low-keyed, somewhat romantic, atmospheric and freshly humorous comedy drama is impelled and reinforced by its many rare characters, quick-witted dialog, cogent narrative structure and the impressive acting performances by feature film debutants Helene Bergsholm and Malin Bjørhovde and the fine supporting acting performance by Norwegian actress Henriette Steenstrup. A direct and compelling directorial debut which gained the Award for Best Screenplay for a Narrative Feature Film Jannicke Systad Jacobsen at the 10th Tribeca Film Festival in 2011.

This film deeply effected me since I had many experiences in the same flavor as Alma as a teenager, and to this day have never seen or read anything that describes the specific pain of those years until now.I felt that this film very clearly and artistically outlined the double-standard that still exists, even in a relatively feminist country like Norway. Even 30 years after the sexual revolution of the 1960s, it is still taboo for young girls to be fascinated by their own pleasure and sexuality, even though it is expected for boys to experiment early and often. This film tells a tale which is rarely told so honestly, and instead of painful its gorgeous, smart and funny, set in a beautiful landscape with a dreamy soundtrack. The film is shot in lush colors, with cute humor... well, I big dose of cute (which I am typically allergic to), but this film won me over, big time.

I happened to read the more negative review further down, and thought I had to post some input. If you live in Scandinavia and a "youth movie" comes out in your own language, you're bound to think the pace is wrong, the acting is poor and that the story isn't believable.As I live in Sweden I couldn't sense anything wrong with the dialog, thought the acting was good and nothing sounded unnatural. I bet if Espen down here went and saw a similar Swedish movie like Lina's Kvällsbok or Sandor Slash Ida, he wouldn't find them as awkward as I did.So maybe Norwegian and Swedish scriptwriters should just start sending their scripts across the border, shoot their movies in the other country with foreign actors/actresses, and then market it through local media as the new hot movie from the neighbor country :) Personally, I read about the film in Ottar, the member newspaper for RFSU (the Swedish "National Association for Sexual Enlightenment").The movie was a little short though, only 72 minutes. I think they could've thrown in more of those embarrassing comic relief scenes, you'll understand what I mean if you go and see it!