All Over Me (1997)

All Over Me is a film that isn't so much about telling a story as much as it is about feelings and emotions within the characters that are not so obvious at first. The intentions and desires of the characters unfolds as the movie progresses at a very slow pace, and the dialog is intentionally bland, not sharp in any way, as if it was real life. There is no attempt by the filmmaker or actors to make this look like it is a movie, beyond some rather artsy shots here and there. It is simply a window into a young girls life and the small, confused, somewhat corrupted world that surrounds her while she is making another transition in her development in life. This is a very subtle film with very few shifts in tone. The action that leads to the most drastic shift in the film is not even seen, only talked about later on. Even the more climatic moments result in not much happening, though tension does build on a number of occasions. The acting is top notch. In fact, the acting is so superb that it almost makes me wish that the script had just a little more zing to it since the actors could have definitely pulled off some colorful dialog and made for some classic scenes. Regardless of that, All over Me is a good enough film, though if you can't get into the characters or want to see a movie that feels like a movie and not a documentation of life, you won't dig it.

Exceptionally well done for a low budget indie with a novice auteur, "All Over Me" is a slice-of-life character study which follows an adolescent urban girl, Claude (Folland), with a-typical sexual inclinations and a dream of playing guitar in a rock band through the mean teen streets of NYC's low rent district where she struggles to cope with a best friend's drug abuse, the murder of an acquaintance, a dysfunctional mom for family, and her own low self esteem. In lieu of a solid story, this gritty little flick with limited appeal conjures powerful performances from some young actors and is worth a look for realists into films about "growing pains" and the quiet courage of youth. (B-)

There's more than one reason to like this film. First, there is the undeniable sexual tension between Alison Folland and Tara Subkoff; there seems to be a certain on-again/off-again quality that is often seen in a heterosexual light. There is also the soundtrack, which ranges from Patti Smith to the Blue Mountain Ozarks'(?) classic, "Jackie Blue". There's also the story itself (which I will not detail here). The only regret that I have about the film is that it is too short.

I loved this movie. The writing was right on, fantastic. This movie could have been very bad had it not been for the wonderful dialogue and the dynamics between the well crafted and developed characters. The casting was superb. Alison is soooo good. And Leisha has the best hair! The soundtrack is great, it included my favorite band, which was a surprise for me! I loved this movie's subtlness messages and how it's so open to interpretation. For instance, when Ellen says "I hate you." It's a great friendship movie and spoke powerfully to me as I've been in Claude's kind of position before. I watched it twice in one day.