ByTowne ByTowne Cinema
ByTowne Cinema
325 Rideau St. Ottawa K1N 5Y4
Info Line: (613) 789-FILM
Turn Me On, Goddammit!
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(Få meg på, for faen)
Winner of Best Screenplay at the Tribeca Film Festival!
Runaway hormones are the stuff of many a teen angst story but in Jannicke Systad Jacobsen’s compellingly quirky comedy Turn Me On, Goddammit! it’s a teen girl who suffers for having sex on the brain.
Set in a small town in Norway where bored teens dream of finding the fastest way out, we meet 15-year-old Alma (a delightful Helene Bergsholm), a pretty, popular and perpetually horny girl who uses her vivid imagination and a phone sex line to satisfy her itch.
Although she’s prone to fantasize about anybody – with often-amusing results – a crush on soulful classmate Artur (Matias Myren) fuels most of her torment.
Documentary filmmaker Jacobsen paints a true picture of small-town life with her first feature, where sneaking beers and class parties are the only things that ease the boredom for Alma and her pals, acerbic Sara and her lip gloss-addict sister Ingrid.
Alma gets her longed-for moment alone with Artur at a house party, but he does something she (and likely he) never expected. When she recounts the event to her shocked girlfriends and he later denies it, Alma finds herself the butt of the town’s jokes.
Morose Sara, whose dream involves moving to Texas to protest capital punishment, thinks she’d like to side with Alma, but can’t bring herself to break from the gang’s judgment. Alma has her own solution for dealing with her situation, and part of that involves a showdown with Artur. This girl has no intention of being a victim.
Jacobsen conveys teen angst with realism and humour, laced with the occasional adolescent sting that will be familiar to anybody. Her unusual take on this teen saga, where it’s the girl who is overcome by sexual urges she has no desire to quell, is both refreshing and empowering.
With a brisk 76-minute runtime and pleasing camerawork in a lovely setting, Turn Me On, Goddammit! never lags, from the first shocking scene to a sweetly amusing John Hughes-inspired finale.
Winner of the prize for best screenplay at the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year, Turn Me On, Goddammit! is a gently amusing story of the tumult of sexual awakening and the price some girls pay for it.
– Linda Barnard, Toronto Star
This web site is very useful, but the hard copy of the ByTowne guide still has its merits. People rely on it and love it. Plus, its calendar pages can be pulled out and posted on your fridge door, something that we still can't achieve with the web site. Get your copy today at many local stores, coffee shops and info centres around town! 