Starring: Karidja Touré, Assa Sylla, Lindsay Karamoh, Marietou Touré
Girlhood
Director: Céline Sciamma
Rating: 4/5
We have already been treated to some terrific indie films in 2015 and Girlhood is another you cannot miss this weekend as Céline Sciamma returns to the director's chair.
Sciamma is a writer and filmmaker that puts characters and relationships at the heart of her movies and has brought us films such as Tomboy and Water Lillies in recent years. Girlhood is the third feature film of Sciamma's directing career and she is fast becoming a female filmmaker to be excited about.
Fed up with her abusive family situation, lack of school prospects and the "boys' law" in the neighborhood, Marieme starts a new life after meeting a group of three free-spirited girls. She changes her name, her style, drops out of school and starts stealing to be accepted into the gang.
When her home situation becomes unbearable, Marieme seeks solace in an older man who promises her money and protection. Realizing this sort of lifestyle will never result in the freedom and independence she truly desires, she finally decides to take matters into her own hands.
Sciamma is a filmmaker who is not afraid to shy away from tough or tabook subject matter and she is a director who shows the world as it is and not as we would like it to be. She has achieved that again with Girlhood as this is, at times, a grim and rather dark movie.
However, it is a gripping watch as Sciamma explores the trials and tribulations that face all girls as they make that transition from adolescent to young woman - a journey that many of use can relate to in one way or another.
The central character of Marieme goes on quite a journey from lost and rather down trodden girl to a self assured young woman who is well on her way to figuring herself out. Hard to believe that Karidja Touré - who plays Marieme has never acted before.
She gives a very confident performance and find the right balance between strength and vulnerability. In fact, most of the cast have no acting experience and there is just a fresness and an ease with which they have explored these characters and devlivered their performances.
Sciamma is one of the most exciting female filmmakers around at the moment and she has delivered another terrific film. Girlhood is a movie that really does capture and understand that time in a young girl's life - Sciamma knows only too well about all of the confusion and uncertainty that comes with it.
Girlhood is a sensitive beautiful, and non-judgmental movie that shows off the strength of Sciamma as a filmmaker - she really does have a very bright future ahead of her and I can't wait to see what she does over the next couple of years.