Film reviews

Review of LITTLE TROUBLE GIRLS

After the big success of Granny’s sexual life, which won more than 50 awards, Urška Djukić returns to the big screen with Little Trouble Girls, her first feature film. The movie premiered at the 75th edition of Berlinale, where it won the FIPRESCI prize and later won the award for best cinematography at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Little Trouble Girls tells the story of Lucija (Jara Sofija Ostan), a 16 years old girl who sings in a Christian choir. During a retreat in a countryside convent, she starts to explore her sexuality and, in order not to disrupt the harmony of the choir, she must balance her religious faith with her desires.

The director uses the choir as one of the central elements of the movie: the protagonist slowly becomes a disturbing element for the group as she continues exploring herself. So, there is no coincidence that sound is very important for this film. A lot of key moments are constructed on Slovenian songs sung by the choir, a characteristic chosen also to match the large use of religious symbolism. We can also appreciate the great work made by Julij Zornik, the sound designer, which can be heard especially during the protagonist’s daydreams, when she hears whispers that detaches her from reality.

Urška Djukić directs a very voyeuristic movie with a plot that is full of moments in which Lucija and her classmates “spy” on others. This aspect is present also in the shots that are framed to let us feel like we are looking through a keyhole. This solution also transmits us a sense of claustrophobia that matches the difficult situations of the protagonist.

It is also very important the use of non-diegetic shots of flowers and bees that are exploited to represent the physical sensations the characters are going through. These shots are then used in the end of the movie to create a visual kaleidoscope that lets us see the highest moment of struggle of the girl that shakes the stability of the choir and the reverberates the words of the choirmaster: “a choir is like a formation, if one does not conform it falls to pieces”.

by Antonio Dagostin