Based on actual diaries kept by teenage girls in Finland, the story follows four friends close to finishing formal schooling. We see them as a group and each also has an individual section.
This has advantages in terms of authenticity although we need to beware of unreliable narrators, but can lead to episodic storytelling. As a group we are shown an 'all for one and one for all' attitude, but the individual sections introduce boyfriends and family allegiances that don't quite marry up.
Perhaps too much is crammed into the short runtime - only 90 minutes - meaning an entire romance from first meeting, through working to save up for a trip abroad to rekindle, to final dissolution all fits into a slightly unconvincing fifteen minutes.
Either the diarists had extraordinarily eventful lives, or there were more than four contributors (or some creative licence), since nobody has a humdrum existence. There are four grand themes - first love, teen pregnancy, bullying and redemption, and the aimless drift of anomie - a fortuitous selection for the filmmakers.
Family are sometimes only hinted at, while at other times they are held up as central to the girls' experiences. There is but one father appearing, and he estranged, having abandoned his child as an infant but turning up to disappoint her repeatedly. The only other adult male is the latest lover of a mother more interested in her own life than her daughter. We assume he is one of a long line - it is strongly suggested, although we don't see others - yet the teen reacts like a spoilt child, as if it was her first taste of being ignored.
A stronger theme creeps in later but almost out of nowhere, feeling slightly misplaced and treated as if it was vital not to be ignored but not actually welcome either, slightly tainting the ending and changing the direction somewhat, but also acknowledging the 'genuine diaries' aspect.
Not a film to change lives, but a pleasantly-observed look at teenage girl friendships as they creep into adulthood.
This has advantages in terms of authenticity although we need to beware of unreliable narrators, but can lead to episodic storytelling. As a group we are shown an 'all for one and one for all' attitude, but the individual sections introduce boyfriends and family allegiances that don't quite marry up.
Perhaps too much is crammed into the short runtime - only 90 minutes - meaning an entire romance from first meeting, through working to save up for a trip abroad to rekindle, to final dissolution all fits into a slightly unconvincing fifteen minutes.
Either the diarists had extraordinarily eventful lives, or there were more than four contributors (or some creative licence), since nobody has a humdrum existence. There are four grand themes - first love, teen pregnancy, bullying and redemption, and the aimless drift of anomie - a fortuitous selection for the filmmakers.
Family are sometimes only hinted at, while at other times they are held up as central to the girls' experiences. There is but one father appearing, and he estranged, having abandoned his child as an infant but turning up to disappoint her repeatedly. The only other adult male is the latest lover of a mother more interested in her own life than her daughter. We assume he is one of a long line - it is strongly suggested, although we don't see others - yet the teen reacts like a spoilt child, as if it was her first taste of being ignored.
A stronger theme creeps in later but almost out of nowhere, feeling slightly misplaced and treated as if it was vital not to be ignored but not actually welcome either, slightly tainting the ending and changing the direction somewhat, but also acknowledging the 'genuine diaries' aspect.
Not a film to change lives, but a pleasantly-observed look at teenage girl friendships as they creep into adulthood.
