Review: Girl

When I first heard about this, I thought this was a documentary. But it turns outs it's a feature film.

After being quickly briefed of its success at Cannes and London, the accomplishments it has had expecting some high-quality content.

The film is a slow one, but I was noticing constantly rich story content. You can feel the struggles our central character was having and it's capped off by many brutal scenes including a totally horrific one almost at the very end.
Whether you ending up liking it or not, there is certainly moments in here that you will find it tough to not feel emotional towards it.

The story is all thanks to the performances. Leading the way is Victor Polster who gives a terrific performance. To find the right person for this type of character must have been tricky. For it to all fall into place and giving us a such a genuine performance is a huge achievement.
I also liked the moments his character had with Arieh Worthalter, who almost looked like a young Oliver Reed.
The rest of the cast weren't exceptional. But they all played their part and contributed really well.

Not much to say from a production side except for the cinematography. The way the camera moves with the character in certain scenes made it feel more dynamic and personal. I also liked how at times it made you feel like a fly on a wall.

No major problems to speak of. However if I was being picky, the pacing is slow and did become noticeable at times, but it may feel more of a drag for others. Also, I think some character relationships did not feel fully utilised.

This was such a heart-breaking and powerful drama that was all helped by the transformation of Polster's performance. For a directorial debut and from a director still in their 20's is impressive work. So I would keep an eye for future projects by Lukas Dhont.

The almost intimate camerawork made this quite frenetic at times, especially during the ballet sequences. There are many tough scenes to watch, which goes with the territory and they all felt expertly executed.

In an age when stories like this are more acceptable with wider audiences, I hope this gets the recognition it deserves.

Rating: 8/10