Show Me Love is a Swedish film originally titled F------ing Amal - no surprise to find the title changed. It`s about the lives of young people in a small town called Amal, where nothing ever happens and nothing arrives before it`s gone out of fashion in the rest of the world.... Agnes - Rebecca Liljeberg - is a relative newcomer to town and qualifies as one of the most unpopular girls in her class, which is why she tries to resist her well-meaning parents` enthusiasm to hold a birthday party for her. No-one comes except for a wheelchair-bound classmate who`s just as much an outcast as Agnes. Elin - Alexandra Dahlstroem - is in contrast, the class beauty, although she`s a frustrated sulky one, she feels life is passing her by in Amal. She and her sister Jessica decide out of sheer boredom to call in on Agnes` party which is a non-event in anyone`s terms. Aware of Agnes` crush on Elin Jessica dares her sister to kiss her. And then the real cruelty begins......
This slice of adolescent life is an extraordinarily impressive debut from Swedish director Lukas Moodyssen. He manages, with a cast of largely non-professional actors, to recreate in almost a documentary style - well, it is a Danish co-production - the careless cruelty of youth, the pain of seemingly unrequited love, the resilience of the young in the face of almost terminal boredom. Rebecca Liljeberg and Alexandra Dahlstroem are mesmerising as the two girls at the centre of the story, with Ralph Carlsson and Marla Hedborg convincingly portraying the frustration of Agnes` loving parents. This is a very sweet film.
