Lilya 4-Ever

Lilya 4-ever

Lilya 4-ever

Moviecut—Lilya 4-Ever

One should watch "Mandragora" instead for a more realistic portrait of human tragedy. It is funny to read comments such as"this is the best film I ever seen", then again I would say to this people you haven't seen much films, haven't you? What if I add "Christiane F" as well to the above mentioned title? Haven't all of you seen that one either? Lilja 4ever is a puerile film with holes all around, nothing special from a director who hasn't got much to tell. Probably we are going to see him direct the next video of T.A.T.U. since he seems to like young girls. Pretend he to be the next Larry Clark? Well then perhaps he should do a film of things he knows best, there is enough material in Sweden to make that kind of stories but after all he is swedish he wouldn't be able to write an original story or a consistent script, you need to make researches and read a lot to create a good story but that doesn't seem to be a common practice around here.

Abandoned by her mother, a teen-aged girl fights for survival in the slums of Estonia. This depressing film covers the same territory as other recent films set in the countries of the former Soviet Union. The story is predictable and clichés abound. It gradually moves from an OK beginning to a ho-hum middle to an ending featuring angel wings that is so ridiculously bad that one has to wonder if it's meant to be some sort of parody. The whole tone of the film is so grim and serious that any laughs are purely unintentional. The hand-held camera work is annoying, as is the soundtrack. Moodysson's tendency towards melodramatics doesn't help matters.

Well, thats how its ranked according to IMDb, although having seen nearly all of the films above it I would have to disagree. Maybe,it's because i wasn't really expecting anything special after i had bought the film, that it hit me harder. I had liked Moodyson's previous film, together, but the sleeve did not inspire me at all, the tale of a young Russian girl and how she befriends an 11 year old boy, nothing to get too excited about, there. Then i unleashed the juggernaut of a film into my DVD player. I wasn't really concentrating for the first few minutes, but then got drawn in by the scene where Lilya, who initially pretended that she wasn't affected by her mother leaving for America, pleads with her not to go. She cries hysterically and does not stop. It is X rated emotion and one of the most incredibly powerful scenes i have seen anywhere. We then see Lilya's position go from bad to worse. Nearly every scene is touching and has a purpose. The acting is faultless, the character development is amazing. Lilya is humiliated by everyone, her teacher, her peers, the shopkeepers, but always tries to maintain her dignity until it gets eaten away bit by bit. Brilliantly exemplified by her looking for the money that she had thrown into the bin as dirty money. This film is about betrayal and power. The betrayal of Lilya by her mother, her aunt, her supposed boyfriend and her betrayal of Volodya. It is also about Lilya's fight for power and how badly she fails. When she sells her body for the first time and gains some power we are almost relieved, at least she can buy some necessities. When she becomes a slave we are devastated. It makes the film far more effective not knowing the ending. I didn't see it coming, but like Lilya, I should have. She wants her dreams so badly she remains in denial about the reality of her situation. It shows her faith in humankind is so strong that she is not cynical about the boys motives in taking her to Sweden. I was completely shell-shocked after seeing this film and i cannot believe people aren't shouting from the rooftops imploring others to see it. Even though i cried for days after seeing this film (i'm not actually an emotional person) i wouldn't classify this as a depressing film. It makes you realize how lucky your life is, and that you must enjoy to the full every moment of freedom that you have. Bad things happen to good people. The world is unfair. Volodya gets one present in his life, a basketball from Lilya and that gets smashed by his father. Kids in the west get everything and appreciate nothing. There are psychopaths in Broadmoor, who are truly evil, who get hours of psychotherapy but Lilya's spirit lives on forever.

The film is rather conventional, maybe clichéd to some people, in terms of storyline, but by no means any less effective about reaching out to audiences what the director wants to tell. There is a marked distinction between prostitution and child/adult sex slavery. The former is a transaction between 2 consenting parties who understand the implication of the deal (what is known as the world's oldest trade), while the latter is a crime of utmost human grothesqueness. It is almost in total contradiction to the thought that modern world has achieved civilised behaviour. The film portrays this to a very effective end. Kudos to the lead actress who brings out the desperation and tragedy of the Lilja's life with such depth. There were indeed many memorable scenes, 2 which affected me deeply were: when Viktor methodically asked Lilja for her fake passport; and when Lilja was raped in the bathroom by Viktor the very next morning. Contrast this to the optimism and happiness she felt in the Duty-Free area in the airport (no means by a shopaholic) and just when she woke up in the apartment in Sweden (although it was as about as dreary as her home in Estonia). The methodical way Viktor asked for Lilja's passport is astounding. Lilja's obviously not his first prostitute and definitely not his last; Viktor is also one of the many pimps who participates actively in this form of slavery. It is unimaginable the magnitude of this crime. The music, as well as the way the camera was handled added very much more to the film. In the opening, the music came on so loud and the camera so shaky, you almost know the film would be unbearably painful (in more ways than one). Powerful as the film is, there are some parts which are admittedly over the top. Having Lilja and Volodya play ball with wings on the roof top is quite whimsical actually. But all said, this was definitely a film worth watching.

As one, who grew up in communism and still lives in Eastern Europe, I find the movie as real as it gets. It's very general and yet very accurate. The events shown in this movie actually happened and happen in every town from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea. Lilja is my neighbor, too. I am a guy who had no tear in his eyes for years. But last night, when I saw the movie, I cried like a baby. It felt like killing those people with my own bare hands. I could never watch * again. Catch22 used to be my favorite book. Now I start hating it.

During this movie I felt more and more sorry for Lilja (Oksana Akinshina), a girl from the former Soviet Union. As the viewer you know what will happen with the poor girl because it seems so logical, but from her point of view it is just a great opportunity that turns out to be something completely different. First her mother leaves her to go to America with a new husband. Lilja thinks she will travel after her mother some time later, but that is not going to happen. Her only friend is Volodya (Artyom Bogucharsky), a young boy she hangs out with. Then she meets a boy who says he likes her. He invites her to come to Sweden with him, start a life together. She has to go first, he will travel after her, again, some time later. Volodya does not agree with it, but she goes anyway. Arriving in Sweden she is picked up by an older man, put in an apartment locked from the outside, and we understand that the boy will not travel after her. The next day the man brings Lilja another man; she must have sex with him. Finally it is clear for her, sort of, as it was for us all along. I guess there are thousands and thousands of stories like this and realizing that Lilja's story is even more sad. The way certain people use unhappiness of others is terrible and 'Lilja 4-ever' shows us in a realistic way how easy it basically is. If you are as unhappy as Lilja every opportunity seems fantastic. There are two scenes that you will remember. The first shows us Lilja's face when the men are on top of her. She just lies there, helpless, without any reason to live. The second shows us the faces of the men that are on top of her. This montage lets us see the ugliness of those people, what kind of animals the world knows. 'Lilja 4-ever' is a sad movie, but a good movie. Although we probably know that things like this happen, it is not bad to realize that from time to time. 'Fucking Åmål' director Lukas Moodysson makes sure we do that with his movie.

Will Lukas Moodyson be the Andy Warhol of cinematography? It seems like he's on its way to achieve it as film after film Moodyson seems to find a subject that is shocking but stays a part of the society we cann't deny. "Lilja 4-ever" puts us back in some godforgotten village that used to be the powerful USSR. A place at where nothing really happens and where the youth just has to face violence and drugs (cheap medicine like syrup against coughing). Lilja is left alone by her mother who immigrates to the US and how much she defends, Lilja ends up as a childwhore. The movie is hard (the first seconds of the movie with Rammstein's "Mein herz brennt" already is unforgettable) and Moodyson does nothing special to shock his audience...the facts are just there and you can do with it what you want. A masterpiece.