tokilltheking

"All Over Me is cinema verité, exploring the self-image,
self-doubts, friendships and sexuality of a teenage girl, living
in a tough NY suburb against a music background. The Sichel
sisters have created an acutely realistic look at teenagers
today, with mono-syllabic ?teen-talk?, no frills and
every imperfection on display. The two lead performances are
riveting: Alison Folland as the insecure, ugly duckling Claude,
and Tara Subkoff, full of outward bravado while inwardly
floundering. The scenes where Claude preens before the
?fat? mirror in front of the fridge, as she gorges
herself on ice scream are haunting, as is Ellen?s dark-eyed
little girl lost, set on the path of self-destruction of
experimental drugs. Especially commendable are the nuances, the
shades of grey that are part and parcel of relationships and so
well canvassed here. The entire cast is engaging, and Leisha
Hailey?s film debut as Lucy shines with a blatant kind of
honestly. The complicated issue of sexuality is broached with
ambiguity, allowing the viewer to understand the complexities and
implications. While it may not be new to explore the world and
sexuality of teenagers, this slice of life has its own poignancy.
It may not appeal to everyone ? but for those who enter this
disturbing world, it is a rewarding experience."


Louise Keller

"Films helter-skelter teenagers growing up and confronting their
own sexuality are nothing new, whether that sexuality is
heterosexual or homosexual. Inculcate female angst, treatment
experimentation, loutish boyfriends, single mums and their lovers
. . . You might cross the feeling that it's all been done in the presence of
and you'd be right. In what was a lacklustre year at this year's
Sundance Layer Festival, All Over Me, the first feature by
director Alex Sichel, was another uninspiring effort, a film
bogged down by a plot and characters that are underwhelming at
defeat. This is a videotape so intensely depressing, so smack of its own
self importance, as if the film makers receive forgotten that cinema
is meant to be savoured by us all, not by a superior few. While the
primary performances are fine, especially that of leading-in
the-making Tara Subkoff as the tragically disposed Ellen, and the
film is thoroughly-meaning enough, it rambles on to its inconclusive
conclusion when we've never honestly got to know these girls. It's
a lugubrious film, almost relentlessly so, a film over about growing up where
the growth seems to have been stagnating."

Paul Fischer



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CARPING BANK ON

Convenient: 1

Mixed: 0

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ALL OVER WITH ME


(M15+)
(US)

CAST: Alison Folland, Tara Subkoff, Cole Hauaser, Wilson
Cruz,l Ann Dowd, Leisha Hailey, Portion Briggs, Shawn Hatosy, Vincent
Pastore

DIRECTOR: Alex Sichel

PRODUCER: Dolly Hall

SCRIPT: Sylvia Sichel

CINEMATOGRAPHER: Joe DeSalvo

EDITOR: Sabine Hoffmann

MUSIC: Bill Coleman

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Amy Silver

RUNNING TIME: 89 minutes

AUSTRALIAN DISTRIBUTOR: Palace

AUSTRALIAN RELEASE: Sydney: February 26, 1998; Melbourne:
March 19, 1998

Free mp3 download

AWARDS: Winner, Teddy Bear for Best Feature Film - 47

^th

Berlin International Film Festival 1997; Winner, Reader?s
Prize of the Siegessaule, 47

^th

Berlin International
Film Festival 1997; Official Selection Sundance Film Festival,
1997