Everyone’ s been talking about Richard Linklater‘s "Boyhood" this year, but there’s another impressive coming-of-age tale with a converse title that deserves just as much fuss: "Girlhood." From "Tomboy" director Celine Sciamma, the film premiered at Cannes this year to rave reviews (including ours, from Jessica Kiang), and has been wowing festivalgoers at the Toronto International Film Festival this week.
A harder-edged Bildungsroman than Linklater’s picture, it follows Marieme (Karidja Toure), a girl in Suburban Paris who falls in with a gang of tough girls from her school, who lead her down a path that eventually sees her working for a local drug dealer. It’s gritty, vibrant, stunningly photographed, brilliantly acted, and generally, as Jess said, "sublime," with one moment, underscored by Rihanna‘s "Diamonds," that might still be one of our favorite movie scenes of the year. And now you can get your first look at the film, as Shadow And Act have found the first trailer.
Thanks to the help of a Playlist reader, we’ve managed to find a version with English subtitles, so you should get a pretty good indication of why it’s among the most impressive movies of the year. "Girlhood" (or "Bande de Filles") opens in France on October 20th, and the film will arrive in the U.S. courtesy of Strand Releasing.
