It Felt Like Love-2013

Director Eliza Hittman

Starring Gina Piersanti

Scott’s Review #283

Reviewed October 17, 2015

Grade: B

It Felt Like Love is a small, independent film from 2013 that garnered an Independent Spirit Award nomination.

A coming-of-age story encompassing a vulnerable and naïve fourteen-year-old girl, aware of her budding sexuality and developing a crush on an older, rebellious boy.

Quiet and subdued, the film tells an honest story of a young girl’s emotional struggles surrounding jealousy, loneliness, and fitting in.

Lila is a typical teenager living in New York City in what appears to be a blue-collar area of Brooklyn. Lila emulates her seemingly more mature best friend (she is turning sixteen) and much more sexually experienced, Chiara.

Never without a boyfriend and very popular, Chiara gains the attention of almost every boy she is around.

One day on the beach, a handsome friend of Chiara’s, named Sammy, passes by, when Chiara describes him as “sleeping with anyone”, Lila becomes fixated on him.

As she pursues him relentlessly, she puts herself in precarious situations and gets in way over her head.

Throughout this drama, Lila’s best male friend and neighbor, a child-like and innocent-looking kid, contrasts perfectly with the rugged, older Sammy.

Lila has two “men” in her life who could not be more opposite. The neighbor kid represents her youth, and Sammy, her adulthood, and she is stuck somewhere in the middle, wrestling between the two stages of her life.

The film is the debut of acclaimed director Eliza Hittman, who weaves an interesting and true-to-life premise. A fourteen-year-old girl’s feelings and emotions are powerful and often lead to risk-taking without thought of repercussions.

Liza is extremely vulnerable as anyone her age is, especially since the film reveals that she has recently lost her mother to breast cancer.

Her father is a caring yet no-nonsense type and is written well, as a typical blue-collar father would act.

The standout to me is the actress who plays Lila, Gina Piersanti. What a marvel! The youngster brilliantly portrays a range of emotions- gloominess, insecurity, and annoyance.

She is insecure but intelligent and savvy for her age. Her obsession with Sammy, clearly from the wrong side of the tracks, is dangerous, as he smokes pot regularly, parties, and works in a pool hall.

He ultimately isn’t for her, and I think Lila knows it deep down. But at her age, she is craving attention and sexually blooming.

All of the actors in the film are newcomers and do a fantastic job of relaying honesty. Lila’s motivations are not always clear, but then again, she is a teenager- moods and motivations change with the weather.

In one powerful scene, Lila hangs out at Sammy’s apartment (where she usually is and is seen as a pest). Sammy and his two friends are smoking pot and watching basketball on television.

Somehow, the subject matter turns to oral sex. As Sammy’s friends eagerly accept Lila’s awkward offer to pleasure them, Sammy rebuffs her advances and says that his “privates” do not like her.

This seems to lead Lila to leave him alone.

The audience hopes she musters her self-esteem and goes on with her life. The showing of full-frontal male nudity was surprising to me- very seldom is this shown in American cinema.

Interestingly, we never actually see Lila engage in any sexual activity. The point of the film is that she wants to desperately, but we cringe as we fear for the worst in each dangerous sexual encounter she experiences.

Perhaps it could have been further developed or fleshed out, but It Felt Like Love (2013) is a truthful, quiet film with powerful acting and writing from new talent sure to be around for years to come, with the wonderful skills they possess.

Independent Spirit Award Nominations: Best Cinematography