Yup, I know, I did a double take too. That picture is exactly what it looks like. a 15 year old horny Norwegian girl pleasuring herself to some good old fashion phone sex. That horniness is at the core of Jannicke Systad Jacobsen’s first fiction film, Turn me on, goddammit (Få meg på, for faen).
The film, which is an adaptation of the book, is about Alma (Helene Bergsholm), a horny teenager looking for some sex, something everyone can easily relate to. Since she isn’t getting any, she uses her active imagination to bring her fantasies to life, which then gets her constantly into trouble. It was the constant blurring of her fantasies and reality that, at times, made it difficult to tell if what we were watching was real or not. Luckily, this blurring worked to the films advantage.
One night at a party, a boy, Artur (Matias Myren), who has a crush on her, and vice versa ,are standing outside when out of nowhere Artur does something a bit shocking and awkward. Alma then goes and tells her friend but one of her friends is the ‘mean girl’ type and doesn’t believe it. She then tells Artur and he just says ‘thanks Alma’. Since Artur is popular nobody questions it. The result is the destruction of Alma’s social existence. At school she is now known as Dick-Alma and can now only think about leaving her godforsaken town.
Turn me on, goddammit was a short and sweet coming of age comedy that I absolutely loved. It was funny, cute, awkward, and most of all, different. We see a lot of coming-of-age comedies these days especially ones about guys trying to get laid. We also see a lot of films about woman becoming social outcasts, think Easy A, but we never see a culmination of the two. This is that story. Instead of seeing a horny guy trying to get some, we get an opportunity to experience it from the other perspective, especially in a blatant and rather explicit way.
For the most part, I thought everything felt pretty authentic because horny social outcasts do exist and while maybe some of the events in this film aren’t true, they could totally happen. I did feel that the social outcast thing was a bit exaggerated, especially when her best friend wouldn’t even talk to her at school or at home. That’s not a very good best friend if you ask me. We also get to experience what being a mother to horny teenager is like and I’ll tell you right now, I hope I don’t have a daughter when I’m older.
Keep an eye out for writer/director Jannicke Systad Jacobsen, if she sticks to features I think she’ll have a long and successful career. With a wonderfully witty script, solid acting by all members of the cast, and a fresh take on the coming-of-age genre, Turn me on, goddammit is an awkward yet extremely satisfying piece of work, a definite crowd pleaser for sure.
Rating: Shocking, witty, and fresh, it’s hard not to (secretly) like this one (8/10)
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