Movie Review: Turn Me On, Dammit

Director: Jannicke Systad Jacobsen
MPAA Rating: NR
Studio: New Yorker Films

A pretty, bored 15-year-old high school girl with a healthy libido and a rich fantasy life (Helene Bergsholm) despises her tiny, dull, postcard pretty Norwegian hometown so much that whenever she and her friends pass its “Welcome” sign, they flip it the bird. 

Stuck hanging around with nasty, mean girl peers and dealing with dull-eyed locals, our heroine regularly calls a sex hotline, masturbates using a roll of coins and fantasizes about a seemingly unattainable local boy (Matias Myren) who eventually—and hilariously—invites her to touch his penis.  From then on, her relationships take interesting turns.  Directed and written by Jannicke Jacobsen, the Norwegian-language movie is a lot of charm.  It’s direct, funny, touching, full of insight and, though frankly sexual, it’s refreshingly free of nudge-nudge, wink-wink smirk and prudery.  Which means there probably won’t ever be an American remake starring, say, Chloe Moretz.