Lila dit ça (2004)

U.S. Title: Lila Says.
Synopsis: A young girl shocks her entire neighborhood with her uninhibited ways, but she only has eyes for one young boy.
Appraisal: While perusing my Cable TV guide for the synopsis of this film, I mistakenly stopped at another entry, "Leila Diniz", that read similarly to "Lila Diz", which is the Brazilian title for "Lila dit ça". That coincidence is haunting me right now, as I ponder about the further similarities in the main characters of the two movies. I mean, I have not watched "Leila Diniz", but she was once a sufficiently famous person in Brazil for me to know something about her. She shocked the bourgeoisie by saying "dirty words", and more or less standing for feminist, or liberal ideas. Of course, in "Lila dit ça" the main character is an adolescent but, like Leila, she shocks people because she behaves in ways deemed inappropriate for women in a male dominated society. At first, in the movie, my reaction to the presence of Lila and her utterances was of intrigued amusement. I still don't know whether this film is based on a true story or is some wild fantasy of a young writer. But, to be honest, I was pleased. Of course, the amazing performance of the actress that plays Lila is one of the strong points of the movie, and it is hard to assess what the film would be like without it. But I think it is a fine movie in its own right. Perhaps not an Earth shattering work of art, but quite enjoyable.
Rating: 65