COMEDY; 1hr 27min (French with subtitles)
STARRING: Vincent Lacoste, Alice Tremolière, Noemie Lvovsky
Class act: Tremolière and Lacoste
When you’re a loser in high school, your lowly status is reinforced day after barely endurable day. That’s how it is for 14-year-old Hervé, a Brittany boy who being neither especially attractive, intelligent or endearing, muddles along in a fog of disappointment. Hervé is Everykid average, stifled by his clingy mother (Lvovsky), lusting after girls he can’t have and hanging out with school friends as dorky as himself (Anthony Sonigo is his mullet-headed mate, Camel). Then along comes Aurore (Tremolière), who is a whole lot cooler than Hervé can reasonably expect…
Graphic artist turned film-maker Riad Sattouf’s anti-romantic, fly-on-the-bathroom-wall style has an in-amongst-it flavour. It’s a cool change from airbrushed American teen fluff, but it’s not exactly the sparkliest bulb in the bunch, either. Teenage boys are generally a gawky lot and this hormonal crew is no different. Sattouf has nailed their bravado and frustration. The day-to-day monotony, I could’ve done without.
