Agnes is unfortunate enough to be friends with her, even though she doesn't like her. Girls who were experts in making other people's lives a misery. I don't know her name, but the girl with the miniscule eyebrows (which makes her look rather sinister and perpetually shocked) reminds me of a lot of horrible girls at school. Inverse penis measuring, anyone? And the sheer awfulness of a lot of the girls also rings a bell. They'd rather spend time measuring mobile phones. In fact, the boys are more comfortable with each other. Johan, in particular, with his awful bike and terrible baseball cap is subject of the most laughs. And so the terrible compliments ('Jesus you're beautiful') and bone-headed chat-up attempts are rather amusing. At that age, most of the males of the species are hopeless with the opposite sex. What rings most true is the sheer incompetence of boys around girls. But because Show Me Love depicts adolescence so genuinely, with all its awkwardness and idiocy, I can't help but like it. So to me their problems always seem rather pathetic. Not once did I want to kill myself and I never spent any time pining for a girl (lusting, yeah, but love never entered my mind). Which is perhaps why I find it so hard to relate to teenagers. There were no great trails or tribulations. But despite that, my adolescence was pretty smooth sailing. They were much more like Moodysson's film where the girls wear bad make-up, the boys are hopeless with the opposite sex and where a crushing air of mediocrity hangs in the atmosphere. As opposed to Hollywood teen films where all the girls are strikingly gorgeous, the boys are ripped and everyone goes around driving cars and doing designer drugs. It's depiction of teenage years feels genuine and honest and I can relate to most of it. So it's perhaps because of that that I enjoy Show Me Love. My teenage years weren't tough I actually really rather enjoyed school but I know how it feels to grow up not knowing what you want from life and where you're going.
But if I take myself back to my school days then I can just about find humanity enough to sympathise. I, for one, a pauper scumbag languishing in the job market, would love to have their inconsequential problems. I find it too much to bear, especially from people who don't have to work for a living, who still have their parents looking after them and who are incapable of expressing themselves properly. I just can't get beyond the usual moaning, complaining and whining.