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      Lila Says

      R Released Sep 11, 2004 1h 30m Drama List
      68% 40 Reviews Tomatometer 76% 2,500+ Ratings Audience Score Chimo (Mohammed Khouas), age 19, lives with his mother. Rather than taking advantage of a Paris writing school scholarship, the unemployed aspiring writer kills time with his friend Mouloud (Karim Ben Haddou) on the streets of Marseilles. Chimo develops a crush on Lila (Vahina Giocante), a sexually experienced 16-year-old who moves into the neighborhood. They begin spending time together, alarming both Lila's possessive aunt (Edmonde Franchi) and Mouloud, who's jealous of his friend. Read More Read Less

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      Critics Consensus

      Lila Says is a vibrantly told coming-of-age story, helped by the sultry charisma of Giocante.

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      Audience Reviews

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      Seddi W I've watched this movie maybe a dozen times since I first saw it at age 14 while visiting family abroad subjected to the late hour journeys of a first time jet lag experiencer. I was enthralled. As a sexually obsessed but inexperienced outside of exploitation (which is distinct from an act of consensual sex) the film allowed for a contestation with desire and self-becoming in a way that I hadn't imagined yet. And with all that said I had little to say about the film then. I would rewatch the film with friends and child-hood and college lovers and receive similar responses along the way amounting to disinterest and distaste. I was told the film is crude and exploitative, that is was shallow and sex obsessed. Much like many of the reviews posted on this site of the film, folk didn't see much going in the film past a run of the mill coming of age romance. I've written at length about the responses to the film and my infatuation. It's not a cinematic revolution but it compiles number of dialectics in a critical post-nine-eleven world that still have yet to be thought critically in the year 2023: how has the desire to instill order in a world so consumed with terror effected how the youth exist? While many remark the film to be crude, there are little to no displays of sexual acts between the two lead characters. Instead the discuss the bounds and possibilities of intimacy and their existence. We experience Chimo attempting to make sense of existence or possible non-existence, and we see, through Chimo's eyes, the world inflict violence upon the two incessantly. Past a tale of Romeo and Juliet, Lila Dit Ca tells of a relation in which being is not assured and existence is precarious; a world in which sexual aggression is painted as a path to determination and the lingering of speculation is encircled as criminal. Lila Dit Ca is a film about becoming that refuses an ascendency to becoming; we're left not knowing what is to become of either Lila or Chimo. At the end of the film all the audience knows is that they will not become together due to the violent actions of the world they live in. Chimo decides to tell us what Lila said and ultimately it's a story of a world that betrayed her, Lila, to which Chimo felt incapable of aiding because he too was unsure if he even existed. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/23/23 Full Review Audience Member Lila Says [Ziad Doueiri, 2005, France] Anything involving cross-culture captures my attention intently. 6/10 Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member A very well scripted film. Others have said it all here... Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Saw this on late night and was disappointed. You can talk all you want, but if nothing is gonna happen, then I am on my way. You know what I mean? Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/24/23 Full Review Audience Member I found the story interesting, but I have seen better movies on the thme. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Very cool style and excellent writing. Good music, too! Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Critics Reviews

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      Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle Just because a cupcake looks like a tart doesn't mean it'll taste like one. Big lesson. Rated: 2/5 Sep 24, 2005 Full Review Michael O'Sullivan Washington Post As sweet as it is dirty. Aug 25, 2005 Full Review Moira MacDonald Seattle Times Though beautifully photographed, there's something creepy at the heart of Lila Says. Rated: 2/4 Jul 29, 2005 Full Review Doris Toumarkine Film Journal International Induces a rare kind of cinematic immersion and nervous intimacy, thanks to its deft treatment of sexual confusion and awakening. Mar 1, 2007 Full Review MaryAnn Johanson Flick Filosopher It's sort of Romeo & Juliet, but with the same kind of urgency the story of star-crossed lovers must have had for the Bard's first audience... Jan 3, 2006 Full Review Sean P. Means Salt Lake Tribune Director/co-writer Ziad Doueiri captures the tenderness of young love and the volatility of Lila's sexual openness -- a bottle of nitro that even Doueiri can't handle. Rated: 2.5/4 Nov 18, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis Chimo (Mohammed Khouas), age 19, lives with his mother. Rather than taking advantage of a Paris writing school scholarship, the unemployed aspiring writer kills time with his friend Mouloud (Karim Ben Haddou) on the streets of Marseilles. Chimo develops a crush on Lila (Vahina Giocante), a sexually experienced 16-year-old who moves into the neighborhood. They begin spending time together, alarming both Lila's possessive aunt (Edmonde Franchi) and Mouloud, who's jealous of his friend.
      Director
      Ziad Doueiri
      Screenwriter
      Ziad Doueiri, Mark Lawrence, Joelle Touma
      Distributor
      IDP Distribution
      Production Co
      Canal+
      Rating
      R (Brief Violent Images|Sexual Content|Language)
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      French (Canada)
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Sep 11, 2004, Original
      Rerelease Date (Theaters)
      Jun 24, 2005
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Apr 14, 2017
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $121.2K
      Runtime
      1h 30m
      Sound Mix
      Surround
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