Review of Nowhere (2013) by Monica H — 18 Mar 2011

It's so hard to rate films that are clearly made for their time (and I think at *lot* of current films are going to have this problem whee they feel super dated). I'm sure Kaboom (Araki's newest film) will feel just as dated in 10 years, and I *loved* it while watching it.

Also, I'm ten years too old for this film, and I didn't manage to retain my teenage spirit as well as Araki. If I watched this in 1997, I would have been amazed at seeing something so different.

Or I would have hated it. It doesn't feel as out there now, but it still is a reminder of how far films have to go on LGBT issues. It probably deserves a half a star less with me just saying I don't know.

It entertained me for an hour and a half. I liked seeing characters that weren't the standard heteronormative characters. It's also nice to see more realistic teenagers. There's plenty of out there stuff in the film though, which is also completely enjoyable if you are 'with' the film from the beginning.

I don't think many adults now would see much in it at all, but I can also see how this film (along with the rest of the trilogy, though I think Totally Fucked Up is currently my least favorite) could become obsessions to outsider teens of the time.

There is, of course, the random pleasure of seeing relative unknowns, at the time, pop up at a much younger ages well. This isn't something that I think I'll watch multiple times, as an adult, even as a guilty pleasure.

But it is something I think I might slip to my brother when he's 17 or so. Certain films know their audience, and are also revolutionary at the time, and this might be one of them. The jury is still out on if this trilogy will survive its dated aspects, but at the moment I think it might, within its age group at least (thanks to the internet, since they're impossible to find otherwise).