I just posted something similar under the thread, "just saw this" so I'll repost it here because it relates:
I just finished watching this film and have to say I'm pretty disappointed.
To answer someone's question, it is not at all about werewolves. In some world, the "monster" that interrupts scenes without reason, albeit infrequently, I believe is a metaphor for the sexual angst experienced by Diane as she uncomfortably navigates this confusing relationship.
I say confusing because I don't find that either of these characters behaves in a way that makes any sense, from the way they meet to the way they interact; often, it feels like Jack is supposed to be this deep, brooding, somewhat misunderstood girl in love but she comes across as hollow and immature. Diane, as absolutely cute and innocent as anyone could be in a Punky Brewster kind of way, has the depth of one of her taffeta accessories.
The biggest problem this film suffers is a lack of character development; in fact, they hardly exist except to be in somewhat weird situations together. Jack's mother is present for one second to deliver a foreshadowing line about Jack's brother. Diane's aunt seems to have issue with Diane coming in at 7am but then she doles out a rather malleable punishment whose boundaries forever move to accommodate Jack coming over and staying to visit during which she tells the aunt off. Not much later, Jack spends the night, helps Diane out in the shower when she can't figure out how to bikini shave, and drinks alcohol under her roof (even giving the aunt a taste!) - huh? Who in the world are these people?
After that, there is a lot of clunky dialogue and little of anything with which to connect. I really wanted to like this film. So few coming-of-age films, especially in the U.S., really capture the awkward but exciting first few glimpses of love and adulthood, and even fewer deal with the exhilarating "this is really happening" feeling of coming out to yourself.
In contrast to what one poster said, this is about a girl falling in love with a girl and sadly, it doesn't deliver. This seems to be a problem for this sub-genre in the few films I've seen. Show Me Love/F!cking Åmål came closest but it dealt mostly with one of the girls being comfortable enough to admit her feelings (in the last minute of the film and in a very public way which is a 180). Then there was the ever-moody My Summer of Love in which the world seems almost magical only to find out everything was a screwed up game seemingly for no reason other than to pass the time. Waterlillies deals in a similar deception: a beautiful girl uses the feelings of her female admirer in order to gain the interest of a guy. I would like to see a film in which the characters are believable human beings allowed to experience falling in a love that is not contrived or for some other purpose and able to enjoy it for more than 60 seconds while the credits roll.
I would love to see a good film but the recommendations were mostly about adults, erotic, or somewhat comedic - are there any realistic but sweet coming-of-age films that hit the mark?
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