Really Surprised!

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

As a teenager, there are many depictions of teenage sexuality that I find have followed their own successful formula for so long that they fail to depict modern adolescent sexuality accurately. Bang Gang is indeed, as it is billed as, a "modern love story". In particular, the impact of social media on the psyches and voyeuristic attitudes of my generation are perfectly encompassed. Within director Eva Husson's spectacle, there are familiar themes: the need to be wanted, to be set apart from the herd, the loneliness that comes with attaining your fantasies and finding that they are not enough (read: the scene in which Alex, high on vice, stumbles completely naked out to the pool–where teenagers are copulating and filming it all on camera for online distribution–and plunges in, attempting to shut everything out). As a teenager, there was always a certain orgiastic essence to house parties, people sneaking off to bathrooms and guest bedrooms to hook up, spin the bottle and escalating dares, so that the possibilities of such an event happening, as it did in real life, do not seem far-fetched. The imagery and cinematography of the movie is spectacular. The control of light and palette is exquisite, so that a normally vulgar tableau–consider Harmony Korine's "Kids", all grit and no softness–is rendered soft and ambient. There are some shots that could come straight out of a pre-Raphaelite painting. And maybe that's what's so beautiful about this movie; youth isn't some dispensable, ephemeral quantity of life, regardless of its course, youth does guide our lives, and teaches us that to be happy, you have to risk being hurt.

I have nothing against explicit sex in movies when it has function to make story stronger and leave deeper impression. Of course, I like good porn too. But when movie that is not porn is based on two hours of sex and nudity while there's no relevant story, that is simply crappy movie. Neither it tells good story, nor shows good sex. I want my two hours back.....................................................

** Please Note Slight Plot Spoiler ahead** This is an unusual film in that it is dealing with middle class teenagers who decide to let it all hang out – literally and then the curse of the social media gets involved. It is told around the main character of a young man who is a silver tongued charmer and extremely manipulative.He gets other teenagers to join him in his sexual dalliances and they party where anything goes. What starts out as a 'bit of fun' soon takes on a much darker hue and it is a very interesting journey for all involved.Now this is the sort of film where I felt not a lot happened – it is a slow build up. However, when you sit back and think about it, then I realised that there was a lot more subtleties going on which actually needed the build up to work. The acting is all fine and there is a fair bit of nudity. If you like your films fast and the plot spelled out then this will probably be one to avoid, but if you are up for a bit of Gallic indiscretion then you may well find something here to like.

'Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)' is based on true events, but it's hard to imagine even a French father, upon discovering his sixteen year-old son has been attending orgies, being laid-back enough to describe it as "profoundly mediocre", as happens here! When a game of Spin the Bottle gets a more adult twist, a group of teenagers from a nice middle-class area of town fall into having impromptu orgies. Against this background various other stories play out: the Lothario (Finnegan Oldfield - if he's as Irish as his name suggests he's got a superb French accent - to my English ears, anyway!) who uses the opportunity to toy with the affections of two girls; and the musician, carer for his disabled father, who stands apart from the crowd while lusting after one of the girls. But the film seems to have no focus until near its end when, faced with the consequences of their actions, the teenagers are revealed as just that - irresponsible teenagers, and not as sophisticated as they'd imagined themselves to be.Even though there is a deal of nudity in the film, there's little eroticism: the rock-video editing means the viewer is rarely sure exactly who's bits he's looking at! The film made little impression on me; in fact, I spent most of it thinking what horrendous underwear everyone was wearing, and worrying about the fate of the hamster.