We, The Infected

I won't speculate about the psychology of girls during puberty, beyond noting that a certain shame at their changing bodies doesn't seem to be uncommon, at least in these parts. However, the film is largely from Oskar's POV, so you could tweak the reviewer's analysis as a boy's take on girls' pubert...

Very interesting review, though I mostly disagree with it. It's spot-on about the adults though - Avila is the only adult we see even trying, though he fails. Everyone else is just going through the motions (Oskar's mother) or can't manage even that. Interesting way of looking at Virginia turning. I...

Of course average cognitive maturity develops over time and isn't fully formed at twelve. But the law generally is binary in these matters - it's not allowed one day, and it's allowed the next. For many legal purposes (say, voting), you're a child one day and a full adult the next. Criminal responsi...

I read Tarjei Vesaas' The Ice Palace . It's so good I find it hard to review it in a way that does it justice - it's about children but also about profoundly universal themes, it's about tragedy, death and loss, but also about friendship, love and solidarity, and has coming-of-age elements. It's bot...

I've followed this case somewhat closely - there are many aggravating factors, including substantial premeditation, deliberately befriending the victim as a ploy to gain her trust, the lack of even the slightest known motive to target that particular girl other than the fact she trusted them, the re...

Jeux Interdits (Forbidden Games). Like LTROI, it's a love story between children.

Regarding knowledge of the invitation rule, I think you ask too much of Håkan. He didn't know if he needed to speak, or if making a sign would be equivalent. But he never had had any reason to learn that before, since he had been able to speak. Besides, it seems that he had tried to understand the ...

Nice.

How do you know that Håkan never did try to connect? Because surely he would've at least learned that Eli was still a child, or at least had doubts. He was, instead, completely ignorant about Eli, he was even unsure about the invitation rule. Well, Håkan indeed seems to try to force Eli into loving...

Haakan never made any attempt to actually connect with Eli, to actually get to know Eli. You'd think you'd at least try to make conversation not about demands and bargains with someone living under the same rood, but Haakan never did. In essence, his conversation never seems to have changed from the...