Customer Reviews

Lilja 4-ever

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Certain films evoke moods within us. We all have a favorite film, a film we enjoy for various reasons. We might find it entertaining, funny, or just cool. Then there's that film we can't categorize. A film that gives us a strange feeling in the pit of our stomach, a movie that leaves us stricken. This could be attributed to the subject matter of the film or, more specifically, how that subject matter is handled. Maybe it contains something you longed for or long for, something you can relate to (no matter how metaphorically), or maybe it has to do with the way you connect with the characters on a deep emotional level...Or maybe it's just something that happens to me. Few films have done to me, after a first viewing, what "Lilya 4-Ever" has done. The only the movies that have left me with that same feeling (off the top of my head) are "Thirteen" and "All the Real Girls." The former because it reminded me of those crazy events in adolescence and the latter because I could relate to those feelings one goes through during that period of "young love." None of those films, however, left me with a feeling this intense. Nothing that happens in "Lilya 4-Ever" has happened to me. But even writing this review, I still have that strange feeling in my stomach and I still find myself dwelling on parts of the film. The beautiful Oksana Akinshina plays Lilya, a 16-year-old girl, who opens the film on the verge of jumping off a highway overpass. It's clear that it's not going to be a happy movie. Backtracking, we meet Lilya as she tells everyone that she's moving to America. Her mother has met and fallen in love with a Russian man, who is taking them all with him to America. Lilya sees it as a chance to escape from the gloomy suburb of the former Soviet Union in which she lives. Then, her mother drops a bombshell. Lilya will stay there, while she and her boyfriend go to America...Later, they will send for her. As soon as her mother is gone, things go downhill for Lilya. She is evicted from the flat she shared with her mother and moved to a much dirtier, rundown one she hates immediately. Lilya seems to have only one friend, but once her friend convinces people that Lilya is a prostitute, Lilya severs ties with her. The only friend Lilya is left with is the 14 year old Volodya. Volodya is in love with Lilya and serves her as a guardian angel of sorts, protecting (or, at least, trying to protect) her from all the evils of the world. He's only 14, but much more perceptive than Lilya and clearly harbors feelings for her that she doesn't understand. Pretty soon, finding herself without money, Lilya turns to prostitution to make some. When she meets a nice man named Andrei, who offers her the chance to get a job and a flat in Sweden, she gives up prostitution and decides to go with him. Volodya sees there's something not right with the situation and warns her not to go. I haven't read any of the other reviews on Amazon, but I have no doubt that other reviewers have revealed what happens to Lilya once she reaches Sweden. Roger Ebert did in his review. Having said that, I won't say what happens. It makes the blow much more devastating. The feeling I mentioned that was evoked during my viewing, I had experienced with the movies I mentioned above. Those movies I wanted to see again, right away. This movie, I'm debating whether I want to see it again or not. This is, without a doubt, one of the most depressing films I've ever seen. I have never cried during a film (I came close once with "Million Dollar Baby"), but this film almost made me do it. Oddly enough, most viewers won't like it. Some might even find it stupid. This film just has some effect on me, one which I can't truly explain. The reason for this feeling might lie inside the character of Volodya. For Volodya, Lilya is the girl of his dreams. Everyone has felt this at some point. Few people have actually lived alone with this girl and slept next to her, however...Certainly not at his age. For him, she's everything and yet, he can't keep her or have her to himself. She's untouchable. To Lilya, Volodya is a friend whom she loves...In the end, Volodya is her everything. This is a great film that remains largely unmentioned in film circles. It's depressing, has a gloomy atmosphere to it, and is making me want to cry. So, needless to say, it's not the kind of movie one whips out on a Friday night to watch with the family. We all have favorite movies. Movies that entertain us, make us laugh, make us quote the dialogue...This one will keep your eyes glued to the screen, but can hardly be called entertainment. If you're laughing at this film, you might need to see a doctor and make sure you have a heart and a soul. There's no dialogue that's worth quoting. But whether you love, hate, can't explain how you feel about this film (much like me), or all of the above...You'll remember Lilya forever.

GRADE: A

The first time I saw this movie, I think I cried about it for days.And everyone I showed it to walked around like total zombies after having seen it. Because it is so real, and raw, and unflinchingly honest in showing the lives of such miserable, misfortunate people.And most of these people are no older than sixteen.And while this may come as no surprise to you that there are people like this living in the world(I thought so myself), actually seeing it has the capacity to change your whole life.When a film can do that,you know its got to be pretty damn powerful.

Lilja(Oksana Akinshina) is a sixteen year old girl who lives with her mom in a desolate little town somewhere in Russia.When Lilja's mom tells her that her new boyfriend is taking them both to live in America, Lilja is absolutely electrified with hope and joy at something better. But things don't go exactly as planned and what follows is a wrenching,impossibly bleak, and absolutely devastating film which is simply impossible to look away from.Along the way, Lilja meets an eleven year old boy(the absolutely, wrenchingly irresistible Artyom Bugacharski).This boy has a destiny just as bad as Lilja's, if not even worse.He sells glue on the streets, and sleeps in the winter cold outside because his own father beats him out of the house.

When I say this film is bleak, I mean just that-there is not one bright spot, not one shred of hope expressed throughout.And still, even though you know that everything will just break in the end, you know that there is no future for these kids, you cannot help but sit on the edge of your seat and grip your sweaty palms together in hope that things will work out.By the time the film ended I was too busy spinnning in an apocalyptic whirlwind of hope and anticipation to even feel anything. But once those credits began to roll, boy, did I cry. I didn't just shed a tear or two, I absolutely wept and wept and wept.

I wept because this film is so bleak and hopeless and real-and you realize when seeing this, and I mean truly realize, not read it in the paper realize how many kids there are with fates like this and even worse. I swear that YOU will feel ashamed for every day you ever complained about the trials in your life. This is the type of movie that should be required viewing in schools-there are so many kids that just need to be woken up from their perfect slumber to see what deep misery lies in this world.

And the greatest thing about this movie is that it doesn't ever try to shock.It doesn't move you through grotesque images and gruesome,graphic sights. And you have to give many props to director Lukas Moodysson for being able to create such a real film without resorting to shock value. I'm not saying that there aren't many difficult scenes, but he never resorts to shock over story, and that really does raise this film up to another level.And, being shot in handheld camera(I;m not a film pro, but I'm guessing) really does give the film a grainy, unpolished sort of quality so that its almost documentary line.

All the kids in this film were amazing-their acting was so good, that the characters on screen were frighteningly real human beings-not only victims.

This is an absolute emotional wipe out of a film.And not because it is sentimental or because it has the greatest dialogue in the world. Because it is so stunningly real-and sometimes reality can be the hardest thing to stomach.

A movie you can't "Love", that's not why I gave it 5 stars, but it is a very important movie for all to see. Lukas Moodysson has cemented himself as one of the great young directors in Europe with this dark, extremely depressing, yet very important film. After watching Lilya's life unfold into what can only be described as "literally" hell on earth (Even worse then hell on earth), You will never forget her pain, her face (and in so, the millions of faceless children & adults who are enslaved in the underground sex industry that Lilya's character represents). At least that's the little bit of hope that I got from the story, which is filled with everything except hope. You will be mentally drained and mad as hell at the human race when this movie is over, but to me that's great movie making. A very, very, important movie!

Please do not watch this DVD if you are of weak nerve or are not interested in looking at how cruel life can treat people at the edge of our "civilised world".
Lilja is a 16 year old girl who lives on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, Russia, with her mother, who meets a man who takes her to the USA with her - the only problem is that (all of a sudden)he is not willing to take Lilja with him, and thus she finds herself left behind in their poorly furnished family apartment with hardly any money and a sadistic aunt who "looks after her". But this is not an Oliver Twist like story, instead it gets even worse when Lilja meets a young man from Sweden who promises her not only love but also work in his home country. Lilja leaves Russia without thinking - only to find herself forced to prostitution. There is no hope, and nothing can prevent the end's catastrophe from happening.

This is life, this is whta happens every day all around the world. And THIS is painfully realistic cinema at its best. Again, as in "Show me love", it is astounding how well acted the movie is - the young girl playing the lead really makes you shiver and at many points during the film you have to remidn yourself that this is in fact not a documentary... If art is to change the way how we look at our society and if movies can at all stir up issues we usually like to push away from ourselves, then this is the ideal example of how important a movie can be these days and how well crafted it can be made.

An absolutely brilliant movie!
It starts out sort of Run Lola Run-y, only not so sweet.
The soundtrack pounds relentlessly courtesy of Rammstein.
Set in the former Soviet Union (Estonia), the young heroin Lilya (Wonderfully played by Akinshina) takes us through a morbid, but very lifelike tale of abandonment, prostitution, abuse, betrayal, and suicide.
Although the film is very sad, Lilya and Volodya remain loveble characters. A frightening eye-opener to life of some less fortunate people everywhere in the world

This film is the saddest film I've seen in my entire life, and believe me, I've seen some sad movies.After viewing this film, I cried straight out for thirty minutes, I couldn't sleep the night, and my life was changed forever. I promise, once you see this movie, you will just be a completely different person. Never has a movie affected me so deeply, shook me so roughly.This movie's portrayal of the lives of some of the very unfortunate people living in Russia is so real, so raw, so blunt and unapologetic.And the thing is, there are so many people like this, all over the world, you can't even imagine.

The performances are truly incredible.The two main leads make the characters strikingly real and tender.

In conclusion, do whatever you can to get your hands on this movie, and it will truly change your life.I can't describe it.There are no words for what it will do for you.Just see the movie because no words can make it clear how sad,sad,sad this film is.And it's life.

This is an important movie about a subject that is not discussed often enough in the western press. In my opinion there is not enough help for Eastern Europe and Russia. Therer are a lot of promising and bright people that are not getting a chance in life because the systems they live under are not adequate and because of lingering post soviet / socialist culture.

Lilja 4-ever shows us how bad life can become for some of the young women in these situations. Young women in these countries are often very beautiful, innocent, naive, and have very few options.

This is a realistic depiction of what can happen. This is a dark, disturbing movie, but I urge you to sit through it to its conclusion and reflect on how our brothers and sisters are living on the other side of the world.

The film follows a 16 year-old girl who is left to fend for herself in the Russian Federation and in poverty.

What keeps her story from flat heartbreak or painful downward spiral is her strength.

Never before has a film been able to capture prostitution without being erotic. This does.

It will change your life.

I highly recommend this movie. It really does a great job of telling the story of what life is like for many people in Russia and the former Soviet Union, and will open your eyes to the unfortunate reality of human trafficking and sexual slavery. I personally think that the last part of the film should have been done differently, and that really brought the film down a few notches in my book. But because of the overall power of the film I still feel it's worthy of 5 stars. Because of what it's about... it's not a film that you will really "enjoy", but it's still a great movie that's definitely worth watching.

This film is one of the best of the last ten years. Its difficult subject matter, but the story and character are executed with such emotional precision, it challenges that line between fiction and life. You forget this is a film, and assume the identity of a young Russian girl bought and sold for sex. I think all men and young women should see this film, for the rest of their lives there will be that emotional watermark. Everyone I know has been forced to take a few days to recover after viewing the film, its so powerful; meeting a sex slave might be one step further, but only by one step.