Jitters
Jitters
| 27 August 2010 (USA)
Jitters Trailers

An unexpected first kiss causes Gabriel to feel the electrifying "jitters" of love and lust with the free-spirited Marcus; a perfect way to end a Summer studying abroad. Realizing he is gay, Gabriel returns home and is immediately scrutinized by his family and friends who notice he’s different. But as the school year launches with Gabriel distracted with parties and his friends’ own dramas, Marcus returns, reigniting the hot, thrilling emotions of one’s first crush. Jitters fires head-first into the topsy-turvy world of first love with an attractive cast and pulsating soundtrack, making it a smartly refreshing journey into the queer, teen experience.

Reviews
ricardo_edm

Overall, I liked the "coming out" part of the story. It rang very true and I could identify with the situations the characters experienced. The rest of the movie, though, felt like it lacked focus, like it tried to accomplish too much and in the end it did most everything okay when fewer story lines might have worked much better.

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Do I Need To?

I felt this film was well done in the fact that none of the story-lines were over-complicated, but there were a lot of them and thus didn't make it quite as powerful if there had just been a singular one. However, the acting was accomplished; I especially was captivated by the Grandmother's emotional performance, it was heart-rendering when she was given the necklace and also *spoiler* at the funeral; the shot when she was talking to Gabriel, was really beautiful. Adding to this, the moments where certain characters just hugged each other was particularly moving, especially when no words were needed to convey their emotions. The final scene was both humorous, tense and relatively satisfying for a film ending. I have to say that I didn't connect with Gabriel's character to a large extent, but I loved the way that he was very at ease with his friends and that they could all be at ease with each other. The music was quite good too and I was happy when I heard the song 'Love Love Love' by 'Of Monsters and Men', when Gabriel is on the bus at one point, I felt the lyrics reflected the Grandmother's feelings.The film felt very long for the right film length , and the beginning felt almost like another film, or it didn't quite fit with the rest of the film. Overall, I liked the film, it somehow didn't reach my expectations, it was gritty and emotional, and again like many coming of age films; portrayed teenagers' awkwardness, possibly too much. But never the less, I enjoyed it.

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bh42394

As for the previous writer's review I won't comment...I thought this was a very well done coming of age drama. These kids are no different than kids in the US in that age group. Some people do drink a lot as well as do drugs during those years. It doesn't mean they aren't going to eventually find themselves and turn into who they will become in years to come.I thought the acting of each of these young people was very good and Gabriel's character would certainly touch home with many in any part of the world who are trying to figure it all out...I would highly suggest this movie to young people coming of age who are having problems with their sexuality. The movie is for the most part non-sexual in nature and what exist of the gay portion is very well done.

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itsvivek4u

Jitters is a coming of age drama set in Iceland. This film is like watching a group of teenagers through a secret camera and following the happenings in their life. The incidents can be positive, tense, romantic, eye openers or whatever but it does provide a fun , positive look at today's youngsters focussing specifically on Iceland. This is a group of trouble proned friends lead by Gabriel. On a 3 week English Immersion trip to Manchester, he shares a room with Marcus who is free spirited. He brings some character in life of Marcus and on their last day, they share a kiss. It is a short lived romance as it ends when they both come back home. They do keep sharing text messages though. Friends and family notice a change but he decides to keep a secret. We also get to know the lives of all of his friends. His best friend is having troubles with his girlfriend. He wants to score with her but she is not so easy to budge. We also have Greta, who just cant live with her mother anymore and decided to find a place for rent. She is also in search of her father and finally fins the man who could possibly be her father. She just wants to finish this so that she can move on. We also have Stella who likes Gabriel and who lives with her over protective grandmother who doesn't allow to let Stella live the life she wants to. She is always interfering. In between the lives of all of these friends, Gabriel is trying to find his own identity. When he and Marcus meet again, sparks are there but no one does anything. Gabriel is upset when he sees Marcus getting physical with a girl which ends up in a fight. When his friends interfere, Marcus tells them that Gabriel is gay. The friends are finally accepting and now it is time for Gabriel to move on and decide what he wants to do with Marcus. The excitement and traumas of a group of Icelandic teenagers as they tentatively enter young adulthood, is very effectively and brilliantly captured in this film. The entire ensemble cast is very good and very very well acted by the whole group of teenagers. I personally feel that if the focus could have been given more on Gabriel's relationship rather than focussing so much in details on the 2 girls, it would have been clear on what exact;y is going on in his head because he is always so quiet. But I guess in the process the film could also have missed out on a big chunk of audience. Overall, a pretty good job. I would have loved it even more if it was somewhat focused rather than all over the group of friends but that's just me.The film although showing young teenage drama still is insightful and remains true in showing emotions.

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