Refreshingly engaging film portraying identifiable characters that remind you of that exhilarating, uncertain time of life where the innocent torments and thrills of life are everything. (i.e. before we began relating vicariously to the super-hyped Hollywood glam-stud-whore superhero formula of most popular film.) This is a young, edgy, honest film for people who appreciate subtle artistry when portraying the human drama - sexuality, morality and culture. Giocante is sublime as a provocative, if naîve, beauty as she pursues the humble charm, honest good looks and integrity of Chimo, the object of her exploration.Great soundtrack by Nitin Sawhney.This one will come back and tickle you for days.

'Finding Forrester' meets Nabokov, meets Tornatore. The final product may superficially look 'Lucia y el Sexo', but it's quite a different game. And quite different souls playing.I think in the end, this is a miscellaneous of different ideas, different paces, different dynamics, and it doesn't really work like was intended (at least like what i think was intended). It tries to work the coming of age of a young boy, the flower that grows in a swamp of marginals. He is a writer, this matters, ahead in the film, and he relates to a girl.She is a Lolita, and in the end we come to understand that the boy writes the story she tells him (thus the name of the film). I'm starting to find a common device in films, which is the type in which we are hinted that the film we are watching is in fact the film or book that someone in that film is creating. 'Pepi, Luci...', 'Das Leben...'etc. one day i'll list them.Vahina Giocante is part of the reason this failed for me. She is no Dominique Swain, or even Juliette Lewis. A part like this probably required someone like Jennifer Connely in her teen/early adult years. Giocante actually uses her eyes quite well, but not much more than that. This may be cultural, but she didn't work here for me.There is a subplot about Muslim immigrants in France (the director belongs, i believe, to that context). I think it steps a little bit too much on that subject. Nothing against it, but you can make films about immigration and social frictions if you want ('La Haine', made by a french) but here it was supposed to work on the level of the innocent encounter, intimate revelations, boy meets girl and what comes out of that. The rest is useless to me.The ending is quite powerful, indeed probably the most powerful bit of the film. That's probably because it uses the writing device i noted above to solve and finish the dramatic arc of the whole thing. The girl has a book where she collects pieces of magazines, photographs, newspapers, the material she uses to invent her sex centered life. The boy finds out all was an invention in the bed where she is rapped yes, but the bit where he relives her fantasies through the clip book was much more powerful to me. This makes partially up for the weaknesses and ineffectiveness of the rest of the film.I think there was ambition here, the director is making his way (this is just his second film), but it failed to me. And i'm really pity it did, i came to this because i'm finding a life in films tackling films that depict women, and try to understand them, or give an interesting point of view on them (Medem is my master in this corner).My opinion: 2/5 http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com

I had previously seen "West Beirut" (also directed and written by Ziad Doueiri) and I really liked it. It had a special meaning to me because I live in Lebanon (where the events of the movie take place) and I can really relate to the the story and the characters. I had never gotten around to watching "Lila Dit Ca" (But I had been wanting to for a long time) Anyways, today I watched it and I have to say: It is a GREAT movie!!!! The acting, the story, the directing... all superb!!! I really think that Vahina Giocante was perfect for this role. She did an excellent job of portraying the character. I am friends with Rami Doueiri (Ziad Doueiri's brother and one of the main character from West Beirut) and I honestly can't wait to get in touch with him and tell him just how much I loved this movie!!! I think Ziad Doueiri really deserves a big pat on the back for the great movies he is making!I give this movie the 'Two thumbs up' !!!

"Lila Says (Lila dit ça)" is the freshest and most original update of "Romeo and Juliet" since "West Side Story." The transgressive nature of their relationship is dealt with much more explicitly, both in their differences and their sexual attraction. Parallel to "À Tout de Suite (Right Now)" as a relationship between a Polish blonde, "Lila," and an Arab teen, "Chimo," and both being based on putatively true stories, it has far more passion and gets us right into their heads as these two most unlikely soul mates find each other.Lila's sudden appearance in the vividly shown immigrant slums of Marseilles stands her out immediately, like "an angel" she claims and she is clearly fascinated by his "olive skin." They each reach out counter to their culture and tantalize taboos -- he eschews macho aggression for transfixed listening, while she is quite literally a C.T., with arousing sexual descriptions pouring out of that potty pouty mouth very much like a modern day Scheherazade in an Arabian Days, particularly on one quite memorable bike ride.We see more and more how this odd relationship becomes a haven for them, as she is an orphaned victim of sexual abuse who has learned the power of being seen as a Lolita fantasy object and he is surrounded by, as he calls them, "losers", frustrated by unemployment and post-9/11 suspicions. They start having an effect on each other as they learn to trust each other in one of the most tender evocations of first love amidst a way too sexually and politically charged environment.She has a disturbed relationship with her female guardian, while "Chimo" has an unusually supportive and warm relationship with his mother, who was abandoned by his father's attraction to a Frenchwoman, which may explain why he is so much more sensitive than his rough and resentful friends.When the pair's tentative pas de deux, however, starts to touch other people as they challenge expectations, he when he is faithful to her despite her challenging language of temptation and she by openly mocking the link between sex and religion, they incite jealousies and hysteria that build up in horrific speed to an unexpected tragedy and revelation that has incredible force and power.It is somewhat of a cliché in the young immigrant love genre that "Chimo" as the narrator is struggling with being a writer, but his talent and insights fit both sweetly and dramatically into the storytelling.Vahina Giocante, as "Lila," shifts amazingly from brazen flirt to demure school girl, while Mohammed Khouas, in his debut as "Chimo," is captivating and heart breakingly believable, both in his early naive curiosity and in his later growing maturity.The editing is terrific at matching their emotions, with tight close-ups when they are together, and encompassing mise en scene shots of their environments when they separate.The music selections well match their different backgrounds and coming together.This is an exhausting and exhilarating look at young love and life lessons.