Lithuania's first foray in to sapphic cinema takes the form of a
punky international début from Director Saulius Drunga. Set in
Vilnius, Lithuania, Anarchy Girls (Anarchija Zirmunuose) is a
classic tale of lost innocence in which, unfortunately, plot
developments and characters are depicted with about as much
subtlety as a brick wall.
The story follows the young and virginal Vile (Toma
Vaskeviciute), a blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl who wears juvenile
white bobby socks with questionable floral dresses. As the film
progresses she gels her hair back, starts wearing black - shock
horror! - and goes to a punk gig. Sid Vicious eat your heart out.
This fall from grace is precipitated by her androgynous landlady
Sandra (Severija Janusauskaite) whose thoughts on life are artfully
communicated by a tattoo of the anarchist symbol on her shoulder
blade.
The film, like Sandra herself, gets stuck on the image of anarchy
rather than its meaning and it all ends up being more a slide show
of subculture stereotypes than a piece of genuine subversion. Girls
with short hair and dark secrets get involved with crime: joy
rides, violence and graffiti written in lipstick. The film relies
almost entirely on images that were played out by popular culture
decades ago and in swinging for gritty realism and shock value it
completely misses, trying so hard to be cool and underground that
it just comes off as ridiculous. The entertainment value is more
often than not purely unintentional comedy.
However, all of this is not to say that the film is without its
merits. It does achieve a certain darkness, both from the
depressing surroundings of Soviet era apartment blocks as well as
the depiction of the mass exodus of Lithuanian youth to the West.
Their anarchy is a reaction to stagnation as much as capitalism and
consumerism. Although others in the cinema voiced their
disappointment rather loudly at the end, for me the story achieved
an accidental clunky charm.
On reflection, I think the problem is that the film over-sells
itself. A lesbian film called Anarchy Girls conjures up certain
images in my head which were not exactly met by this film, which
was tentative at best. While it's great to see a lesbian film that
moves the story line beyond girl meets girl, its intentions were
over-ambitious. The story was also undermined by poor production
values and a cringe worthy script, although in fairness to the film
that might be poor translation.
Critically though, in the context of traditionally homophobic
Eastern Europe this film is a dramatic departure. While it might
not seem rebellious or controversial in England, the film is truly
subversive, a real coming of age both for its characters and its
country. If you get the chance to see the film I'd go for it; it's
definitely not your average lesbian film, just don't expect
anything miraculous. For Lithuania at least, the film is a real
achievement.
Anarchy Girls was shown as part of the 2012 East London Film
Festival at the Stratford Picture House and is released on DVD by
Peccadillo in November
To pre-order your copy:
Visit amazon.co.uk
