Agito Radical

The setup is all too familiar: we have a girl who wonders about life. She has sex, is disappointed in love (always mildly by our measures) and thus "grows up."

Its a persistent fiction that is glued into filmdom and god knows how many lives it has bent.

But as these go, this one isn't as tendentious as the others. I think that's because of the triple narrative structure.

The main narrative is the girl (here Dominique Swain fresh from "Lolita"), who tells us what is going on in her mind. Thhings like "I wish I could grow up." Sometimes her narration is her thoughts in the story rather than over it, such as when she says something polite but is thinking something rude.

The second narrative is the story we see of course. Naturally, all the sex is akin to dreamy cuddling.

The third narrative is embedded in the story, the narrative of incisive rock songs. Indeed, they are rock songs about the very stuff of the story and inspired by the story itself. The three are woven together, each commenting on the other.

Few young viewers will notice, but this is pretty sophisticated storytelling. Even though every thing in it is empty and borrowed, the whole seems much fresher.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.