User reviews

I wasn't quite sure how to categorize this film while watching it. As most fairytales go, there are some dark elements. There are hopeful themes, too. Overall this is different enough to be interesting and I found the cinematography in various scenes to be very enchanting.

I think, the movie tried to explore the themes: "being yourselves" or "embracing yourselves with all your oddities" or "finding how special you are".

It is an interesting film, but leaves you confused at the end; all because one shot, I think, has gone wrong. The point is, the movie follows a grounded-realistic approach (not a surreal one). So, you expect the movie to give you enough information to build a believable world in which the story takes place. The problem is not with the believability, but with the incomplete information. So, at the end, you are left feeling that there is something missing.

This could have been fixed with the very first shot of the movie, in which it could have shown a new born lying on the beach crying, with no traces of any human around her. This would have raised the question, "who left her there?" or "where did she come from?". As these questions were quite satisfactorily answered in the movie, you would've felt that everything fell in place (including the theme). The parents' characters need a little development though.

After watching this film, I was very much reminded of that other intense, coming-of-age girlhood drama, Thirteen. Both films feature a young protagonist who, in the midst of trying to navigate adolescence amidst loving but oblivious parents, get sucked into the depravities of underage drinking, substance abuse, promiscuity, self-harm and the like. The scenes of Mia trying to find an in with the cool crowd is immediately familiar to Thirteen's Tracy trying to cozy up to the wild Evie. If the film had a mood board, I could also see the similarly named Fish Tank (maybe even Pixar's latest, Turning Red, could be the Disney-fied version of this story), or the French film Water Lilies, as inspirations.

As a metaphor for the turbulence of the teen years, shape-shifting stories, and mermaids in particular, are a very interesting idea. But not enough is done with it in Blue My Mind. I wanted to know if Mia had prior suspicions about her origins, or if she just started having inklings that she is not like others. We also don't get much insight into some of Mia's decisions other than her being driven by hormones. Some of the plot mechanics were also improbable, notably Mia's parents leaving her at home alone despite worrying changes in her behavior.

I did like how the film avoided falling into some cliches, particularly with the Gianna character who is at first introduced as the sexually precocious "bad influence"-type. Also the cinematography is pretty striking with its palette of blues. Overall, this is definitely a film that leaves an impression on you with its vividly startling imagery. I would have liked it even more had it spent more time developing Mia's thinly sketched parents, or her relationship with Gianna, and gave Mia more of a complex, defiant send-off.

A puberty tale of a different kind. Interesting premise told excruciating slow. Lots of salacious content to keep a teenage audience interested. The acting was good. But the story could have been told in a short live action film. For the glimmer of a premise and the acting alone I give this film a 6 (fair) out of 10. {Fantasy Drama}

There are no shortage of films telling stories about young teens facing changes in life, especially puberty, and even such movies with a "creature feature" twist number more than a few. Among such company, 'Blue my mind' nonetheless stands as a fair competitor.

Yet the problem is that while the concept is solid, and there are some good ideas in the screenplay, the best word I can think of to describe the execution is "incomplete."

Mia (Luna Wedler) is having difficulty fitting into a new school or getting along with her parents, to the point that she wonders if they're actually related. Things start looking up as she befriends a fellow student, Gianna (Zoe Pastelle Holthuizen), a rather rebellious young woman whose "devil may care" lifestyle draws out behavior in Mia that contrasts with the stricter upbringing and expectations she has known. The bulk of 'Blue my mind' is devoted, narratively, to a "coming of age" exploration of who Mia is, or could be, or might want to be. The story is anchored by fine performances from Wedler and Holthuizen, but even so, the way these scenes play out feels a little forced, and inorganic.

At the same time, Mia begins to experience strange new feelings, and see differences in her body, that portend something more transformative on the way. For about 75 of the film's 97 minutes, those troubling curiosities Mia is experiencing - a bizarre new craving, unseemly marks on her skin, acute changes in her toes - are delivered on-screen very piecemeal, with no notable progression per se. Which would be fine, cinematically, if not for the fact that in the last 20 minutes those slow and minor changes abruptly launch forward into being nearly complete. What were odd symptoms suddenly become a jarring transformation, and there's no real flow in the narrative from A to B.

Yet the film is capped off by a surprisingly strong ending. The full realization of Mia's transformation, physically and emotionally, results in some heartfelt moments before the tale comes to a rewarding close.

The great flaw here, though, is that the entire rest of the movie - an uneven coming-of-age story followed by abrupt body horror - does not convincingly flow into the ending. As a result, pleasing as the final scene is in and of itself, we're left feeling a little less than satisfied overall.

I don't dislike 'Blue my mind.' The primary young actors are good, there are good ideas, and I enjoy the ending. It's just not entirely successful in telling the story that it wants to.

Worth watching, I think. Just keep your expectations in check.

I had no idea what the movie would be about. It seemed to be "just another" teen coming of age drama. There is more to that and I reckon most will already know it unless you are like me and try to watch movies with as little information as possible.

The acting is really good and apart from the usual stuff you may have seen in other movies (Thirteen and Bahnhoff Zoo are two that come to mind) has this otherworldy feel to it, that goes ... under your skin - no pun intended.

Apart from that, there are some sexual situations you may feel uncomfortable with, depending on your own sensibilities. Those do not just involve the main character girl (especially in one scene towards the end), but also video footage that is rather explicit and vividly showing sexual intercourse (pornograhic content you can find on the internet). It's just for a short moment, but in cast this ruins the movie for you, I thought you'd better know.

That all aside the movie ends in the only way that makes ... well sense in a way.

I see this movie as a poetic self-deletion movie. A young girl going through puberty and not able to cope and thus acts out. She's like many teens who don't feel like they belong, even to the point of thinking that they're adopted. The telling sign for me was the knife. I see it as she made the attempt and her friend found her in the tub. Letting her go at the end reminds me of Big Fish. That movie, like this one is double-meaning.

Blue My Mind follows Mia, a teenage girl, as she tries to find her place among the popular students in school while facing body transformations that question her identity in every way.

A fairy tale coming-of-age that finds meaning in the examination of identity in the most basic and natural sense with a dosis of body horror that turns its dream-like quality into a nightmarish tale of teen drama.

The movie's greatest asset is Luna Wedler's performance as Mia, a protagonist who conveys the often found dichotomy of teenage ache for emancipation while at the same time requiring the safe haven of childhood.

This movie was utterly boring and suspiciously pointless , sad that these kids had no guidance no hope in life torturing their bodies and souls was just depressing and sad to me ,no story no dialogue building no character building or explanation of any direction or concept of the screenplay, it bothers me when people don't communicate or bond correctly when necessary don't tell anybody don't ask for help make all the wrong foolish decisions, I know that's reality but sometimes we like to portray that as the default actions and choices that portray people make which is not true , everybody's not just foolish ignorant and dumb but ! ironically this screen play seems to transcend into real life this is how people act in the world today creepy really.

Brühlmann's story blends the age of innocence with dark fantasy ad her protagonist deals with life changes, body issues and a sense of confusion about the future. Although she tackles a heavy amount of subject material in the film, "Blue My Mind" never goes full out horror, nor does it take itself too seriously. It is a well written, well acted metaphor for transitioning from adolescence to adulthood.

The cast seem far stronger actors than their age, or the film's indie status would suggest. Characters are brought to life conveniencingly and affective. More drama that thrills, there are moments that could have taken the film a bit darker and with a little more horror. Still it wasn't really needed and the film doesn't hurt without, still as a 45 yr old man I could have related more. Or maybe more comfortable considering the material deals with female energies and becoming woman.

The special effects, though limited till the final act, are well produced blends of practical and slight CGI. All kept to a minimalist approach. Most of the film's ability to captivate is done so through brilliant story, cinematography and the human element. Overall "Blue My Mind" is a great dark fantasy drama appealing to fans of Animorph whimsy and coming-of-age drama.

15-year-old Mia is facing an overwhelming transformation which calls her entire existence into question. Her body is changing radically, and despite desperate attempts to halt the process, she is soon forced to accept that nature is far more powerful than her.

Whatever I thought I was going to watch...erven in my wildest dreams, it wasn't this! There's a lot to unpack here. There's lots of social comment about how difficult it is to join a new school, make friends, avoid the bullies, get on with the work but have a great time anyway. There's also parental issues in abundance here. The parents are clearly of the type that if they shout loud enough, be more harsh, or even lash out, the child will change for the better. Sadly Mia (Luna Wedler) simply disassociates from her parents and her mood becomes much worse. To the point she even questions if she was adopted. Nothing is going right at home and the parents become more punitive as they seem to see Mia as a bad child, rather than a troubled one. Indeed they never actually learn anything at all about what is going on with her.

We see her trying to abandon herself to drink and drugs, maybe in the hope they can make her forget the changes occurring in her body? Those changes are pretty gradual but very noticeable and things come to a head when she is left unable to walk at all. I think a lot of kudos has to go to Wedler for this role. I know teens can be moody and changeable and so make quite good actors, but Wedler has a huge range of emotions she needs to go through, in many different contexts, and she carries them all off with seeming ease. I bought into her story easily, shocking though it was. It was a very sheer drop off to the end of the film, and it didn't really give you enough time to think about what happens next for Mia. It was obvious I suppose as she had few choices left to her at the end.

I very much enjoyed it on the same level of Euphoria until it turned grim, but I reckon I would watch it again. I give it a 7 for being a bold, new story, carried out well with a great actor.

Sad and lovley... Truly not for the masses. Your average Joe will not like or get this at all.

I will just say this: go watch RAW (2016), it tackles the same themes but its a much better film than this one.

It is a story that goes far beyond portraying a distressing adolescence, with serious problems dealing with changes in one's own body, added to the constant feeling of incomprehension and the latent threat of bullying, especially for those who enter an environment late. Hostile. To make matters worse, her parents' distance and the fear of not truly being her daughter increase her anxiety even more. This is, broadly speaking, the skeleton of a life completely removed from the comfort zone of childhood, which slips down the drain, along with the friendly landscapes we call home. In the new setting, the entire film is tinged with a persistent blue, which is the color of sadness in Germanic languages, and the color of the sky reflected in the sea that licks its wounds (or in the lake waves, in the Swiss context). The metaphorical saying of the fish out of water turns into a mermaid. And of the beasts, for among all these beautiful corals, predators abound, and it's better to be a shark than their snack.

In addition to all this, "Blue My Mind" (Lisa Brühlmann, 2017) exposes the different cultural strata of a Switzerland that, despite all the economic amenities and quality of life it has, and despite democratic progressivism and political correctness and ways in which it is recognized, it is not free from an important sedimentation of social prejudices and a very sexist residue. Furthermore, within the entire rich tapestry of harmful behaviors that we find in the film, capitalism is directly pointed out as the source of origin and perpetuation of disorders such as anxiety, depression, rejection phobia, marginalization and the large number of children (from families economically accommodated) neglected because work is the priority. Maintaining socioeconomic status is fundamental and unquestionable. And this characteristic is closely linked to the proliferation of emotional and psychiatric disorders that are also being triggered by capitalist voracity in our society. Therefore, the film, among many other claims, also echoes the stigmatization of mental health failures. And not just because of a true condition, but sometimes because of hasty diagnoses of mental illnesses, made very lightly.

Continuing with the wide range of denunciations of this terrible and disturbing tale, we are faced with serious scenes that are not just shouting at a "simple" problem of sexism. It is something much worse: an extremely worrying and premature sexualization of minors, something that we cannot recognize as endemic only in the country, but widespread throughout the world. Although it is important to note that, as additional information, the Swiss Society of Pediatrics, in collaboration with the University of Lausanne, conducted in 2018 (remembering that this film was released just a year earlier) a survey on the number of recorded child abuse cases in recent decades in Swiss hospitals, covering its various forms: physical, psychological and sexual violence. Each year, between 900 and 1,500 situations related to this terrible spectrum were reported, of which the percentages occupied by rape cases varied between 17.7% and 25.2% - sometimes decreasing, sometimes increasing. And this in the most affluent Europe. This is something very serious.

Mia embodies the sexual awakening between true curiosity and extreme objectification, which leads her, like many (and many) teenagers, to seek validation through promiscuity and daring with drugs and other absurd risk situations. Her aquarium is a brutal, cruel, deep-sea ecosystem in which pretending to be a predator to avoid bullying can lead her to organically transform into it. But on the other hand, beneath all those scales with which she bristles to protect herself, there is great confusion. Sometimes, a real interest in pleasure, in feeling; one, the search for sexual orientation, even possible bisexuality (increased risk of stigma, and in close contact with the shame of the promiscuous among the promiscuous). And the pressure on the body and its behavior never relaxes, not even in supposedly adult environments: from the man on the dating app who justifies his own perverse desire with the ages defined by legal consent, to a horrific scene clearly condemning a herd of thirty-something rap*sts - taken on this occasion to a party with teenagers -, Lisa Brühlmann leaves no stone unturned when it comes to reviewing the disgusting culprits behind the existence of scary stories like Little Red Riding Hood. And her iconography is palpable in the most grotesque scene, with an aesthetic delicacy that makes Mia's youthful face and red lips stand out in a darkness that would be a beautiful photographic result if something as pornographic and violent didn't invade her. Undertaking this scene is something extremely risky for the filmmaker, and it was resolved in an impressive way, due to its impact and the delicacy at the same time with its protagonist despite the sordidness of what she narrates.

The main question that remains is: where are the adults? Teachers don't seem to serve any purpose other than sustaining stigma. The sports-obsessed mother only seems to reinforce the rejection of one's own body and the changes resulting from puberty, with eating disorders suggested and linked in a very interesting way to the fantastic transformation. But these are changes that can also be linked to possible venereal diseases and even something psychosomatic. In any case, the growing viscerally in the relationship between them illustrates the rupture of the mother-daughter bond, the refusal to follow the maternal model of woman or even the feeling of betrayal when suspecting being adopted and the abandonment syndrome that this implies. The father, out of the picture, is an absent father. His voice is as if passing by, but it doesn't calm down. Don't stop, don't care and don't share. There is no real emotional bond. It's a spectrum. He punctually carries out tasks such as taking his daughter in the car and she stays in the back seat, as she is still a child. And he is a man with an important position, hence his impeccable suit and upscale family cabin. He is a businessman, hardened to work. For her, it's a backrest, the one in the driver's seat. He directs, he commands. He only shows his face when the time comes to impose authority, repression, threat of punishment. A punishment in the form of a threat to resume therapy. Is there anything less therapeutic than turning this resource into a threat?

However, another interesting point of the film is the display of the apparently paradoxical contrast between the need for care at home and the need to exist in the school environment, but also to disappear. Lots of changes, lots of pressure. The pool, swimming, water and their pacifying effect allude to home (to what was lost in the move, but also to amniotic fluid: the peace of being safe in the womb of the biological mother, as if underlining the nostalgia for the simplicity of childhood, but also due to the hidden possibility of adoption). The story takes on a dramatic stance until at least halfway through the film. Fantastic details are nothing more than mere details, which makes them easily understood as reality. Mia's constant confusion is well portrayed both in her performance and in the way the film was conducted. The film's photography, commendable by the way, makes a point of using bluish tones throughout. And the chosen color tries to represent precisely this sea of ideas, in which there is no critical or judgmental look.

Fantasy stops being an interesting aspect of the film when it is confused, in a poorly executed way, with reality. Mia's external transformation, which happens exactly after her first menstruation, loses strength in the context of the film from the moment it begins to present her as a freak. The idea of an internal change reflecting an external one is well thought out, but ends up sinning when it is configured as supernatural. While the film subtly shows what Mia is becoming, whether through the joining of her toes or the uncontrollable desire to eat live fish, she manages to capture the viewer's attention and even "trick" those who are more inattentive.

This is one of those films that hits the viewer in the chest. All the more so as many women will be able to see themselves reflected, if not literally in the experiences of their protagonist, in some bad decisions or simply in the barrage of changes and aggressive external factors. Even bordering on destructive at a time as sensitive as adolescence. "Blue My Mind" is a good drama, despite some errors. It gets the art direction and much of the drama right, even if it leaves some questions open. It portrays adolescence in a crude way, while at the same time not straying from reality. It can also be a good fantasy, after all, it gives clues throughout the film about the mystical character that Mia transforms into. But it's not a good composition of drama and fantasy. Once the symbolic transformation is accomplished and becomes literal, there is no going back.