Indie Gems: Mouth to Mouth

Like many people, I first took notice of actress Ellen Page in a brilliant film she did called 'Hard Candy'. I'll save that review for a later date, but after viewing that film I fell in love with Page and was determined to find her earlier work. The first film I came upon was 'Mouth to Mouth'. A small film shot in Europe in 2004. This little scene film packs quite the punch. It has an important message.

Sherry (Page) is an Canadian student in Germany. Like many teens, she's lost, moody and desperate to fit in. She joins a small gang/cult/random group of teens called SPARK (Street People Armed with Radical Knowledge) She's drawn in by the group's leader Harry (Eric Thal). She travels across Germany with them, but eventually realizes she's in too deep. She has bad relationship with her mother, Rose (Natasha Whiteman) in an effort to find her she eventually locates Sherry and joins SPARK to win her back.

I thought it raised a good point about how some teens want so badly to fit in that they go to these extremes. SPARK obviously isn't a healthy group of people, they victimize each other, try to control everything and teach us lessons such as why dumpster diving is a horrible idea.

Ellen Page is the best actor of the bunch by far, and this film obviously meant something to her. She actually shaved all her hair off to play Sherry (later on in the film Harry convinces SPARK's members to do so). The ending sequence with her mother is quirky and fitting. The low budget film obviously suffers a few setbacks. Poor lighting, shaky camera movements, a few plot holes here and there. But it's what the film is trying to say that's important.

Recommended: Yes. 3.5/5 stars.

Memorable Quote: "Close your eyes, and picture the perfect world". - Harry (Eric Thal)