Be My Star

Like Lovely Rita, this is another fine slice of realism from Austria, albeit one shot in Berlin. It charts the ups and downs in the relationship between 14-year-old Nicole and Christopher, who is hardly any older for all his faintly ludicrous pretensions to coolness, experience and maturity. Beautifully acted and observed, the film picks up on how tiny things can seem a matter of life or death in teenage relationships; the spotty, awkward daters may look risible to those of us with the advantage of hindsight, but that doesn't lessen their pain and pleasure. Their dignity and humanity are wisely respected by writer/director Grisebach in her lovely debut, which features one of the finest dance scenes in recent cinema.