About a Girl directed by Brian Percival

Genre: Gritty British Short film

The title is similar to the film About a Boy starring Nicolas Hoult, both films have a running theme of loneliness. The title of the film came up as a text message would; the audio was also how a text message would sound as it was being written. This gave me the impression that the film was modern, it could be a teenage girl texting and the short film could be aimed at young people.

The first shot was of a young girl singing Britney Spears ‘Now I’m Stronger’ by herself in a dark field. Only her silhouette was visible and because the audience can’t see her face, it builds curiosity. The audience find out about her slowly. The first thing we here in the next scene is the girl talking, her first line is ‘If Jesus were alive today he’d be a singer’. We gradually find out that she is a tough character and chavvy. Our opinion about her changes from the first scene. She has a hard exterior and her northern accent gives away she is from Manchester. She doesn’t come from a rich background and we can tell this from her clothing and the fact she sees singing as the best career choice she can achieve, and she is not well educated. The short film is filmed in a documentary style as it looks as though she is talking directly to the audience or to the person behind the camera. She lives in a council estate with her siblings and mother. She has revealed to the audience that her parents are divorced and have a poor relationship with each other. The mum used bad language around her young children, and refers to their dad as a ‘bastard’.

I got the impression that she has a poor relationship with her father, and the parents argue a lot. I also gathered that the father is unemployed. The girl makes excuses for her dad in order for the audience to think he’s good. She is 13 years old and she feels as though her dad treats her like she is younger, this could reflect the fact she has had to grow up fast.

The quality time she spends with her father includes watching him play football with his friends. Her line ‘Dad could have played for Manchester City- not’ reveals to the audience that she doesn’t believe everything she is told. She is neglected and ignored by her dad who buys her crisps and a can of coke yet leaves her outside and drinks in the pub with his friends.

She reflects the qualities of a normal teenage girl. We see as sweet, young, innocent side to her when she is singing on the bus with her friends. Her friends are similar to her in the sense they come from the same background. The cutting in this short film shows she’s really chatty and its cuts at a choppy rate from her walking to scenes from her life. She has a cheeky streak, when she says ‘I think that woman liked it’ after her and her friends were singing on the bus. This reminds us that she is like any other teenage girl. Once again she was singing Britney Spears but the song ‘Stronger’. The songs she sings could mirror how she feels inside; singing appears to be her escapism.

She thinks perfume is ‘smelly’ which reminds us she’s still young despite her exterior. During her monologue she appears to be walking around by herself, talking to herself even. Her mum smokes and plays scratch-cards. This could be her escapism. The girl thinks that the alcoholic drink Bacardi Breezer is high end, this emphasises the fact she isn’t from a middle or upper class background as the drink isn’t expensive.

She wants to live with her dad but he doesn’t want her to; she wants to run away. Throughout the film the weather is dull and grey; this is pathetic fallacy as the weather is reflecting how she is feeling. The title and the film don’t mention the main characters name, this could be because it is not important, and she represents many girls in her community, not just her. However, her parents names are mentioned, Terry and Paula.

After the mum threw their pet dog in the canal because she can’t afford it, she has become a product of her own environment. She has managed to hide she is pregnant for nine months. She threw her baby in the canal as her mum did with their dog. The shot was filmed with an underwater camera and makes the audience feel claustrophobic. Her baby was thrown in a plastic bag as she was into the world. The plastic bag could be a representation of her; common and disposable. The baby comes head first out of the plastic bag which makes me think the bag is a representation of her even more; it looks as if the bag is giving birth. The baby sinks to the bottom of the lake but the bag gets trapped in the wire fence, this could possibly mean she will never escape her current life.

I noticed there was no music throughout the short film perhaps not to draw away attention from the storyline and because it was made to look like a documentary. The reasons I think she got rid of her baby was that she didn’t want to become a mum and the baby could ruin her singing career that she wants so much.