...a lot in this movie and it's always brazen. A young 16 year old girl moves into an Arab ghetto in Marseilles and hypnotizes the boys in the neighborhood (and us) with her vixenous eyes and her provocative talk. A sweet and incredible movie, mastered by an actress in a role of sexual impetuousness. If you have the chance, you have to see it.

****
The tragedy of chronic unemployment and hopelessness among North African youth in contemporary France explodes in this movie based on a controversial book published in France. Fatherless, poor and, like most of his friends in the Arab ghetto near Paris, without a job or prospects, Chimo finds that writing about Lila, a 16-year-old girl who befriends him, transports him from the bleakness of his life. Chimo is an unremarkable, shy and sensitive boy; Lila's angelic looks are a stunning contrast to the precocious fantasies about sex that she shares with him. An enigma in the projects because of her blonde hair, blue eyes, Christian faith and elusiveness, as well as the crazy, devil-fearing aunt with whom she lives, Lila confides only in Chimo. Is she a hustler working for rich men in the city or just a confused kid whose fantasies serve as her own method of escape, much as Chimo's secret nocturnal writing acts are his? Its melodramatic ending a shocking surprise, this movie resonates powerfully.