All Over Me

You've got to love Claude. She's 15-year-old, overweight, unattractive and happy with herself. You have to love a woman who can survive the teenage years while struggling to come out. But poor Claude intensely loves Ellen, her straight loser girlfriend whose abusive boyfriend beats her, kills fags and threatens Claude.

But instead of being intimiated, Claude fights back, figures out what he did, and calls the cops. Claude is the epitome of that hackneyed old phrase, To thine own self be true, and watching her strength and surety as she faces the horrifying prospect of re-evaluating her priorities, is a treat. If you are ever feeling like you are an imposter, a clumsy dyke amongst sparkly diamond girls, then All Over Me is for you.

All Over Me is directed by two sisters, one straight, one a dyke. They haven't done much in film since All Over Me, but that's okay, because this film stands as a testiment to their commitment to their own vision. The Sichel sisters have, however, written for If These Walls Could Talk 2, another solid piece of dyke cinema. Their approach to the film was based on the premise that the first crush for all girls is their best friend.

And Claude and Ellen do just that: they hang out together, even half make-out together. Claude is so threatening to Ellen's het relationship, the boyfriend threatens her, and tells her to stay away.

As for All Over Me, Alex sums up, "Those days in your room with your best friend don't even exist, not even to yourself. "It was important to get to the place where you remember all that."

Starring Alison Folland (who also appeared in Boys Don't Cry), Tara Subkoff, Leisha Hailey from the Murmurs.

Genre: Coming of Age

Director: Sylvia Sichel, Alex Sichel

Year: 1997

Starring: Alison Folland, Tara Subkoff, Leisha Hailey

Language:

Length: 90 min.