Light Light Light

In my review for Foreign Language, I predicted a paradigm shift in European coming-of-age movies. Light Light Light both proves and disproves my thesis. Light Light Light more evokes 2010s coming-of-age films in regards to its visuals and how the film doesn’t deal with current events. But it doesn’t deal with current events because Light Light Light is a period piece. Instead of the apocalyptic anxieties of the 2020s, Light Light Light takes place in the 80’s. In between this teen love story is woven the fallout and anxieties in Finland and the rest of Europe following the Chernobyl disaster.

In classic European coming-of-age style, Light Light Light kicks off when a new girl moves to town. Mariia has a pretty stable life, friends and despite this being the 80’s, she basically has a podcast. Mariia records her thoughts about life but especially about the Chernobyl disaster and the effects of it for an unknown audience. The new girl is Mimi. Unpopular and with an unstable home life, Mimi basically coerces Mariia into pretending to be her friend so she can introduce her to Mimi’s grandmother, the only member of her family Mimi likes. But from this false beginning, a genuine connection develops. Wordlessly, Mima and Mariia seem to be on the same page. Their romance develops naturally and swings between the innocence of girlhood and the awareness of adult anxieties.

One of many great decisions Light Light Light makes is that this 80’s narrative is intercut with a modern day one. In the present, Mariia comes back to the town to care for her mother. The difference in how the present day and the flashbacks are shot is striking. It’s basically a given that coming-of-age movies will exaggerate their visuals and style to evoke the sun-dappled nostalgia of youth. And it’s almost always pretty and effective. But to contrast those scenes with the much chillier, more naturalistic visuals of Mariia as an adult? The contrast between the two time periods makes both period’s visual choices stand out all the more. Plus, these future-set scenes allow for direct reflection from adults about these small but meaningful moments in the past.

Light Light Light’s great creative choices elevate the film above many of the European coming-of-age films that came before. The beautiful visuals are almost a given for this subgenre. Light Light Light also uses sound really effectively. There’s a Hans Zimmer-esque tonal score which moments of teen drama feel like a scene from Oppenheimer. Somehow, even the focus on the Chernobyl disaster genuinely works as background for this teenage love story. There’s something deeply profound watching these girls spend their “date” doing imaginative play about how they’re a Chernobyl cleaning crew and they can fix the problem with their love but not without iodine pills too. The use of a large-scale international disaster helps pin the story as existing on the cusp of childhood and adulthood. Mimi and especially Mariia are very aware of the event. And their responses to it range from childish to mature.

Even in this period piece, European coming-of-age films have still taken a turn. There continues to not be a place for the apolitical quiet romances of the 2010s. This isn’t the 1980’s of Call Me By Your Name, which happened in some pocket universe of never-ending summer without nuclear threat and before AIDS. Instead, such coming-of-age films now seem to almost have a requirement that they speak on how global events can affect even small, isolated relationships and how much world anxieties shape the experiences of the youth. Light Light Light is a great example of this new wave of such films. Even in the deliberate choice to have the story take place in the past, teenage years are no longer carefree and full of potential. They’re full of anxiety for the world of tomorrow and even the world of today.

Overall rating: 7.9/10

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