Supernova

Story-wise, Supernova is an average film. There are lots of European coming-of-age films extremely similar to it. What makes Supernova a cut above these films is how damn beautiful it is to look at.

The lead character of Supernova is Meis, an introspective 15 year old. Meis lives in a small village and laments the lack of interesting things in her life. Her home life consists of her mother, her mother’s boyfriend and her non-verbal grandmother. Meis’ inner monologue is about 50% thoughts about space and cosmic destruction and 50% passages from her mother’s romance novel. Her pastimes include standing on things and thinking about life and having casual sex with a female friend of hers. Things get a little more interesting for Meis when an attractive young many literally crashes into her life.

Supernova is not very queer. It pretty much just meets my minimum criteria for this site. Meis is overtly obsessed with boys and having sex with one. Her sexual relationship with her friend, Sue is clearly casual to Meis at least. For Meis, she and Sue have the kind of relationship where you have sex and lie around topless afterwards while Meis talks abut how she wishes she could find both of them boyfriends. But Sue’s take on the relationship is different. Sue displays jealously later at the thought of Meis with boys and kisses her desperately. I guess it is interesting seeing the other side of this relationship. Usually when a relationship between two female friends is depicted, we follow the one with a desperate crush on the other. But Supernova it’s the other way around.

Based on other user reviews of I’ve seen, the main critique of the film is that it’s slow. And they’re right. There aren’t many plot points in this film. Most of the film is just Meis looking at things and being introspective. These sort of films have absolutely bored me in the past. But Supernova is different because it’s competent enough that I understand Meis’ point of view. The film successfully brought me into her world. More than this though, it’s that Meis’ view of the world is so damn beautiful that I’m happy to live in her head for a while.

The visuals are easily the best thing about Supernova. Above all, this is an absolutely gorgeous film to look at. Every shot seems clearly story boarded and carefully reviewed in post-production to give it the vibrant colours we see in the finished product. While the story in the film isn’t anything special, damn, Supernova is nice to look at. I genuinely wish I’d seen this in theatres because these images deserve to be seen on a big screen.

I am a little uncomfortable with the film’s portrayal of a 15 year old girl. Meis is highly sexualized in the film. There’s a shot of her jumping up and down in slow motion in a bra for no reason and multiple shots of her topless, for instance. Actress Gaite Jansen was in her 20’s when she played this role. So that makes it less exploitative but it also makes Meis an unbelievably mature and sexually confident character. Meis is universally desired by everyone not related to her in the film. Moreover, her mannerisms and the way she presents herself is that of someone very confident and sexually knowledgeable. Absolutely no 15 year old awkwardness or uncertainty to be found here! Just a beautiful, confident 24 year old actress and a camera that loves to look at her body.

Supernova is slow, meandering and doesn’t present the best depiction of a 15 year old’s sexuality. But damn, it’s just so nice to look at. Movies are a visual medium and Supernova certainly took advantage of that to create a final product that’s an absolute treat for the eyes. That’s why despite my other issues with the film, I’m giving Supernova a positive review. Maybe the story wasn’t great but it’s so damn pretty!

Overall rating: 6.5/10

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