Young and Wild

Young and Wild is not a perfect film. I certainly have mixed opinions on it. But for all its faults, one I am certain of is that this film would have been 50 times worse had it not been directed by a woman.

Young and Wild is a semi-autobiographical film. The lead character is teenage Daniela who runs a blog by that title. On her blog, she talks openly about her many sexual experiences. Daniela’s sexual nature is very much at odds with her Christian evangelical upbringing and schooling. One month before sitting college placement exams, Daniela’s schools expels her for fornicating with another student. Daniela’s mother then sends her to works as a gofer at the evangelical television station. Here, Daniela meets Thomas and Antonia. She begins seeing Thomas. However, his refusal to sleep with her is an issue for Daniela. Eventually, she convinces him and they begin having regular sex. After a period of friendship, her and Antonia begin having sex. Daniela feels torn not only between her two lovers but between her views on sexuality and that of her church.

The reason I am so thankful for Young and Wild’s female director is how much the film deals with explicit teen sexuality. There are many movies about a young girl’s sexual awakening directed by men. I tend not to be a fan of these movies. Those movies often lack a level of depth. They also generally exploit the visuals of a young woman being nude or sexual far more than I am comfortable with. Even Young and Wild walks the fine line of being an honest depiction of teen sexuality and being exploitative. But at least the focus here is how Daniela feels about sex as opposed to just showing visuals of a teenage girl having sex and calling it an art film.

It is frustrating that the film doesn’t really critique Daniela’s sexual behaviour. The film frames sexuality as the antithesis to evangelical religion. Because the film intends to be so critical of evangelical religion, it does not critique sexuality. Daniela’s mother is always portrayed as disapproving of her daughter’s fornication only for religious reasons. There was absolutely a place here to write that the mother was also concerned about her daughter’s safety. But that’s not the focus. This means our young protagonist engages in exploitative, potentially risky or regrettable sexual situations without consequence. Positively or negatively, Daniela doesn’t really learn anything from her sexual encounters. This makes said sexual encounters feel flat and repetitive. It also makes the movie feel shallow as the possible regrets of teen sexuality is never delved into. Instead, Young and Wild holds the pretty simple thesis that sex good, religion bad.

Writer/director Marialy Rivas adds some cool visuals and creates a very youthful feeling movie with Young and Wild. That it is a semi-autobigraphical film also helps add some depth and negate the worst aspects of teen sexual awakening films. However, the film does still falter in its lack of nuance. There’s a lack of depth that the film is missing. Still, I maintain this film would have been so, so much worse with a male director.

Overall rating: 6.2/10

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