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Movies / Upcoming / Lilya 4-Ever
Lilya 4-Ever

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Lilya 4-Ever (2003)

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Reviews Counted:65

Fresh:56

Rotten:9

Average Rating:7.5/10

Consensus: A tragic, hard-hitting story about a teenager trapped in a life of prostitution.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Apr 18, 2003 Limited

Synopsis: From the first devastating moments of LILYA 4-EVER, as the cherubic 16-year-old protagonist (Oksana Akinshina) staggers, broken and beaten to a pulp, down the sidewalk of a bleak and unidentifiable... From the first devastating moments of LILYA 4-EVER, as the cherubic 16-year-old protagonist (Oksana Akinshina) staggers, broken and beaten to a pulp, down the sidewalk of a bleak and unidentifiable urban prison and the hardcore theme song from Rammstein rips into "Mein Herz Brennt" ("My Heart Burns"); until its last brutal moments, the movie never relents in portraying the darkest side of teenage life in the former Soviet Union. From writer-director Lukas Moodysson (TOGETHER), the film begins in a tiny unnamed town where Lilya lives with her mother, who is leaving for America with her new boyfriend. So desperate are the poor and angry people in this dilapidated gray city that they idolize Lilya for her luck in finding a way to escape. However, when Lilya's mom burns rubber in her daughter's face, leaving Lilya literally stripped and penniless, shivering in horror on her knees in a mud puddle, it's clear that Lilya's not going anywhere but downhill, fast. Abandoned and living in a disgusting flat with only her abused 11-year-old friend Volodya (Artiom Bogucharskij) to care for her, Lilya passes her days sniffing glue, listening to techno, and starving. Soon hunger drives her to prostitution, which is a gateway to variously horrific forms of rape and violence. When hope arrives in the form of Andrei (Pavel Ponomaryov), a businessman from Sweden who promises to take Lilya away, the film gains momentum for the descent into its terrible conclusion. A powerful film in which both Lilya's strength of spirit and her naivete allow for all the world's cruelty to grab hold of her and shake her about, LILYA 4-EVER will not easily be forgotten by its viewers. [More]

Starring: Oksana Akinshina, Artiom Bogucharski, Elina Benenson, Liliya Shinkaryova

Starring: Oksana Akinshina, Artiom Bogucharski, Elina Benenson, Liliya Shinkaryova, Pavel Ponomaryov

Director: Lukas Moodysson

Director: Lukas Moodysson
Screenwriter: Lukas Moodysson
Producer: Lars Jonsson
Studio: Newmarket Films

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for Lilya 4-Ever

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So seamless and relentlessly powerful that the social-realism of not just this film, but the genre itself, is pushed to its limit. Acting and action that rips so deeply, you'll feel you've got to do more than simply watch.

Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | comment Comment
02/26/09
Brian Gibson
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
12/30/06
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Lilya 4-Ever gives us a glorious, heart-wrenching debut performance in the lead, as auspicious as any in the history of cinema.

Full Review Source: Perihelion Journal | comment Comment
08/27/06
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Perihelion Journal
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It is undeniable that Moodysson's work has a raw emotional power that transcends most of the film's flaws.

Full Review Source: european-films.net | comment Comment
02/24/05
Boyd van Hoeij
Boyd van Hoeij
european-films.net

You'll see superb acting by two teens.

Full Review Source: Charlotte Observer | comment Comment
11/14/03
Lawrence Toppman
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer

Absorbing without being particularly illuminating.

Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
11/11/03
Matt Brunson
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing

The film cuts like a knife as a critique of a disordered planet, with ever more twisted notions of consumerism and flesh as commodity

Full Review Source: Long Island Press | comment Comment
09/16/03
Prairie Miller
Prairie Miller
Long Island Press
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
08/15/03
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
08/09/03
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Moodysson] dives into the soul of a 16-year-old Estonian girl and tears you apart.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
07/25/03
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Why pay eight bucks to see this horrifying and sad film about the sort of girl you'd pass on the street without giving her a thought? Because, improbably, it says that life is worth living.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
07/22/03
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
07/19/03
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Worth every uncomfortable minute.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
07/17/03
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
07/08/03
Guardian [UK]
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Maybe the movie sounds like a drab and worthy slog through misery, but it's alive, it feels true, and it got to me.

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
07/06/03
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic

A wrenching feel-bad movie graced by a luminous central performance.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
06/27/03
Steve Murray
Steve Murray
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's Moodysson's dark sense of humour to make [Lilya's] heaven the hell of merely poverty and insurmountable ennui.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
06/25/03
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central
 
 
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