Get the latest gossip

‘We Were Dangerous’ Review: Teenage Girls Rebel In A ’50s-Set Coming-Of-Age Story – SXSW

‘We Were Dangerous’ review: Teenage girls rebel in a ’50s-set coming-of-age story from New Zealand.

We Were Dangerous begins so strongly and so confidently that it promises to take a grim but familiar period movie trope — the victimization of vulnerable young women in an authoritarian, male-dominated, post-war Christian world — and turn it inside out, mining it for deadpan, absurdist comedy instead of political outrage and focusing on the unexpectedly deep and moving friendships that can be made even in the darkest of situations. By the end, the director’s experience as an actor and theatre maker is probably what shines through the strongest here, since the casting carries it to the finish line even if the story itself doesn’t quite have the legs — the chemistry between Te Waita, James, Hall, and Morris is the motor here. Title: We Were Dangerous Festival: SXSW(Narrative Feature Competition) Director: Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu Screenwriter: Maddie Dai Cast: Rima Te Wiata, Erana James, Nathalie Morris, Manaia Hall Sales agent: WME Running time: 1 hr 22 min

Get the Android app