Turn Me On, Goddammit! (2011)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Madman Propaganda x 4
Rating
Year Of Production	2011
Running Time	72:38 (Case: 76)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jannicke Systad Jacobsen
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Helene Bergsholm Malin Bjørhovde Beate Støfring Matias Myren Lars Nordtveit Listau Henriette Steenstrup Jon Bleiklie Devik Julia Bache-Wiig Julia Schacht Arthur Berning Hilde-Gunn Ommedal
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Ginge Anvik

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Norwegian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes, and joints
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Films about the sexual urges of male teens are not unusual and are often played for broad comedy such as the American Pie series. Norwegian film Turn Me On Goddammit! (Fa meg pa, for faen), from female writer / director Jannicke Systad Jacobsen, based on the novel by Olaug Nilssen, is different as it takes a gentle, humorous look at teen sexual urges from a female perspective.

     Fifteen year old Alma (Helene Bergsholm) lives with her single mother in a small nowhere rural town in Norway. When we first see Alma she lying on her kitchen floor masturbating to a phone sex line. She is also having sexual fantasies about Artur (Matias Myren), a boy at her school. With her best friend Saralou (Malin Bjorhovde) and Saralou’s sister Ingrid (Beate Stofring), Alma attends a party at the youth centre where Artur pokes his p**** into her side. Alma is happy and tells her friends, but Artur denies it. Ingrid, who fancies Artur herself, refuses to believe Alma and starts a campaign of derision against her at school. Alma is taunted with “Dick-Alma” and is ostracised by everyone except Saralou. Alma’s mother is no help; she is unhappy when she receives her phone bill including the huge charges Alma has run up on the sex line. Outcast and depressed, believing herself abnormal and not knowing where to turn, life becomes very difficult for Alma.

     Despite the subject matter, Turn Me On Goddammit! is a humorous, sweet film. It is low key and funny, avoids gross out humour, and writer / director Jannicke Systad Jacobsen, in her first feature, has got spot on natural performances from all the young cast, especially Helene Bergsholm, who is wonderful, and Malin Bjorhovde. Bjorhovde’s Saralou is the more cynical and outward-looking girl of the group, and she is commencing her own tentative relationship with odd boy out Kjartan (Lars Bleiklie Listau) which acts as a delicate counterbalance to the issues experienced by Alma.

     Turn Me On Goddammit! could be gross or confronting but instead it is a sweet coming of age story from a female perspective that is well-acted and has a positive ending that will make you smile. The film is different, funny and entertaining and is well worth a look.

Video

     Turn Me On, Goddammit! is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     This is a soft print. Detail is OK in close-ups but the print is very light with washed out pale colours except in a couple of interior scenes. I don’t remember any night scenes, it is Norway in summer after all, but blacks seem fine and shadow detail acceptable.

    English subtitles are in an easy to read yellow font and seemed to be timely. I did not notice any spelling or grammatical errors. Thankfully the subtitles did not remain on during the sections of English dialogue.

     A soft looking print but without other issues.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio is Norwegian Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps.

     Dialogue was always clear and centred. There were some music and effects, such as cars, in the front surrounds and ambient sound and music in the rears. I noticed no subwoofer use, except for a bit of bass with some pop music tracks, but in reality the film did not require anything more.

    Lip synchronisation was good.

     The original score by Ginge Anvik was low key and effective. It was augmented by a number of English and Norwegian language pop songs.

     Turn Me On, Goddammit! is a film without action or explosions. The audio track was perfectly adequate.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Theatrical Trailer (1:48)

Madman Propaganda

     Trailers for Your Sister’s Sister (2:26), A Royal Affair (1:56), Bernie (1:56) and Submarine (1:55).

     The Region 1 US release, there titled Turn Me On, Dammit! is NTSC and includes as extras 4 deleted scenes and a 9 minute interview, in English, with director Jannicke Systad Jacobsen. There is also a Region 2 Norwegian version, which is PAL and does include the deleted scenes but not the interview apparently, and a Region 2 UK version, extras not listed. The extras give the US version the edge.

     Turn Me On Goddammit! is a humorous, sweet film, low key and funny, that avoids gross out humour and takes a gentle, humorous look at teen sexual urges from a female perspective.

     The video and audio are acceptable, a trailer is the only relevant extra.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall