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I like to watch teenage angst-ridden stories about
love and relationships because it is like a remembrance to my teenage
years when girls occupied most of my time. It is funny to note that
teenagers nowadays still suffer from the same romance-filled symptoms
as I did many years ago. Goes to show that love, no matter at what
age you experience it, is timeless.
The story of Gimme Gimme revolves around a group
of teenage youths, and talks about their problems with love. Skid
and Lobo are best mates. Skid fancies a girl called Pat from another
secondary school (high-school, to you Americans). At first, Pat
seems to like Skid, but Pat falls for Lobo when she sees him for
the first time. Call it love at first sight. This starts a friendship-damaging
situation for Skid and Lobo - with Pat right in the middle.
Meanwhile, their friend Soda, who had been two-
three-timing his steady girlfriend Suki, finds life difficult to
cope when Suki leaves him and emigrates to the States. The same
sort of situation applies to Ken and Mo. Ken has found it hard not
to be attracted to girls, but his wandering eyes and philandering
ways finally loses him Mo, and he regrets his past behaviour.
Last and not least is Fion, who has been in regular
contact with a guy over the phone. She feels that this guy is her
man, and even goes and get a tattoo with his name on it (unfortunately,
she spells it Calvin, when his name is Kelvin). But, for all her
love for this guy, he dumps her because he isn't ready for such
a commitment.
Within the three main story threads in Gimme Gimme,
I found the strongest one remains with Lobo, Skid and Pat. It is
by far the most interesting and the one that is worthy of attention.
The others were mostly fillers for the three main leads to interact
with, and doesn't really provide enough in-depth texture for us
to care about.
Gimme Gimme is excellently directed and well written,
and the makers have avoided the usual clichés and cringe-worthy
dialogue that plague many love stories. At times, it seems almost
like a documentary with the camera following in and out of these
kids' lives. The biggest enjoyment I got was seeing how believable
and real the characters behaved, and not at all contrived. I've
never seen any of these actors before, so this film was probably
their debut performance.
The plot isn't exactly original. Hell, how original
can you make a love story? Yet, Gimme Gimme provides enough tasty
morsels for us to enjoy throughout the feature. How many of you
skived off school because of love? How many of you became morose
and indifferent when someone you fancy went out with someone else?
How is it that everyone else can talk to your "girl", but you remain
tongue-tied?
I've experienced all of the above and more. So
it is a nice reminder that everyone else is experiencing the same
thing around the world, no matter what culture, what country. Love
does that to people.
Overall, Gimme Gimme is a nice straightforward
teenage love story that offers plenty for people like me who had
tragic (and happy) experiences with love.
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