How to Talk to Girls at Parties (2017)

June 13, 2018 12:20 PM

It's 1977 in the London suburb of Croydon. Young Enn and his punk-loving best friends stumble upon a bizarre gathering on the way to a party. Enn falls in love with a beautiful and mysterious stranger, who in turn is weirdly fascinated by him. Together, they embark on a delirious adventure through the kinetic, punk rock world of 1970s London that ends in a crazy and unusual showdown.

Directed by John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), based on a short story by the same name by Neil Gaiman. Stars Elle Fanning, Alex Sharp, Nicole Kidman, Ruth Wilson, and Matt Lucas.

posted by gemmy (4 comments total)

Showing in select cities, also available to stream on Amazon.
posted by gemmy at 12:22 PM on June 13, 2018

When I heard of this I could not imagine how they'd make it into a full length feature, but the approach the trailer seems to indicate seems like a good enough one (though I always read the short as a horror/thriller type and I don't get that at all from the trailer). Gaiman told someone on twitter recently that if they thought they liked the tone/feel of the trailer that they'd probably like the film.
posted by phearlez at 1:44 PM on June 13, 2018

I saw it on Amazon, primarily because I mostly like Neil Gaiman's stuff. They added quite a bit to it, but I hadn't read the short story for years so it didn't bother me much. I felt like it was true to to the tone of the original story.

I really enjoyed this movie for what it was. Maybe because I grew up in Europe around that time, and it reminded me very strongly of the aesthetic that came out of the UK in late 70s/early 80s, so it hit some nostalgia notes for me. It has some horror elements, and some frankly rather weird stuff in it, but I didn't think it detracted from what at heart is an odd romance. I also thought Elle Fanning and Alex Sharp were good, although I had a hard time seeing Nicole Kidman as anything but Kidman acting a Kidman role... I have a feeling you will either really like this movie, or you will hate it. The trailer does give a good indication of the tone of the movie, so I think what Neil said is probably likely.
posted by gemmy at 3:40 PM on June 13, 2018

Loved this insane movie! Was never going to be able to end in a way that was as fun as the whole movie but didn't ruin it.
posted by ellieBOA at 11:26 AM on June 22, 2018