Alex Sichel’s coming-of-age film, ALL OVER ME, is one of the plethora of earlyish LGBT films that focuses on the coming out experience, but it’s also one of the better ones. Allison Folland (so compelling in TO DIE FOR) plays Claude, a teenage girl living in Hell’s Kitchen, struggling with her awakening sexuality. She is in love with Ellen, a friend with whom she wants to start a punk band. Problem is, Ellen has a boyfriend, and they may of may not have been involve with the death of a gay musician and neighbor of Claude’s. The storyline focuses on Claude, in the throes of first love, doing everything she can to make Ellen understand how much she loves her without really saying it explicitly, while slowly realizing that Ellen is not the only person out there, and that there might be more suitable people to share her life with.
The tone is somber, and filled with the appropriate angst that any teen coming-of-age drama, especially one that involves homosexuality, should have. In addition to Folland, the film stars Tara Subkoff and Cole Hauser, who both went on to successful film careers. There aren’t a lot of U.S. gay films that I enjoy, and this is definitely one of them. I was disappointed to see that director Alex Sichel didn’t really have much more of a career in film after this. She clearly had talent, and I chalk it up o the challenge of making indie films focused on women.