Lila Says

Chimo's dusty, shabby Marseille suburb doesn't know what's hit it when Lila (Vahina Giocante) moves in. A bewitching, beautiful, blue-eyed blonde, she stands out like an Aryan angel in the predominantly Arab neighbourhood, and turns the heads of all the local boys. But the only one she seems to speak to is Chimo. Nineteen, and a talented writer, Chimo (Mohammed Khouas) has been offered the chance to go to a writing school in Paris. However, lacking in confidence, he chooses to stay in Shady Grove, where he'll "look like less of a loser if I stays here with the other losers." Lila, it soon becomes apparent, has a wild imagination and a one track mind. Sexy, sad, beautiful, the film touches on the racial tension between the Arabs and the 'French', and the frustrations of a community for whom unemployment is the norm. But mostly it's about Lila. Is she a slut? An angel? Just completely nuts? Chimo is enchanted. And so are we. [Cara McGuigan]