My Year Of Dicks

In 1991, then 15-year-old Pamela Ribon set out to lose her virginity. Now the story of her quest is in the running for Best Animated Short at the Oscars. It’s not something she expected, either back then or when the film was being made, and she has made no secret of her delight at the giggles which always follow its title being announced. On top of the language issue, there’s an air of confusion amongst some people as to why the scribblings of an awkward teenage girl are getting this kind of platform. One might easily turn that question around. Why have we heard voices like hers so little in the past? Why should they be valued any less than other people’s?

Perhaps the reality of a 15-year-old girl is too much for those who prefer the illusion. Our heroine is not some wide-eyed ingenue possessed of effortless style who turns heads wherever she goes. She’s as gauche and uncomfortable as many a 15-year-old boy, and finds it just as difficult to approach the people she really desires. It’s not difficult to find people who consider her adequate for casual sex, but this is suburban Houston, her social circles are rather limited, and she does have some standards. The film follows her ill-fated efforts to get intimate with a succession of boys, together with grim discoveries about what some boys, and men, actually think about sex and women. It’s dark in places, and messy, but that’s life. A sweet ending is probably every bit as true, but makes the film feel a little too formulaic.

Most of the animation is rotoscoping, based on live performances directed by Sara Gunnarsdóttir, with the exception of a section halfway through which is depicted in animé style and provides moments of joyous pastiche as long as you don’t get to wondering why Japan never gets the representation it deserves at the Oscars. The landscapes of the film do a pretty good job of recreating the kind of scuzzy locales in which suburban teenagers resort to hanging out. There are also scenes in a fairground which capture that hyper-romanticisation of certain places by young people desperate to pretend their lives are more satisfying than is really the case. Beyond this, however, the animation itself doesn’t have a great deal to contribute – but then again, it would likely be difficult to bring this story to the screen any other way.

Young men’s sexual coming-of-age makes up such a significant part of what reaches our screens that one really wants to cheer for this film just for turning the tables. It’s a solid enough piece of work, created with modest ambitions, and one hopes that it will herald more, but aside from its subject, it’s ultimately not all that remarkable.