Dating Amber

2020 “People are all over Oasis, but fuck them, it’s all about Bikini Kill! Kathleen Hanna is proper Punk!” A Bikini Kill name drop in the first 15 minutes? Count me in! “Dating Amber” is one of the best films I’ve seen in a while. It’s about Amber and Eddie, two teens living in 1995 Ireland, who both are queer, but pretend to be in a relationship with each other in order to stop bullying and speculation about their sexuality. It’s about friendship, figuring out ones identity, coming to terms with your own sexuality and accepting a life that makes you happy. It’s absolutely bittersweet. There is some fantastic humor and I had a huge smile on my face for a long time. It’s super heartwarming, but also quite sad and moving. The film really gets it’s characters and their flaws. It can get a bit frustrating toward the end regarding Eddie, but I think that made it all the more endearing and also realistic. Also, there are a lot of awkward moments that that can be expected regarding the films premise and I loved every second of that too. Lola Petticrew and Fionn O’Shea are fucking phenomenal in the two lead roles. They convey so much emotion and got me incredibly invested in both of their characters. Loved how much emotion you can read in their eyes. Really loved both of them so, so much. The soundtrack is great too and I really loved how both David Freyne’s writing and direction handle themes and characters and the dialogues are super sweet. There is a really weird moment with a christian sex-ed video too and an absolutely beautiful scene in a gay bar. Honestly, it’s full of great moments! “Dating Amber” is an angsty and hopeful film with beautiful characters. It’s heartfelt and heartwarming, hilarious and heavy and luckily avoids some of the traps a film of this kind could have stepped in. I seriously loved this film so much and it really moved me.