Melissa P. (2005)

Thanks for the memories!

Excellent but underrated film

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Melissa P. This was a fantastic piece of writing, it went from sweet to wild to gruesome to anti-climax, to don't let it end like this, OK this is the end, no now this is the end, to All right this is the end, to finally somehow when all the pieces fit together the third act went from evidently ending at that low point for the protagonist and that's all right, because it was built like this, but then swoop, she is swept away and we think an angel saved this poor devil girl to a few more scenes which left the protagonist in a nice safe place with possibility for true love. The writing is incredible, I love the makeshift ablution scene that seemed like a sterling anti-climax for sure! haha, but no, we are saved, it was a wonderful tale, yes bad things happen but sometimes so can good things, just a wonderful piece of film-making, I guess this is based on memoirs but I'm upon the little fissures here and there wrought his special magic to really sharpen the narrative, just stunning, striking! 'Oh Melissa, you're in my dreams, you're with me every day, Oh Melissa, could that really be your voice I hear? Too soon for you and I the priest took your sacrifice and sent you to the other side!' Mercyful Fate, lol

All too often a young girl's first sexual experience is not pleasant. Girls have love in their hearts and want desperately to be liked. Boys, on the other hand, just want to get their rocks off.Melissa P. is a well-written, realistic depiction of what happens to a young girl - Melissa - as the result of her first sexual experience with an arrogant, self-centered young man who uses her as a receptacle. Angry and disillusioned, Melissa takes a destructive path. Well-done is Melissa's redemption (and payback): a symbolic "cleansing" as she falls backwards into the sea as her horrified peers gape.Melissa P. is not for viewers who are uncomfortable watching a teenage girl being treated like a sexual object. The scenes between Melissa and her "suitors" are realistic, but not graphic like an x-rated movie. Just remember, what happens to Melissa happens to too many young girls. And this is why I think this movie should be watched by parents and young teenage girls.If parents did their jobs - discussing sex with their daughters and telling them how and why some boys are pigs - there wouldn't be the Melissa's of the world. Or, if this movie was shown in sex ed classes - that ain't ever going to happen - young girls would know which boys to look out for, and avoid.As far as the cast, Maria Valverde's portrayal of Melissa is Oscar-worthy. Geraldine Chaplin always takes small parts and makes them memorable.

This movie is not for adults. It's about some high school kids, reflecting on their usual underdeveloped personalities and high levels of hormone. Unless you have some pedophile deep under, there's hardly anything an adult would relate to. So, kids will naturally be attracted to it, and therein lies the rub. The problem is this movie trivializes for an underage girl to give blow job instead of being kissed, have sex with someone she has not met before just to prove that she's "not a baby", agree to walk down into a cellar blindfold and have an orgy with 5 strangers, participate in sex fantasy of an adult man she's met in internet chat... horridly gullible, spoiled beyond all repairing, where you would expect her to commit suicide or something in the end. But no, she's alright, she accepts who she is and embraces it (yeah, every hormonally unstable 15 year old knows such things, right?.. hello?). Overall this movie shall morally make a septic effect on your kids, beware!

First-off, the only reason I'm writing this is because the 4.3 rating is almost impossible. I mean the direction and cinematography by itself will get this movie to a 6. No, I haven't read the book and I genuinely do not believe that the movie should be rated as per the adaptation from the book. The performances standing out are Melissa (of course) and her grandmother. The music and cinematography have a presence of their own throughout the movie. And the plot never gets boring or unrealistic, given a slightly open imagination. If you're aged anywhere between 15 and 35 I would highly recommend a viewing. The only reason I gave it an 8/10 is because we have movies like Fight Club and Animatrix.