Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story)

The spirit of Larry Clark's Kids, Gregg Araki's Doom Generation, and Catherine Hardwick's Thirteen weaves its way through Eva Husson's rutfest debut, a no-holes-barred depiction of a vacant teenage world bursting with sex and drugs but lacking in real emotion.

Headed up by rich kid Alex (Oldfield), a loose cabal of bong-puffing, coke-snorting bored kids indulge themselves in an orgy in Alex's empty mansion, which Alex and best friend Nikita (Fred Hotier) record to upload to a private site. Among them is pretty George (Lima) and virgin Laetitia (Broom) as loner Gabriel (Lefebvre), who fancies George something rotten, observes from outside the loop. George likes Alex, who is just a walking erection, but when he tries to bed Laetitia, George finds herself increasingly marginalised…

Husson isn't concerned with a driving narrative – there is no one clear protagonist as the story shifts from character to character, while the disintegration of George and Laetitia's friendship becomes less and less important as the story progresses – and prefers instead to live in the moment, with Mattias Hoelstrup's hazy cinematography lending the visuals a dreamy vibe. At times it comes across like a video for a 90s shoegazing band and Husson's handheld camera ensures we’re less the observer and more the participator: we are these kids.

Sex and drugs are very much to the fore but Husson garnishes the background with just enough detail to explain the kids' emotional malaise. Gabriel's detachment comes from his home life where dad has been paralysed in a recent accident while Alex's archaeologist mother is on a dig in Morocco for nine months, leaving him to roam their mansion alone; the most memorable character, Alex is Nat Wolff in Palo Alto, Leo Fitzpatrick in Kids: there's nothing at the heart of him and is ruled a boredom that's only alleviated by cruelty. George shines too: it’s unclear if she really loves Alex or just puts her self-worth in her ability to attract boys, but in having her steal hamsters from the school lab because "they’ll be safer" with her, there is a hint for a longing to connect with someone/thing. Laetitia's dad comes and goes too.

But then Husson has a change of heart and turns the viewer back into the adult, one who wags the finger and gives moralising sermons: These kids are not right and need to be taken in hand. A tryst with George is posted on YouTube and she's suddenly shocked when it's pointed out that she will be forever judged thus; STDs suddenly become rife and there's even a pregnancy thrown in. Gabriel is harangued by his father for lacking the soul of his protesting, street-fighting predecessors: "You just fight to f**k anything that moves."

Despite chickening out at the last minute and being unsure what exactly she wants to say, Bang Gang boasts a committed young cast who let it all hang out and Husson does enough to suggest this is the start of a promising career.