It Felt Like Love is a 2013 independent drama film, the first feature film directed by Eliza Hittman.

Lila wants to emulate the sexual exploits of her more experienced best friend. She fixates on a tough older guy who will "sleep with anyone" and tries to insert herself into his world, putting herself in a dangerously vulnerable situation.

Really liked it
Author: yzzordorex sayar''u from United States
26 July 2014
Hittman''s beautifully composed sequences could function as still photographs. Not a good choice for a casual viewer looking for a "Spring Breakers" thrill, Hittman''s film puts a very fine point on the heavy, achingly quiet loneliness of adolescent girlhood.

Certainly not an experience shared by all, it will still resonate with some: fourteen year old Lila navigates Brooklyn neighborhoods both alone and with her best friend two years her senior, Chiara. In the sweaty late summer nights, she boasts untruths to her younger neighbor and frequently finds herself a third wheel with Chiara and her boyfriend. She chooses to focus her attention upon the older Sammy, a local college kid who grudgingly lets Lila insert herself into his hard-partying scene.

Ebert, in his review, compared the film to the oeuvre of Larry Clark and Harmony Korine: "Clark and Korine''s work, whatever their other virtues, often seem to take place in a universe of users and abusers that''s devoid of real love, indeed any possibility of anything but a fleeting connection. " It is an apt comparison. It isn''t obvious what Lila is looking for, and we as the audience aren''t sure if she got what she wanted, either.

Strong, Confident Debut From Brooklyn Filmmaker
Author: akeleman-1
11 August 2013
From the controlled, nuanced storytelling to the inventive camera work, Eliza Hittman''s ''It Felt Like Love'' is a quiet stunner, and a thoroughly confident first feature. It doesn''t hurt that Hittman found an incredibly gifted and fearless performer in the young lead, Gina Piersanti.

The story unravels with a deep maturity and rawness, as we follow Lila (Piersanti) through the murky waters of sexuality and adolescence during a hot Brooklyn summer. ''Love'' creates a fully realized portrait of a lost teenage girl discovering how wounding unrequited love can be. Seek this film out immediately!