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Review

Burgeoning baby-faced dyke Iska, scheming tart Karolína and rotund, razor-tongued Vendula are all inseparable members of the same exclusive tribe. But after recent rejections from college, fears of dreadfully humdrum adulthood burst their idyllic bubble and have them thumbing a lift towards freedom. On a road trip that will teach the trio more than they can bear to learn, the troubled and hormonal teens’ true colors emerge as they drink and smoke themselves into a state of hyper-vulnerability. Consequently, Iska’s tissue-thin veneer is obliterated, and the desperate newbie lesbian can no longer restrain the urges that will further threaten their once unshakable bond. Though fragile and terrified, she sheds her inhibitions and professes her love for the come-hither-eyed Karolína. Finding them out, Vendula is shocked, appalled and just a little offended that she wasn’t singled out for girl love and unleashes her caustic brand of sarcasm on them both. Dazed and confused, the threesome question if their friendship can survive these growing pains. Intelligently brazen and wildly kinetic, this Czech drama goes where most Hollywood teen fare dares not tread. In its explicit rendering of budding sexuality and Sapphic self-discovery, Dolls is an emotionally high-strung story about finding oneself during the volatility of late adolescence. (Czech with English subtitles)

 -- Lissette Villanueva