Introverted 16-year-old Lucia (Jara Sofija Ostan) joins her Catholic school's all-girls choir, where she befriends Ana-Maria (Mina Švajger), a popular and flirty third-year student. But when the choir travels to a countryside convent for a weekend of intensive rehearsals, Lucia’s interest in a dark-eyed restoration worker tests her friendship with Ana-Maria and the other girls. As she navigates unfamiliar surroundings and her budding sexuality, Lucia begins to question her beliefs and values, disrupting the harmony within the choir.

The Garden Cinema View:

Coming of age within the cloistered convent walls is not exactly new territory for cinema, but never has the relationship between sexual awakening and religious pressure been explored with such lightness and naturalism as in this debut feature. Driven by a captivating central performance from Jara Sofija Ostan as 16-year-old Lucija, Little Trouble Girls swaps the usual nun-fun histrionics of shame and punishment for something much looser and (relatively) unburdened by guilt. The trade-off is a lack of narrative heft, and the film rides on febrile waves of confusing attraction, rather than any particular conflict. A slight, short, but impactful watch.  

Cast:
Jara Sofija Ostan, Mina Švajger, Saša Tabaković, Nataša Burger, Staša Popović