Review of “Toxic”: Tireless Lithuanian teen drama follows catwalk dreams in a concrete nightmare

The mean girls from your average Hollywood teen movie wouldn't last a morning in the unforgiving adolescent playground of Toxic, where economic exploitation and merciless body image norms rule perpetrators and their victims alike. Set in a Lithuanian industrial town where even the asphalt has seen better days, Saulė Bliuvaitė's impressively hard-boiled debut feature is uncompromising in its depiction of the punishment and self-torture endured by girls attending a seedy modeling academy – where the vague promise of escape into practically anything else is enough to motivate frightening extremes of eating disorders and body modification. Sobering but not without glimmers of tenderness and humor as female friendship takes root in a hopeless place, this Locarno competition entry can expect good festival success, with interest from edgier arthouse distributors.

“Toxic” promises something serious from the start, as 13-year-old Marija (Vesta Matulytė) stands alone, tense and shaking in her bathing suit…