Alma is a 15-year-old sex addict. The Norwegian movie “Turn Me On, G – – – – – – – -“ — unreeling at the Tribeca Film Festival — opens with the high school student talking with Stig at the Wild Wet Dreams phone-sex service. She hangs up quickly when her mother, who works at a turnip plant, arrives home.
Sex isn’t Alma’s only vice. She guzzles beer, smokes weed and steals. Mom flips out when the phone bill comes in. When she asks Alma (an excellent Helene Bergsholm) why she’s a frequent phone-sex customer, she answers without hesitation, “Because I’m horny!”
At a party, school stud Artur (Matias Myren) exposes himself to Alma. But her schoolmates don’t believe the girl when she tells them about the incident, ostracizing her as “a lying pervo.” No wonder she flees her hick town for the big city, Oslo.
Despite the movie’s subject, the director, Jannicke Systad Jacobsen, avoids exploitation. She uses sweet, deadpan humor to take the sting out of the sexual frankness.
Another oddball film at Tribeca is “Artificial Paradises,” from Mexican director Yulene Olaizola. Set at a fading beach resort, it tells of the unlikely platonic friendship between a geezer pothead, Salomon, and Luisa, a younger female tourist hooked on heroin.
If you’re looking for action, look elsewhere. Olaizola’s idea of excitement is a cow staring into the camera.
“My approach was to create a documentary, contemplative style, where the story line is not the most important thing,” Olaizola tells indieWIRE. “The most significant elements are the atmosphere of the film, the daily aspects of the character’s life and how time flows.”
The cast is made up of nonprofessionals, except for Luisa Pardo, as the addicted woman.
Tribeca runs through Saturday. Details:
tribecafilm.com
* For a Norwegian coming-of-age movie of a different stripe, there’s “The Liverpool Goalie,” part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s showcase of films from that country running Wednesday through May 3 at the Walter Reade.
There’s no overt sex in the story of Jo — a bullied 13-year-old — although he does find his hormones raging when he’s near schoolmate Mari.
In all, 11 features (old and new) plus a program of shorts and another of experimental works are on the schedule. Details: filmlinc.com
* The Museum of Modern Art, meanwhile, is hosting its 32nd-annual jamboree of new flicks from Germany (Wednesday through May 2). The opening-night selection is “Drei (Three)” by Tom Tykwer, who gave us “Run Lola Run” in 1998.
His new one is about longtime couple Hanna and Simon, each of whom becomes involved with the same man. Details: moma.org
V.A. Musetto is film editor of The Post; vam@nypost.com