Critics' Say: Saskia Burmeister and Hating Alison Ashley
www.saskiaburmeister.info

Empire Magazine, March 2005
… Young star Saskia Burmeister is a revelation as Yurken … Her pouting, drama-queen teen is spot on, delivered with the kind of maturity that belies the fact that the actress has only just come through the dark tunnel of teen angst herself. For most viewers, she will fit their image of the book's Yuk like a glove. Beyond the hype over Delta's role, it's obvious that this was always meant to be Burmeister's film, and she owns it, stealing scene after scene from her famous co-star …

Review by C. Bruce
… The character of Erica would not have been so damn good had it not been for Saskia Burmeister, who is just such an impressive Erica. This movie really belongs to Burmeister and she deserves the highest praise for her ability to convey all the emotions of a teenager in crisis. Bravo Saskia.

Movie Review with Andy Gough
… Saskia Burmeister I think we are bound to see again! She has real energy and talent and it is her character we readily identify with as she provides the voice over narration throughout the film … this is yet another solid offering of great Australian film making. Good clean fun.

Saskia Burmeister takes to showbiz like an old pro, writes Des Partridge.
… The 20-year-old Burmeister bears little resemblance to the adolescent character she plays on screen – Erica Yurken, known to her rough and ready fellow students at Barringa East High School as Yuk. Goodrem is suitably glamorous in Hating Alison Ashley, while Burmeister's character isn't someone who'd attract a second look. But today she is well-groomed, sleek and attractive, comfortably posing for photographs with the poise and confidence of more experienced talent, despite this being the biggest role of her still-brief acting career …

4 1/2 stars of 5 - by Nicole Watt
… Saskia Burmeister however proved the standout performer. Her balancing act of teenage drama and comedy as the moody Erica was exceptional. So realistic was her portrayal of a teenager desperate for love and attention that she will no doubt strike a chord with film audiences both old and young …

Tweens love Alison Ashley, by Belinda Yench (The Blurb)
… The cast are very good. Saskia Burmeister and Alexander Capelli (as school bully Barry) are excellent in their first leading feature roles …

Empire Magazine, March 2005
… To give Delta too much attention … would be to take the spotlight off the film's real star, Saskia Burmeister. The young actress delivers the film's Alison-hater and professional teacher's pet, Erika Yurken, exactly the way fans of the book imagined her. Burmeister's performance shows that she is a major talent, and heir to the throne once held by fellow schooltext film star Pia Miranda …

The Age, 15 March 2005
… However, the show belongs to Burmeister (from the TV series Wicked Science). As the neurotic, assertive yet appealing Erica, constantly at odds with those around her, perpetually visiting the sick bay, feuding with family and exchanging barbs with the bad-boy school arsonist, she steals the show.

Sydney Morning Herald, 11 March 2005
… Burmeister might be playing the ugly stepsister role to Delta Goodrem's Cinderella in the movie, but she is every bit the star on the rise. The darkness and weight of the film comes from Burmeister's brooding efforts as Erica, a girl who develops a rich internal world to cope with the family she is embarrassed by, and the school she feels is beneath her … soon students everywhere will be intently studying Burmeister's screen version of Erika Yurken …

Yuk in Alison Ashley, The Australian, 16 March 2005
… says co-producer John Brousek of Burmeister: "When she smiles she lights up the screen. I think she is a star in the making." In Review this weekend, film critic Evan Williams praises Burmeister's warmth and sensitivity, saying that she is "at home with all those alarming adolescent shifts between sulkiness and elation." (Burmeister) has a bubbly enthusiasm for her craft and approaches the business of acting with a maturity that belies her years.

Review by Margaret Pomeranz, At the Movies, ABC
… This film has its charms, mainly in … young Saskia Burmeister, who's really impressive …

The Age, Metro, 17 March 2005
… But the film belongs to Erica, a difficult and engaging heroine, and Burmeister, with her Christina Ricci forehead and stubborn presence, brings her to life in all her fierce, combative, vulnerable glory.

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