The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, 1999)
If you can't act, direct! At least, that's how Sofia Coppola's foray into the world behind the lens was widely greeted by critics before the release of The Virgin Suicides. A week later, the silence where there had once been jeers was deafening.
The Virgin Suicides is one of those rare birds like Psycho; a relatively badly-received book is turned into a movie that made a whole lot of ten-best lists. Every major performance in this movie is wonderful. Kathleen Turner let herself go to hell for this role (presaging Ellen Burstyn's academy award-worthy performance in Requiem for a Dream, perhaps?), James Woods is the very epitome of a math teacher, the hormone-laden neighborhood boys are-- well, teenage boys are teenage boys, I guess.
Like most coming-of-age films, while watching this I found myself making comparisons to the godfather of modern coming-of-age films, Birdy. Like that film, The Virgin Suicides takes a cast of relative unknowns for its stars, surrounds them with minor characters with much bigger names (Woods, Turner, Danny DeVito, Michael Pare, etc.), and just lets them come of age. There's a plot, of course, but the theme is allowed to be derived by the actors simply existing. And despite the title of the film and the main plot point (which involves the second-youngest sister, Lux-- and who names their kid Lux, anyway?-- being romanced by Cracker alum Josh Hartnett), this is a movie about four teenage boys and how they see the world. I found myself smiling many, many times at how well Coppola captured the essence of being thirteen and male (and wasn't half as embarrassed at any time during this movie as I was at Matthew Modine on prom night in Birdy, thankfully).
It's a good, solid film, but it never really rises to the level of greatness. But give Sofia Coppola some time; after all, Francis directed some real bombers before lucking onto Roger Corman and teaming up for the classic Dementia 13. This is a young director who's going places. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the younger, less-known names in the cast followed her to the heights, either. ***
If you can't act, direct! At least, that's how Sofia Coppola's foray into the world behind the lens was widely greeted by critics before the release of The Virgin Suicides. A week later, the silence where there had once been jeers was deafening.
The Virgin Suicides is one of those rare birds like Psycho; a relatively badly-received book is turned into a movie that made a whole lot of ten-best lists. Every major performance in this movie is wonderful. Kathleen Turner let herself go to hell for this role (presaging Ellen Burstyn's academy award-worthy performance in Requiem for a Dream, perhaps?), James Woods is the very epitome of a math teacher, the hormone-laden neighborhood boys are-- well, teenage boys are teenage boys, I guess.
Like most coming-of-age films, while watching this I found myself making comparisons to the godfather of modern coming-of-age films, Birdy. Like that film, The Virgin Suicides takes a cast of relative unknowns for its stars, surrounds them with minor characters with much bigger names (Woods, Turner, Danny DeVito, Michael Pare, etc.), and just lets them come of age. There's a plot, of course, but the theme is allowed to be derived by the actors simply existing. And despite the title of the film and the main plot point (which involves the second-youngest sister, Lux-- and who names their kid Lux, anyway?-- being romanced by Cracker alum Josh Hartnett), this is a movie about four teenage boys and how they see the world. I found myself smiling many, many times at how well Coppola captured the essence of being thirteen and male (and wasn't half as embarrassed at any time during this movie as I was at Matthew Modine on prom night in Birdy, thankfully).
It's a good, solid film, but it never really rises to the level of greatness. But give Sofia Coppola some time; after all, Francis directed some real bombers before lucking onto Roger Corman and teaming up for the classic Dementia 13. This is a young director who's going places. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the younger, less-known names in the cast followed her to the heights, either. ***