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The Virgin Suicides

The Virgin Suicides

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Delicate and moving. An overlooked classic
Review: If the last 10 years should be remembered for anything, then the amount of truly great films released should be high on the list and this film ranks with the best of them. Yet almost none of my friends had seen it before I recommended it to them.

Told from the perspective of the neighbourhood boys, who by the time they are telling their story have grown to adulthood, the film tells the story of the five Lisbon sisters and has the haunting atmosphere of memories which are simultaneously joyous and painful. This is aided by vaguely defuse lighting and very slight blurring of the image, which for other films would be a disaster, but here is an integral part of the story.

The cast are universally strong, with stand out performances from Kathleen Turner as the mother who refuses to allow her children to grow up, James Woods as her reticent almost hen pecked husband, Josh Hartnett as the shallow school jock Tripp Fontaine, with Michael Pare as the same character after the years and the hard living have caught up with him and Hanna R Hall as the youngest sister Cecilia who in her scenes with Danny Devito's Psychiatrist portrays adolescent depression and irony with a grace that can't help but bring a smile of recognition to your face,

But it's Kirsten Dunst who's performance as the second youngest sister, Lux which is the greatest treasure. Her role is perhaps the most difficult and demanding in the whole film combining girlish innocence with vampish eroticism and a deep sense of confusion underlying it all. Most child actors remain just that, Children, precocious ness fails to translate into mature talent. Happily there are exceptions (Roddy Mc Dowell and Elizabeth Taylor spring to mind) and this is one. Kirsten Dunst's early promise shown in "Interview with the Vampire" has been comprehensively built on. Based on her magnificent performance here, who knows how great she could eventually be.

The soundtrack combines original material by the French group Air with real 70's classics by ELO, Styx, The Hollies and others that EVERYONE was listening to in the 70's but no one will admit to liking now, but secretly love to hear again.

Sofia Coppola may not have been a top-drawer actress, but based on the evidence of this film she may just be a truly gifted director. Permeated with a tragic sense of loss wafting through the film like the smell in the drawing rooms, Virgin Suicides gives you a window on the meteoric highs and lows of youth, it's almost like a still picture of that all too brief time in everyone's life where the world opens up for the first time making anything seem possible and the sights, sounds, flavours, feelings and personalities around you are more intense than they ever were before or ever will be again.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Don't overlook this great little film.
Review: The Suicide Virgins is one of those fantastic, little seen films. It masterfully combines visual and music elements into magnificent coming-of-age (of sorts) film that shouldn't be missed.

Sofia Coppola's directorial debut shows great promise for the daughter of the great director with the same last name. She weaves her story splendidly around five religiously repressed teenage girls and the boys who were driven crazy by their beauty. Useing music and minor camera tricks to convey the intense emotion behind the turbulent teenage years, she shows how five girls' suicides forever changed the world of these boys. And Coppola knows how to direct her actors as well. The excellent ensemble cast, including James Woods, Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnet, all give solid performances. Kathleen Turner especially shines as the girls' overly religious mother who forbids any potentially sinful social situations.

Towards the end of the film, there is one particularly magical scene after the girls are no longer allowed to leave the home, and they reach out from their prison to the boys next door by calling them up and playing music over the phone. In a fantastic montage, we watch as they perform this emotional support back and forth. No words, just music to express their feelings. It's one of those scenes that sticks with you long after you've seen the film.

The Virgin Suicides is a film I can't recommend highly enough. It's only made on a small scale, but it's lessons are those of a lifetime.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Dark, sensitive, and artistic
Review: For viewers who enjoy in-depth character studies, and all the subtleties of a carefully-crafted film in a dark genre, "The Virgin Suicides" is just the movie to see. It is similar in pace, dark humor and general 'spookiness' to the film "American Beauty" and "Poison Ivy", and shares the same subjects of teen years and the complicated family structure. No fast-paced action: no robbers, cops, cowboys or indians, and definitely not a "feel-good" movie with a happy ending. Nevertheless, a marvelous film!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Narration Beyond Words
Review: I believe the key to this film lies in its subtlety. It does not feed you the story detail by detail; the movie opens a window into the lives (and deaths) of the Lisbon sisters. It is not a fast paced movie; it's not supposed to be. Growing up is a painfully slow process, and being trapped in time by an ununderstanding mother only inhibits it more. The cinematography and narration are what makes this movie, more than anythign else. The choice of colors and the tone of the narrator really highlights the underlying sadness and meaning of this film. The narrator's words are incredible, and if you appreciate good language, watch this movie for that, if for nothing else. Although you may not like or understand the story, it is extremely well told and beautifully done.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: TERRIBLE!!!!
Review: This is one of the worst films ever created. There was no point. You sat there waiting for something to happen, and it didn't. Everthing happened within the last five minutes. The movie was about depressed girls, and obessive boys. Once the first girl dies (which happens within the first ten minutes) the movie drags until the last five minutes when it still isn't any good. There is truly no point to watching this movie. I cannot stress my my opinion enough that nobody should should waste their time sitting through this movie.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: what was that......
Review: teen stress and suicidal tendencies never make for good cinema. the lisbon girls seem lost throughout the whole movie as does sofia, daughter of francis ford, coppola. Josh harnet is a moron that doesnt help the film. i loved kirsten dunst, as i always do, but she played a character that was a free love teen with a painful period, a washed out combo (mermaids, romeo and juliet,girl interrupted, boys dont cry ect..) after about half way it got reaaly slow and boring. in the end you dont know why these nymphs of nature commit a group suicide. good title but thats about all thats good in this dull wannabe indy art film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: dude read and understand
Review: some people are saying that they dont like this movie because they didnt get it... its not about getting. thats what the whole movie is about! they never do tell you the whole story because the boys narrorating it dont know the whole story about the lisbon girls.

i just finished watching this movie right now and they tell you at the very end! they tell you straight out that they collected everything of the girls and they tried to tell them that they loved them but they didnt listen. and even though they knew a lot more about them than everyone else did, it was a mystery to them why they killed themselves. and, of course, as you know... they are narrorating this story like 30 years later so its more confusing to them now than before! so you have to make your own assumption why the girls killed themselves.

the movie is so close related to the book.. then again the writer directed the movie buts thats not the point! i still think the book is better though and when you do get the chance, i suggest you read it. its well worth your time. it doesnt take that long to read either so just take a saturday off or something and get it from the library and if you're like me you should finish it in about 2 hours WITH distractions.

if you think about it, the father wasnt the strict one; the mother was. and knowing this first handedly, they probably killed themselves to get away from the parents. they couldnt sneak out of the house because that would only make things worst for them when they did return. after a while they just stopped caring so sneaking out wasnt even a thing in their minds. thats what i think drove them to commit suicide in the end. that they didnt care anymore and decided to make the parents feel bad.

you know what?! im talking nonsence arent i??? whatever i stated my opinion.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Awful
Review: This movie was horrible. It had a stupid plot, and was not even worth watching. In fact, I stopped it and never watched the end, because it was so worthless. Do not even bother w/ this because it's a time-waster.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: What do over-protective parents lead to?
Review: That was my first question after watching this movie, but I don't think it was the main focus for the movie. Even though the movie starred two well-known actors, James Woods and Kathleen Turner, the focus did not lie with them but with the daughters. Just as the boys of the neighborhood are bewildered by the enigma of these daughters across the street, you may find yourself just as bewildered after the film has concluded.

Although there are a few sisters, the bulk of the story is on the sister played by Kirsten Dunst. This is more than a film about teen angst. Plenty of incidents through the movie suggest it, but I believe the parallel lies between the sisters and the tree they try to save.

Even secluded, the sisters are still somehow connected with the boys of the neighborhood and the neighborhood itself.

This a very moody and difficult film, but I would recommend watching it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Kristen Dunst to save the day!
Review: The plot is kinda weird for this movie and the acting is sublime but if your a kristen dunst fan, u will like this movie as she is at ur best again. I like her in spiderman, she is a looker. What so good about watching a rehersed movie on sister's committing suicide. Maybe it just me but i find it a lil long in the tooth. I lost interested at different parts of the movie and wondering if it will pick up. Yes it did pick up near the end but it's a mere afterthought now. Enjoy!


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