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The Virgin Suicides

The Virgin Suicides

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Virgin Suicides
Review: Dark but extremely enjoyable. I rate this as one of the best movies out of the hundreds of movies that I purchase.If you were in high school in the 70's then the movie will be all the better. The music, Trip Fontaine and Lux are all familiar high school people that I remember. I've had a taste of Trip Fontaine which is why I cannot stop watching this film, at least once a week.Lux is what I would have always considered a 10.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: More Than a Chick-Flick
Review: This is a movie I probably would not have gone out of my way to see. It's a "chick-flick". Sure, "Virgin Suicides" sounds like a title that would interest a guy, but as soon as a guy would start reading the description, he'd know it isn't as titillating as one might think. And if my wife had picked it out, after reading the description, I'd know she would be in a funk for a few days, so it's not even a good date movie. Or so I first thought.

What changed my mind? A Levi's commercial.

In 2002 there was a Levi's commercial where a guy and a girl run from the police. They push their car in the water, and the guy jumps in to retrieve the French dictionary he forgot. The music in that commercial was haunting, and I wanted to find out more about it. It's "Playground Love" by Air, and is featured in this movie. In fact, the whole soundtrack is peppered with samples.

After I discovered that the song was in this movie, I searched the TV listings to see if it would be on soon. Low and behold, it was on that week! I was in an introspective mood, so I thought I'd watch it -- especially since there was nothing else of interest on that day.

I'm not going to fall over gushing like some of the critics have. It's not the greatest story ever told. The plot is a bit out-there, and the narration is a cheap way of telling a story. But it held my attention, and I spent the next two days thinking about various parts of the movie.

It's a sad movie, and it's a bit convoluted at times. But so is real life. The tragedy that befell the Lisbon sisters very much affected the lives of the boys. Like so many adults, this part of their past will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

I don't know if I want to watch the movie again, but I don't want to forget having watched it once. As convoluted as the plot was, I can't help thinking of how close so many of us may have come to a similar fate.

It took a jeans commercial to get me to watch, and this one is definately one to watch. Watch it on a quiet day, with no distrations. It may stay with you forever, too.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A POWERFUL DRAMA!!!
Review: THE VIRGIN SUICIDES IS A POWERFUL DRAMA ABOUT LOVE AND LUST AND GROWING UP AND MATURING AND FINDING A MEANING IN YOUR LIFE!!
THE MOVIE CONCERNS A GROUP OF FRIENDS RECALLING MOMENTS FROM THEIR LIVES WITH A BUNCH OF GIRLS, WHO NOW ARE DEAD.
THE GIRLS DISCUSSED WERE SISTERS AND EACH OF THEM LEFT BEHIND A STORY ALL THEIR OWN.
EACH INDIVIDUAL'S PERSONALITY IS DISCUSSED AND ALSO THE RELATIONSHIPS IN WHICH THE GUYS HAD WITH THEM!!
THE GIRLS HAVE AN OVERPROTECTIVE MOTHER AND FATHER AND CERTAIN EVENTS IN THE GIRLS' LIVES CAUSE THEM EACH TO COMMIT SUICIDE!!
THIS IS NOT A "SICK" MOVIE, NOR IS IT EXPLOITATIVE. IT IS SIMPLY GOOD DRAMA, WITH A TOUCH OF HUMOR THROWN IN!!!
IT IS NOT A HAPPY STORY, BUT IT IS VERY TOUCHING!!!
I'M SURE IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER WE CAN EACH RELATE TO ONE OR MORE OF THESE CHARACTERS IN OUR OWN LIVES!!!
STARRING JAMES WOODS AND KATHLEEN TURNER AS THE PARENTS AND KIRSTEN DUNN AS ONE OF THE FIVE GIRLS, THIS TURNS IN A GREAT 5 OUT OF 5 SCORE FROM ME!!
NOT TO MENTION, THIS MOVIE STARS THE VERY LOVELY AND TALENTED AJ COOK AS THE 16 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER, ANN!!!
I REALLY ENJOYED THIS. IT SPEAKS OF A VERY IMPORTANT SUBJECT AND IT HANDLES IT IN THE PROPER MANNER!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: exquisite portrait of a teenage sucide
Review: "Obviously doctor, you don't know what it's like to be a thirteen year old girl." With these words you can't help but be captured by this beautiful and tragic story of the sucides of the five Lisbon girls, as seen through the eyes of their neighbors, a group of boys who can't help but lust over the beautiful, blonde, and unattainable girls. We start off the movie with Cecelia's sucide attempt, and are introduced to the other members of the Lisbon family; her mother, a very religious fanatic who does not allow the girls to associate with boys and keeps them locked inside the house, their father who can't help but respect and support his wife's wishes for the girls, but along with it admits that he doesn't always want the girls locked away, the three other sisters of Cecelia, and the most interesting character, Lux, the second youngest daughter of the Lisbon family. Lux is played perfectly by Kristen Dunst, who steals the movie as the rebellious daughter who falls in love with the local hearthrob. The movie really shocks us however, after Cecelia's sucide, and the long cycle downwards begins when the girls are taken to the Homecoming Dance, Lux is abandoned by Trip after having sex with him, the girls are locked inside the house and their records are burned, and their rebellion against their mother through committing mass sucide. The movie captures perfectly in this small town story, the hopelessness and longing that every teenage girl has experienced, the wondering about life, sex, boys, the future, and the longing for someone to come and and make you feel special and accepted. Some of the movie's more beautiful moments are the montage of the different local reports commenting on the sucides, the shots of their house after the Lisbon parents give up and leave following the sucides, and finally the way in which it was told, through the eyes of the next doors boys, who trade stories and ideas about the objects of their affection. Although some complain that the other sisters don't get enough attention in the movie, and their characters are not deep enough, this is justified when you remember that the movie is told through the boys perspective, and the reason Lux is the one they focus on is because she is the one sister who tries the hardest to break out of their lifestyle before it's too late.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Pay Attention
Review: Many of these customer reviews seem to complain about one thing: the fact that the movie didn't explain WHY the Lisbon sisters decided to commit suicide. What they don't understand is... THAT'S THE POINT. This is not your typical movie where we get to see everything that happens. You have to understand that this story is being told from the point of view of men trying to piece together a story that happened 20 to 25 years in their past. First of all, when all of this was happenening, they were teenagers. Then, 25 years later, they are digging up old memories. As teenagers, they were too naive and blinded by lust to fully understand what could have possibly been happening to the Lisbon girls. Then, as adults, their memories were too shady to be able to go back and fully put the pieces together. Memories are like dreams: you get the overall picture, but no matter how much of it you eventually remember, there are always gaps. You are SUPPOSED to be left wondering. If you actually read the book, you'd know this. Trust me, the movie is great, but the book is phenominal. There's nothing like getting it in the author's own words and thinking a little.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A critics-generated debacle?
Review: This cinematic disaster zone may well be the product of the overzealous trashing instinct of movie critics. When Sophia Coppola played in THE GODFATHER PART III, critics just couldn't say enough to utterly dub her the dud of an otherwise outstanding cast. Actually I never saw her as particularly out of her league among that cast; she seemed to hold her own in an ensemble quite adequate if not necessarily outstanding. If only she could have gone on acting, we all might be better off today, whether her acting ended up Oscar quality or strictly B-movie. But possibly the critics' trashing pushed her career in other directions, and she ended up doing something truly awful -- she wrote the screenplay for this atrocity, the VIRGIN SUICIDES. It has a story unbelievable and ultimately unexplained. It is thus gratuitously and senselessly downbeat for a story really serving no purpose. It wastes acting talent without creating any really interesting characters. The five sisters in it esentially live just to die senselessly and meaninglessly. The audience can find their deaths sad but otherwise has no reason feel they met characters of any interest. And so here we have ground zero of the career of budding angel Kirsten Dunst. Before this she was the bright shining cameo in WAG THE DOG, was superb in DROP DEAD GORGEOUS, and didn't exactly languish in dullness in DICK. But since this present train wreck of a movie, she doesn't seem to rise above the lame megafluff level of BRING IT ON, GET OVER IT, and CRAZY/BEAUTIFUL. We might have had the chance to see both her and Sophia Coppola as actresses not to be sneezed at. As is, no use "waiting with bated breath" for one out of two.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Get A Life...? Please
Review: Did a reviewer make the point to tell we who liked this film to get a life? We're all doing the same thing here, writing an online review for a film. But the difference between us and you is that we can recognize a good movie.
See this movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Magnificent
Review: It was one of thos nights at the video store, you know, nothing new to watch, when I curiously picked up a copy of The Virgin Suicides. I took it home... and changed.

While many reviewers say it "lacked something" or was "shallow", I disagree, though they are entitled to their own opinions. But I find the "disconnectedness" of it to be it's strongest point - it seems you must watch the film through the eyes of your teenage self - being 16, this was not hard for me. ;) The film showcases how the adult world is so different from that of the next generation, how adults question and berate but the young can throw themselves heedlessly into anything, both feeling thoroughly and watching from the sidelines.

There is very little I can say besides what has already been said about the beauty and haunting quality of the film. It had been criticized because the boys in love with the sisters still reminisce on the girls even after they've grown up... all I can say is, frankly, if your "first love" and her 4 sisters all picked themselves off, you would probably not forget it, either.

I am glad the film does not reveal a specific motive behind the girls' deaths. The unidentified cause of their suicides makes it applicable to everyone - those who grieved over crushes and loves, those held in confinement by parents or religion, and any motive in between.

In the end, there is nothing to say that has not already been said in praise of this most excellent film. Only to reinforce the praise, and remind everyone that at one point they have surely been a "boy across the street", and every girl a Lisbon girl, to someone, somewhere.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Style over substance
Review: "The Virgin Suicides" will always receive misguided praise simply because it exudes "coolness" ie: 70's satire, French group and score composers Air, that upperclass malaise theme. It simultaneously appeals to arthouses who find ironic bemusement in Sofia Coppola's revival and teenybopper fans of Kirsten Dunst who want to feel more intellectual. Yet upon reflection, 'Suicide's' hype and exterior intrigue triumph over its warped non-message. Coppola tells a story about male angst without ever creating interesting male characters. Furthermore the characters who have the most screen time, the tantalizingly beautiful Lisbon sisters fail to develop as anything more than hazy sun-soaked 70's images of teenage beauty. With no discernible characters to invest our interest in, The Virgin Suicides becomes a vapid wasteful exercise in style struggling to compensate for the utter lack of substance. Fittingly, Mod Squad reject Giovanni Ribisi provides god-awful narration, representing the male conscious- replete with histrionically pubescent cracking voice.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Like dull films? Then this is for you...
Review: Having heard this was a good film through word of mouth, I hunted it down expecting good things. Unfortunately, this film did not deliver. From around 10 minutes in, I had to consistently fight the urge to hit the eject button on my remote control. In the end I persisted and watched the whole thing. I shouldn't have wasted my time. This film is excrutiatingly boring. Nothing happens. I'm not completely certain what the target audience for this film is, so maybe I'm missing the point. I have a feeling it's a bit of a "chick flick" (pardon the expression). Avoid at all costs...


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