Fun

Rating:
Summary: horrifying look into the minds of two young girls
Review: Hillary and Bonnie are two teenaged girls who meet and decide, just for the fun of it, they will kill an elderly woman. They don't even know this woman beforehand, they just select her to be their victim. The story is told in flashbacks from the juvenile detention hall where the two girls are held (separated from each other) and meet with a therapist/counselor Jane.

This story is reminiscent of "Heavenly Creatures", one of Kate Winslet's first films and based on a true story. I recommend both films, but warn the potential viewer that there are pretty gruesome scenes in both movies. So much for sugar and spice -- one wonders if these girls are anything other than pure evil ....

Rating:
Summary: A Few Words... Of Warning? Of Enthusiasm?
Review: I am both driven to warn people about this movie, and to be enthusiastic about it. Definetly not for the faint of heart, it is terribly disturbing. I watched the film with my best friend and we both kept staring at eachother in amazement, which could be a true sign of how masterful the piece is. Great characters and story line. If you think you can handle the psychological implications and chilling plot of this movie, then go for it!

Rating:
Summary: Not a great DVD, but the film is superb.
Review: I've been looking for this film on a good format for years. I even shelled out first-run prices for a rental VHS copy years ago, just to have a good copy for keeps. So I was very happy upon discovering this release of Fun on DVD.

My response to the DVD itself is mixed. Not much in bonus materials -- this is of course a by-product of how low-budget the production was. I had interviewed a key member above the line who said that this shoot was literally scrapped together, so it's a marvel the film came together at all.

Though director Rafal Zielinski is known mostly for trashy exploitation flicks (Screwballs, Jailbait), this was his moment of greatness. Much credit, however, should go to writer James Bosley. The screenplay was adapted from his stage play and the dramatic scenes and characters are so compelling that the film was already halfway there. The dialogue moves with a relentless forward momentum and there's never a boring moment with the characters' internal life. The vital central scene between tough-as-nails counsellor Jane (24's Leslie Hope, giving her career-best performance) and hyperactive teen Bonnie (a staggering performance by Alicia Witt) literally crackles with life and pathos.

Fun was rightly celebrated for its acting (two acting awards at Sundance Film Festival), for it's the four performances that hold this film together. Witt is a marvel, a whirlwind of energy that gives way to unexpected intensity and sorrow. Renee Humphrey gets the more conventional brooding role and does a fine job, but it is Witt's erratic, lovable, yet internally seething Bonnie which embodies the spirit of the film. She had brought many elements of herself to the role (Witt herself was the one who had learned to speak at the age of one month), and while that strays from the original play (where the character was far less precocious and much more of an everygirl), it works wonderfully in the context of the film. Hope has never been better, her steely resilience anchoring the film's perspective, and William R. Moses is great as visiting journalist John, and the audience's way into the psychological world of Bonnie and Hilary.

One more honorable mention to cinematographer Jens Sturup, who executes the dual visual style of the film beautifully. The scenes in colour look assured, warm and expressive, making it hard to believe this film was shot in a matter of days. And Sturup's handheld camera work in the black-and-white sequences is superb, where he executes a degree of "editing in camera" which made me believe, for the first several years since seeing this film, that there was far more intercutting in those dialogue scenes than there actually was.

The gripes I have about this DVD is that though the film was made low-budget, the release is really a bit too cheap. The DVD sleeve, for example, looks like a low-res colour photocopy, and the layouts are quite amateurish as well, far worse than the VHS release from the mid-'90s. That wouldn't have been a problem, but the DVD itself also suffers from jumps and lapses. While this could be a one-off problem on my personal copy, I somehow got the feeling that this release wasn't done by pros.

If another superior edition of this film comes out on DVD, I'll definitely be first in line. In the meantime, I think it's still worth owning this DVD, if only to see one of the best, most emotional independent films made in the '90s, made against the odds in true guerilla fashion.

Rating:
Summary: Not a great DVD, but the film is superb.
Review: I've been looking for this film on a good format for years. I even shelled out first-run prices for a rental VHS copy years ago, just to have a good copy for keeps. So I was very happy upon discovering this release of Fun on DVD.

My response to the DVD itself is mixed. Not much in bonus materials -- this is of course a by-product of how low-budget the production was. I had interviewed a key member above the line who said that this shoot was literally scrapped together, so it's a marvel the film came together at all.

Though director Rafal Zielinski is known mostly for trashy exploitation flicks (Screwballs, Jailbait), this was his moment of greatness. Much credit, however, should go to writer James Bosley. The screenplay was adapted from his stage play and the dramatic scenes and characters are so compelling that the film was already halfway there. The dialogue moves with a relentless forward momentum and there's never a boring moment with the characters' internal life. The vital central scene between tough-as-nails counsellor Jane (24's Leslie Hope, giving her career-best performance) and hyperactive teen Bonnie (a staggering performance by Alicia Witt) literally crackles with life and pathos.

Fun was rightly celebrated for its acting (two acting awards at Sundance Film Festival), or it is the four performances that hold this film together. Witt is a marvel, a whirlwind of energy that gives way to unexpected intensity and sorrow. Renee Humphrey gets the more conventional brooding role and does a fine job, but it is Witt's erratic, lovable, yet internally seething Bonnie which embodies the spirit of the film. She had brought many elements of herself to the role (Witt herself was the one who had learned to speak at the age of one month), and while that strays from the original play (where the character was far less precocious and much more of an everygirl), it works wonderfully in the context of the film. Hope has never been better, her steely resilience anchoring the film's perspective, and William R. Moses is great as visiting journalist John, and the audience's way into the psychological world of Bonnie and Hilary.

One more honorable mention to cinematographer Jens Sturup, who executes the dual visual style of the film beautifully. The scenes in colour look assured, warm and expressive, making it hard to believe this film was shot in a matter of days. And Sturup's handheld camera work in the black-and-white sequences is superb, where he executes a degree of "editing in camera" which made me believe, for the first several years since seeing this film, that there was far more intercutting in those dialogue scenes than there actually was.

The gripes I have about this DVD is that though the film was made low-budget, the release is really a bit too cheap. The DVD sleeve, for example, looks like a low-res colour photocopy, and the layouts are quite amateurish as well, far worse than the VHS release from the mid-'90s. That wouldn't have been a problem, but the DVD itself also suffers from jumps and lapses. While this could be a one-off problem on my personal copy, I somehow got the feeling that this release wasn't done by pros.

If another superior edition of this film comes out on DVD, I'll definitely be first in line. In the meantime, I think it's still worth owning this DVD, if only to see one of the best, most emotional independent films made in the '90s, made against the odds in true guerilla fashion.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad... but not "Heavenly"
Review: The performances of Renee Humphrey and especially the amazing Alica Witt are the main reason to watch this movie. However, yes, it IS a whole lot like Heavenly Creatures, which was much more powerful in the writing and directing categories. The ending was especially odd and contrived.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: This movie Is a must see.If you consider yourself a movie lover,they just don't get any better than this.Surpassed only by It's Prequal "Heavenly Creatures".The movie has two outstanding preformances from two varitable newcomers.The acting alone Is reason enough to own this rare gem.Take my advice see this movie at all cost's.

Rating:
Summary: Staggeringly involving black comedy/drama hybrid.
Review: Two girls, a transcendantal friendship of mutual understanding and attraction culminating in murder...before you can yell "Heavenly Creatures", be aware that Fun is at the absolute opposite end of the spectrum both stylistically and dramatically.

That said, I find this film even better than the Peter Jackson masterpiece on the strength of less pretension, even better acting, and an earthiness that was the only thing missing from Heavenly Creatures. Melanie Lynskey of Creatures may have nailed the sexual distress of her Pauline Parker role, but she is much less fun to watch than Fun's Alicia Witt, who somehow manages to blend manic romping (her Bonnie character jumps all over rooms, courtyards, suburb neighbourhoods and all over the screen) with true emotional evocation. Her performance to me is more impressive than Renee Humphrey's more straight-forward, brooding one; nevertheless, their fire-and-ice chemistry (aided in no small part by the no-nonsense Lesley Hope and a gallant William R. Moses) make this film impeccable.

Hard to believe director Rafal Zielinski's resume began with Screwballs. Here, his exploitation-film roots actually help the film. His no-holds-barred use of black and white and colour, handheld camera vs. smooth dollies, and pogoing visual styles were accused of being "showy" by Martin and Porter; I find the styles necessary and, indeed, very expressive.

Exhilirating and deeply disturbing.

Rating:
Summary: the dvd quality is no fun
Review: Warning! Great movie but the dvd is no fun at all. The dvd looks cheap and my first though was that I bought some kind of copied version. The only extra related to the movie is a trailer.

The movie itself has no chapters, so if you want to see something in the end of the movie you'll have to use the fast forward button from the beginning of the movie. There are no subtitels. The movie is full screen and the quality of the picture isn't great either.

I'm happy that i finally got a dvd version of this movie. Not that happy on the dvd itself. Four stars for the movie. If the dvd was better, and had extra's like a commentary, i might have rated it five stars.