Lick the Star

Sofia Coppola's 1998 short film "Lick the Star" is about a group of 7th grade mean girls who devise a bizarre plan to "make the boys weak" with arsenic. While that may sound strange, "Lick the Star" actually comes closer to the truth about junior high cliques than one might expect. Early scenes of the girls flaunting their new secret plan to the uninitiated are particularly powerful.

The short was shot at a real life junior high school and it shows, but its inky black-and-white visuals lend it a rather surreal beauty. That many scenes are accompanied by a fitting soundtrack of jangly girl-group rock is an added bonus. "Lick the Star" makes an agreeable 15 minutes or so, to say the least.

what a captivating little short. Pedophillically (if you will) captured by cinematographer Lance Accord ( Adaptation, Being John Malkovich (1999) and Buffalo '66), this otherwise puerile, syllogical bore looks pretty tempting. Young, unknown Audrey Heaven has something. Sofia rocks. And thats about as deep as this commentary gets ...

This film reminds all of us over 20 what a pretentious and callous world revolves around the average junior high school student. In this case, an attractive and popular female teen exhorts a group of her peers to embark on a mission to poison certain boys in her class. After an initial period of bonding, the group forms a club of secrecy which revolves around a tattoo with a very special meaning, and with a sufficient dose of prodding from the leader, they set out to accomplish the mission. However, they soon find that there is no such thing as a secret amongst students in a junior high school. Filmed in black and white this movie is well directed and never lacks for maintaining ones interest.

Cruelty seems an innate skill in this story of junior high school girls. The cliques and the cruel plots and schemes that girls (and boys) can be prone to in that period between when they first start coming into their power as individuals and have yet to develop the emotional maturity that enables the responsibility that comes with power.

While it's a small film often shown on IFC, "Lick the Star" is an excellent, illuminating film shot in black & white by Lance Acord (who also worked with Coppola in her masterpiece "Lost in Translation" about a young 7th grade queen who becomes outcasted by her peers. Like "Lost in Translation" and "The Virgin Suicides", the theme of disconnection is predominant throughout the whole film. How a young girl is like a snob with all of her friends and one of them turns on her and in the process, things go to hell for the young woman. The film has an excellent soundtrack as well. For those who loved her full-length features, "Lick the Stars" is a must-see for any fan of Sofia Coppola who will be a director that will amaze us all.