Dead Girl

Does anyone really read the 'last' pages of these reviews? I'll take that chance, and simply say that I agree with most folks in here regarding this fine film.

Just got a chance to see it last night and in a word, this movie is simply: Outstanding.

The performances are flawless and there isn't a single scene that doesn't ring true. It grabs you emotionally and never lets go. The fine score is equally effective.

Do yourself a favor. Put this high on your list if you haven't seen it yet and do so very soon.

Saw a screening at a film fest in Los Angeles last night and was completely blown away. The quiet intensity of the film draws out the audiences emotions without hitting them over the head with obvious messages. Everything in this film is complex and complicated- even the cooking of a T.V. dinner. The subtle direction and overwhelming combination of acting, cinematography and screenplay lets the film build mystery upon mystery drawing the viewer to its inevitable conclusion. Restating the plot would give too much away, but the lines between life and death and their definitions are definitely called into question in this film. The acting in this film is of the "Oscars all-around" caliber and not one performance is wasted or without passion and skill. Brittany Murphy and Kerry Washington are so incredible you wonder why these women aren't getting more attention. Murphy particularly shines here as a teenage girl trying to control the downward spiral of her life. Marcia Gay Harden is brilliant as usual giving us a multi-layered character that could easily have been overplayed. Mary Beth Hurt offers a stunning and revealing portrait of a deeply conflicted character. Giovanni Ribisi and James Franco give surprising support playing against their normal "type". The cinematography is lushly beautiful, yet also edgy and raw- all a perfect complement to the screenplay. The opening scenes featuring the desert are gripping and breathtaking. They mark a fantastic contrast to the rest of the film. Karen Moncrieff's direction deftly weaves the characters together, revealing small pieces of a mystery bit by bit, never stealing time from the actors and allowing this stellar cast to really shine. If you loved "In The Bedroom" this has a similar pace and feel. This film will knock you sideways while watching it and then will linger with you for days to come.

"The Dead Girl" A film review by Brian Murphy "The Dead Girl," writer/director Karen Moncrieff's (a former television actress and director) penetrating new film, connects five women affected by the death of a young woman (Brittany Murphy). The film, split up into five chapters, reads like a book, with each chapter examining the changes in their lives brought about by the brutal murder of someone most of them have never met.

"The Stranger," "The Sister," "The Wife," "The Mother" and "The Dead Girl" comprise a fascinating, multiple character study of abused, confused and repressed women. The murdered woman winds up being an altruistic, sacrificial lamb that alters the course of others for better and for worse.

Ms. Moncrieff has assembled a stellar cast. Toni Collette ("Little Miss Sunshine") shines as Arden, an emotionally bruised daughter, isolated from society by her abusive, invalid mother. After discovering the corpse of a young woman, her world is turned upside down; the media hounds her, she is romantically pursued by a creepy grocery clerk (the underrated Giovanni Ribisi), and she rebels against her passive nature, lashing out at a mother (Piper Laurie) who, referring to her deceased brother, remarks, "He (God) should have taken you instead!" Rose Byrne is phenomenal as Leah, a young woman desperately searching for a way to put the 15-year disappearance of her sister to rest. While her mother (Mary Steenburgen) still posts age-enhanced pictures of her daughter, desperately hoping for her return, Leah wishes for her family to accept the fact that her sister must be dead, in order for them all to move on. Her occupation as a coroner perfectly corresponds to her character. When she comes across the corpse that Arden discovered, she immediately finds a birthmark similar to that of her sister. Finally feeling the closure she has been seeking, Leah embarks on a life separate from work and her therapist's office. She responds to the advances of slightly creepy coworker Derek (James Franco of "Spiderman"), and has sex in a scene Ms. Moncrieff deftly designed to express release.

Mary Beth Hurt (as Ruth,) and Marcia Gay Harden ("Pollock,") present two antithetical characters seeking redemption for, perhaps, their denial. Ruth, a religious, forgotten wife, believes her despondent husband may be a serial killer, while Harden's Melora is the mother of a woman possibly murdered by Ruth's husband. Ultimately, their choices define them. Ruth chooses to remain in denial, while Melora seeks the cause of her daughter's decision to run away. In the end, one is lost and haunted, while the other earns redemption.

Not to be forgotten, Brittany Murphy ("8 Mile"), as Krista (a.k.a. "The Dead Girl") gives a spectacular performance that serves as the essential footnote to Moncrieff's film. Murphy delivers as a junkie prostitute who, despite her troubled past, is still a loving mother.

Karen Moncrieff's script may have difficulty appealing to a mass male audience. Her script is gender-centric, studying the growth or regression of several female leads. The few male characters involved are either initially or ultimately presented as unsympathetic, withdrawn, or potential sources of violence. This does not exclude children, like the young boy who punches his sister in the arm. Men are not definitively portrayed as evil, but the film does cast a wary glare in their direction.

However, Ms. Moncrieff's writing is insightful, and her direction is expressive. She uses a myriad of close-ups to showcase the talents of her fine ensemble cast and also to express a claustrophobic tone-Her women are often emotionally stunted, cornered by men, or voluntarily succumb to their own fears. Their transitions define this empathetic yet brutally honest film.

THE DEAD GIRL has an ensemble cast that makes each story segment fit into the other and Toni Collette, once again, gives a knock out performance, with Giovanni Ribisi, another stand out in this very dark and dramatic story in which Brittany Murphy shines in a character which once again is reminiscent of the tragic SHERRY BABY and gives the dead girl a feeling of life which she never really had.

The dark colors in the photography and dialog fit each scene and made all the characters stand out. What was really clever was how the writer tied the different segments into finding and identifying the dead girl and how the characters were each in their own way, rather bleak and very dark "Shakespearean" men and women all thrown into this witch's kettle of death and tragedy.

I salute the independent film festival for honoring THE DEAD GIRL in 2007 as this very dark tale might have trouble resonating with a wider audience. But to watch such a talented group of actors in THE DEAD GIRL should be recommended for any future actor.

An atmospheric sextuplet of stories revolving around The Dead Girl makes for an intriguing, if unnecessary diversion from your standard murder mystery. Starting with this basic concept, Karen Moncrieff, the writer and director, will show how those associated with this corpse react around the event. In loosely connected stories, this body becomes either foreground or background material to each scenario's more personal, character-based meditations. What turns out is an interesting and eerie slice of independent ensemble drama, more effective as distinct portions then the muddied whole it will add into.

Those going into the movie expecting a hard fought thriller will definitely be disappointed, but people who enjoy more low key fair might have found their sleeper hit of the moment. The Dead Girl reeks of professionally depressive performances. No more ensemble work then a collection of different short films thrown together, casting here nevertheless will make this feature far more attractive then it could have been. Everyone is at their subtly bleak best, and right from the start with Toni Collette's haunted presence one knows the film will be a showcase of silence and darkness from a worthy cast, perhaps at the expense of things like facts and plot.

Those who will enjoy The Dead Girl most are those who bask in cinematic gray areas. Nothing will attempt to be solved or moralized by detailing the grim reality of this murder. Instead viewers have six dark little tales which are more character study then interlocking mystery. For sheer foreboding ambiance alone, The Dead Girl is worth a watch; film's creepiest fade out in recent memory should distinctly heighten a lasting aftertaste.