Die Sehnsucht der Falter

Moth Diaries is a supernatural horror set at an all girl boarding school where young Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) is sent after the suicide of her writer father. She befriends the pretty Lucy (Sarah Gadon) and all seems well until the arrival of the strange Student Ernessa (Lily Cole). Lucy is drawn to Ernessa and the more Sarah tries to find out who this mysterious new girl really is, the more she begins to believe that she is faced with the very type of vampiric creature that she is reading about in her literature class. As the bodies pile up and everyone attributes Rebecca's suspicions as a product of the emotions left over from her father's death, Rebecca decides she must deal with this monster herself. Moth Diaries is one of those movies that tries hard and sometimes tries too hard for it's own good. There is a very Gothic mood to it. Director Mary Harron tries to give it the same period feel of a Dracula story despite being set in modern day. There are some nice visuals and effective scenes and the cast all perform well. But, sometimes the film is a bit too obvious for it's own good. Some of the scenes come across as a bit silly when maybe a bit more subtlety would have been better. Some of the voice narration by Rebbeca comes across as forced, telling us things we already have figured out for ourselves. The film probably could have used some of the sly humor that Harron used to perfection in the classic American Psycho but, here the tone comes across as a little too serious and it also can't decide whether it wants to be a straight horror or something more along the lines of a Twilight movie with it's melodramatics(Such as Rebecca's relationship with Scott Speedman's literature teacher that goes nowhere). Moth Diaries is not a complete failure and it has entertainment value but, it could have been a lot better if the filmmakers weren't trying too hard to create a goth classic in the same vein (sorry, had to) as Dracula with the melodrama of the Bella and Edward saga.

This is a movie you are very likely to forget, a week after you have seen it. I wouldn't exactly call it one of the worst genre movies ever made but it still is one that is lacking a whole bunch of things.

The way the horror and whole mystery of the movie gets presented is disappointing, to say the very least about it. It's lacking a good buildup and the movie does a poor job at explaining everything and to let stuff make sense. Really, when looking back at this movie, nothing really makes enough sense, which only adds to the redundant impression that the overall movie is making.

You can't even really this a horror but I also don't think that this was the approach they were heading for. They went for a more quiet and humble approach, which was supposed to add to the movie its mystery. But the story just isn't ever interesting or original enough to carry the movie through. As a viewer you will already figure things out before the characters in this movie will, which is always an annoying aspect about genre movies, such as this one.

Another big reason why the movie just doesn't ever work out is its pacing. The movie really has some bad editing in it and at times it even feels like scenes are completely missing. Things often happen too fast ever each other and there just isn't ever a natural flow to any of it. It feels almost as if this movie got shot in a hurry and got put together in a couple of days, in the editing room. It does feel a bit like an incomplete movie.

Thing that I did like about it was the fact that it featured an all girl cast. It's set at a boarding school for girls. It gives the movie already a special sort of atmosphere and the way the girls interact with each other feels genuine. I'm also confident about it that women will like this movie better than men, since some of its themes should be recognizable to most.

It still is a movie you simply shouldn't bother with. It's not exciting, it's not mysterious, it's not surprising, not scary, not particularly pleasant. It basically has far too little to offer to anyone.

5/10

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I only watched this movie because I noticed the director had worked on something I really enjoyed before. But this film was pretty much a disappointment. Everything in the movie seems to just be "said", not actually acted. You feel no depth in the characters, their relationships just have to be "accepted" by the viewer. It all seemed very mechanized but I was at least hoping for some sort of greater point to it all (which of course never came) There's no explanation whatsoever as to why the characters behave the way they do, no motivation for their actions. It seems more like they are robots with predefined roles, instead of actual representations of human beings. I honestly have no idea what the target audience for this was, it's not romantic, it's not horror, not much of a mystery. It's basically a lame pseudo-emotional film with hints of horror (very mild hints mind you!).

I randomly selected and streamed this film last night on Netflix, enjoyed it, and checked today to see what others were saying about it. I was surprised to find harsh words about the film, and they made me wonder why people would react this way to a well-made story like this. The cinematography is lovely. The music is so well suited that it plays unnoticed beneath the visuals – never clashing with the emotional content of the scenes. The sound editing is top notch. The young actors are all excellent. Set design is spot on for the story. No dialog is wasted. Etc. etc.

So what was the problem? My personal reaction was quite good. When it started, I expected a bad film – another sappy story about girls at school. In fact, the only scene I didn't care for was the girls "partying" in their rooms. Such a cliché rendering. But the rest was endearing. The film seduced me, drawing me in further and further as I watched. It's not revolutionary, to be sure, but why does every film have to be revolutionary? We don't hold music to that type of criteria. "Oh, another blues song. That's been done…"

Harron's achievement here is in the mood of this piece. I see people complaining about the connecting scenes, and I think about how much they must hate a film like Upstream Color or Tree of Life or Melancholia (though those films are rated quite a bit higher). The Moth Diaries is not like those films because it has a much more grounded story.

Why are people down on this film? My best guess is that the negative reactions this film received are indicative of the altered nature of film itself. The Moth Diaries takes a different tack than contemporary blockbusters. It's not The Conjuring (a great horror film), which twists every few minutes and keeps throwing shocks at you, making you squirm in your seat. But it's not intended to be. It's not a shock piece. It is a mood piece, and Harron does a beautiful job of establishing a consistent mood throughout, a mood that captures appropriate emotional content for the age-rage of the characters in the story. Had this movie been released in the 1970s, it would have found a large, receptive audience. I, for one, found it refreshing to watch a film that takes its time building mood and environment and character.

The strength of the film is its subtlety. Unfortunately, it appears that subtlety is lost on many contemporary film goers. For me, The Moth Diaries returned me to the days when movies could be captivating and sensory without abandoning story in service to "art." I liked it and I'll be tracking Mary Harron's work from now on.

The Moth Diaries - CATCH IT (B-) My expectations for The Moth Diaries were higher ever since I saw its promos and surprisingly at that times I hadn't seen Mary Harron? American Psycho or even Sarah Bolger in The Tudors. Once I saw Sarah Bol ger in The Tudor as Young Bloody Mary Queen of England (A Princess at that time) I was really psyched about it. Though after watching this I got to know that its directed by American Pycho's director. The Moth diaries is a chilling story of Rebecca (Sarah Bolger), a young girl who, haunted by her father's suicide, enrolls in an elite boarding school for girls. Before long, Rebecca's friendship with the popular Lucy (Sarah Gadon) is shattered by the arrival of a dark and mysterious new student named Ernessa (Lily Cole). Rebecca, whose overtures of concern are rejected by Lucy, finds herself lost and confused. Rebecca starts to suspect that Ernessa is a vampire, but, despite the suspicious deaths that begin to occur, her fears are treated as simple girlish jealousy. As the bodies of young girls pile up and the line between reality and the supernatural starts to blur, Rebecca decides to take matters into her own hands and get rid of Ernessa. (RT) Girls or boys living in boarding schools are not a new concept for movies. The concept of the movie is interesting even the execution is but there is something lacking. I couldn't figure that out it might be the production value or just typical scare tactics or its predictable ending. Sarah Bolger is amazing as she was in the Tudors. Sarah Gadon is good. Lucy Cole was made for these kinds of creepy roles. Her face is perfect to play roles like these. Scott Speedman is good but doesn?t have many scenes. On the whole, it?s not scary or even plays with your mind like American Psycho. It turns out to be a time pass supernatural thriller.