उपयोगकर्ता समीक्षाएं

The voter of 7 was mostly for Dakota and her excellent acting. The story was admittedly slow and plot fairly thin, but then it is a Chick Flick, which is all about emotions and relationships, so pace and plot is somewhat irrelevant. The acting was superb all the way around. I saw it based on Dakota being in it. Everyone else's acting was very good from David Morse, Piper Laurie and the Snake Guy. A better Southern Goth tale is Winter's Bone, but like my summary says "If you love Dakota Fanning then it is worthwhile." FYI - I did not hear about all the "controversy" about Dakota's character getting raped. It didn't influence me one way or the other. I have known that this has happened and showing it in context is not inflammatory, although if you were a victim and it still greatly messes with your mind, I don't think seeing it would help.

I saw the premiere back in 07 in Sundance yes some people booed and some walked out. Some people will fault the obvious metaphors but Dakota deserves a 10 for her performance like Morgan Freeman she can save movies and she does here. The 'controversy' was not founded in the least. I also believe it to be her best performance since man on fire I will of course not give a thing away about the film or what happens suffice it to say her character is someone you want to see win even with her flaws. One scene dares you to see her in a bad way but it never seemed to happen for me. The movie is set deep in the swamps of the south. The first scene in which Dakota's character propositions her friend was a shock for me to I wasn't all the way prepared for her slightly adult turn yet I realized that she was making a turn or step forward in her career.

Cliché after cliché is revisited, and yet this film still holds a respectable place of its own. Think of this film as a prequel to Forrest Gump, and it could be named "Jenny's Story".

Here are just a few of the clichés to be seen, they are typical of a film set in the mid-late 50's, in a rural southern town: aggressive alcoholic cad of father who's always angry. Parents unmindful of children's well-being. Ramshackle homes in disrepair. Dirty, barefoot children left unattended. Kids buying and/or drinking beer. Over-zealous religious nut-jobs. Abused women who accept mistreatment. Trampy chain-smokers. Perverted pedophiles. Playing in the crick'. Soulful black people in oppression. Granny with a shotgun. Horrible homemade fashions. Blues and soulful music. Family love triangles. Home grown foods. Kids getting "whoopin's". Dangerous critters running amok. Pitiful characters. Creepy characters. Old myths and legends. Mutt gets shot. White plantation home. Corn fields. Sage older black man. Broke down rusted vehicles. A fiery church service... trust Me, I COULD keep going. It is through these devices that we get a real feel of the crude existence of some within our "civilized society" at different places and times.

At least they spared us the usual overworked southern accents, and graphic displays of domestic violence!

Let's face it. Some of these stereotypical clichés are completely necessary for a story of this type. You can't make biscuits without flour (southern pun). Fact is, many of these things were true fixtures at that time. My grandmother and aunts can testify as much.

Fanning's performance is the feature presentation here. It's almost award worthy, almost. Perhaps it could have won, if in a different movie. She is convincing and displays just the right amount of intensity in this serious role. She is bearing the weight of a time-period drama of a sensitive nature, and does so remarkably well for someone of her age and career experience.

Even when Lewellens actions are not wise, we understand that she's still a naive child full of hope and wonder. Lewellen is indeed precocious and independent but she's an innocent and ill-equipped to perceive why others will hurt and disappoint her.

Family support is non-existent. What family she has is threatening and harsh. Family kills her dog, abandons her on a whim, can't provide, can't offer comfort or affection, makes her feel guilt and isolates her from her friends. Her friends and peers aren't very good either, when they can betray her maliciously.

What Lewellen does have is music, a love for Elvis and his songs. Although such things are demonized by her grandmother, Lewellen finds a safe place to express herself within them. Performing Elvis' songs brings joy, a sense of pride, and something for which to dream in an otherwise depressive place.

We want to see Lewellen succeed and have some happiness, the audience cares for this character and her plight. We wish her predicament weren't so bleak and the people in her life weren't so utterly worthless (save one exception).

There was an ominous cloud lingering around the father during the whole movie, it was as if he may lose control at any moment and abuse his daughter. Every scene with the two of them together was uneasy, even though the daughter didn't behave apprehensively.

I thought the sets on this film were pretty good, so sure, they need some cinematic showcasing. There's reportedly some goofs (dealing with cars) but since I'm not an antique car expert, I was never distracted. The editing could have been better tailored, I can't quite pinpoint the specifics that could have been improved to make this film a classic... several production values are just "off" a little bit.

I did not find the snake imagery obtrusive. It conveyed the message of being strangled by sin, depravity, and shame. It represents the differing types of venom that poisonously consume a person... this message was depicted in various other ways throughout the film.

One could easily sift through this film for life lessons and spiritual significance, and not be disappointed. The films ends leaving you unsatisfied, but at least it ends on the appropriate note.

12 years old is certainly old enough to understand what rape is. Dakota is by far one of the most intelligent actresses in her field today. She's probably smarter than most of the other actors she is working with. For anyone to blindly judge what she is capable of understanding is absurd. I would gather that is is highly certain that Dakota's parents were directly involved in every aspect of this film, and that the director and other film personnel understood that this was a very sensitive subject. However, I would believe that in this country we as a society have a responsibility to not only the children, but also ourselves to stop hiding these kinds of issues. Some of the reasons there are problems with people understanding issues of this nature (rape, drug use, etc.) is because all this subject matter is considered too "taboo" to put into a mainstream film. We sugarcoat everything to the point where it ceases to have anything real about it. Dakota is one actress who, thankfully, isn't afraid to put herself out there and let it fly. She did it in Man On Fire, and this is no different. Wake up America!

Wonderful film. The actors are very convincing. The film takes place in the 1950's and everything about the film is just as I imagined it would be at that time. Dakota Fanning is such an amazing actress. The main character Lewellen lives such a tragic life very reminiscent of the main character in Bastard Out of Carolina. If you loved that film, then you'll probably love this one. Although this one is toned down a lot from Bastard Out of Carolina. Watching Lewellen fall from something so innocent into a tragedy is heartbreaking. I just kept wishing for things to get better for her. Some people may think that the main characters are stereotypically southern, but I come from the South and grew up in conditions not to different from Lewellens, and there ain't nothing' stereotypical about it. From the grandma with a shotgun to treating snake bites with whiskey. This is an amazing film. Give it a chance!

This is a bad film. It is not really Dakota's fault, but to be honest I wasn't really impressed with her this time around. I felt like she was a little too much, a little too melodramatic, and definitely not as real as she is in her other films. The real problems with this film lie in the directing, the script, and the pacing. It's poorly filmed (though beautifully lensed), the script panders to too many stereotypes to even enumerate, and even though it's very short, it crawls along.

All the controversy about the rape is unfounded, too, because it actually is only a very small piece of the movie. You see her face twice and her hand once, and you hear her. I'd say it was 45 seconds. Maybe not even that long.

Anyways, color me disappointed. Definitely not worth all the hype, and I really wish Dakota could have found a better filmmaker(s) and film(s) during all the time she wasted as this film sat in preproduction. I hope this doesn't affect her career too much.

This was really an excellent movie. Anyone who says this movie was pointless or boring I don't have any idea why. This movie was the complete opposite, I think it was the first movie I've seen in a long time that had a point and was not mindless or boring.

I'm a fourteen year old and the movie was great, it was very relatable even though I haven't been through any sexual abuse.

If a movie can relate to me so deeply even though I didn't grow up in that time period, grew up in New York City, and did not go through some of the things she went through then I really think it's an excellent movie.

The content was not disturbing to me at all in a sense most people say. I think most people who say it's disturbing haven't seen the movie because yes, it is very real and true but not gross. I think it's great the director/writer touched on the subject of sexual abuse in such a great way because that subject is not brought up often in our society but it's something that is happening.

I was not sure of seeing this movie-not because of the rape scene because I knew people were making such a big deal of it but because of the other comments about how the movie wasn't going anywhere or was pointless. But I was so surprised that they were so wrong and that for me and from what I could see in the audience it was the complete opposite of pointless.

Bottom line if you haven't seen the movie already and aren't sure if you ant to go and see it, go and see it. I wasn't sure if I should see this movie either but it turned out to be one of the best movies I've seen in a long time with great writing, directing, and acting. Very real but not gross or disturbing and a story that needed to be told.

Shot in 2006 and released in 2007 this film has some good things about it. The acting is quite strong from Dakota Fanning, she does a very good southern accent. There's a nice yellow tint to it, colours look lovely, the production design very well recreates the 1950s rural southern poverty while the music of Elvis acts as a great soundtrack. The hot nights and church services and sense of reality is very much present in the film. It's a story of a girl who uses music to get through tough times and grow as a person. There's also a real loss of innocence that comes along too in the film and it can at times be quite grim. Religion is not well portrayed in the film either, it's fixation on rock and roll is shown as being ill thought through while one woman who prides herself as being a firm Christian is perhaps the most unforgiving character in the story. There's lots of snake imagery to it too. I also did wonder why nobody seemed to go to school.

The film is also quite slow paced, very much a slow burner.

I saw this film at the Santa Barbara Film Festival and was very, very disappointed. First up let me say the rape scene was completely irrelevant to the rest of the story - it seemed very much out of place and like it was just inserted to generate controversy. The film had some tolerable aspects - I like parts of the cinematography - but the music seemed badly chosen and there were a few scenes where the editing didn't seem right - it seemed choppy, done in a hurry (maybe to cut out bits which would have been offending, and pretend they were never shot). Dakota is an astounding actress, but this was one of her weakest roles yet, probably because the inexperienced director was unable to guide her performance. (I thought the same about Robin Wright Penn.) The other child actors appeared to have been equally badly guided, and they don't have the experience of Fanning to be able to give good performances. It was horrible watching some of the scenes they had to do. The worst part of the film was the boring, long and pointless storyline. It was degrading. There was no triumph over adversity, definitely no escapism, no big moral issues that seemed to have been dealt with. This is an over-hyped, amateur hack film that should not be seen by audiences anywhere.

(Oh, and the Q&A was terrible. I hadn't known there would be one, yet it seemed suspiciously staged with audience plants - yes it really did seem like that. Also a nasty dig at Abigail Breslin, who seems to have done much better this year than Dakota.)

With the title of one of Elvis Presley's most famous songs, Hounddog (Hounddog, USA, 2007), by director Deborah Kampmeier, is a drama with a simple plot, but with strong performances that generated great controversy at the time of the film's release. In the plot, Lewellen (Dakota Fanning) is a precocious child who sees Elvis Presley's music and swing as a way of escaping his banal and problematic life in the southern United States. With an alcoholic father and a neurotic and religious grandmother, she believes that it will be the singer who will take her out of the sameness and emptiness in which she lives. A pre-teen on the verge of womanhood, Lewellen is unaware of her burgeoning sexuality, attracting the attention of lecherous boys while trying to resolve her own domestic problems. When a sexual assault steals Lewellen's innocence, the girl turns to her African-American neighbor Charles (Afemo Omilami) and her affinity for the blues to help her out of her depression. The 12-year-old girl is the center of the plot that focuses on the hypocrisy of the supposed traditionalism in which local societies in the southern United States lived, suppressing problems with violence, prejudice and alcoholism.

Her family's poverty is indicated by the usual marker: rusty trucks on the backyard lawn. Her father drives a tractor that, during a storm, is struck by lightning. This knocks him to the ground and makes him even more dramatically crazy. He is overcome by anxiety that his daughter will abandon him and, one night, he enters the local tavern in search of her, not realizing that he is completely naked. The pool players poke him with their cues. Lewellen enters and drags him home. Somehow, amidst this chaos, the young woman manages to be playful and witty, until she is r*ped by an older teenager. She becomes silent and taciturn, and one night she is visited by dozens of (imaginary?) snakes, which crawl through her bedroom window and perform a function, whether demonic or healing, that is understood by her friend and protector Charles, a black man. Who works in the stables of the local gentry. He brings her back to health and lectures her on how to make people treat her with respect.

Occasionally, Kampmeier goes big on Southern Gothic. Snakes are crawling everywhere in the film, and after Lewellen is r*ped, she is visited in bed by a bunch of reptiles. The tone of the story ranges from naturalistic to mythical, but is sometimes inconsistent and some plot points are exaggerated. Still, despite some missteps, the film's cumulative impact is undeniable. Beautifully shot by Ed Lachman, Jim Denault, and Stephen Thompson, the darkness and light in the forest evoke the lair of a fairytale princess, which is the kind of archetypal power Kampmeier strives for. After the incident, which threatens to destroy her life, Lewellen is rescued not by a prince, but by Charles, who forces her to exorcise her demons by singing the blues. Her now tentative and soulful version of "Hounddog" is both moving and life-affirming.

Despite the slow pace, the film holds your attention mainly due to some dramatic appeals, such as the violence and recklessness of bored young people from the countryside who cling to myths and appear to make a living from it without any perspective. It is also interesting the way in which the director works with the figure of Elvis in these young people and children far from big cities. The writer and director, Deborah Kampmeier, was incensed by the images and relies on them as material for a story, which seems grotesque and sinister. David Morse's father, as well-played as the character is, is a particularly dark presence, pitiful rather than sympathetic. Still, the discovery here is the remarkable Dakota Fanning, opening the next stage of her career and doing so with courage, presence, confidence and high spirits.

Returning to the issue of pacing, "Hounddog" is boring and very long despite being only an hour and a half long. Although it is filled with beautiful scenery, the film seems to go on and on. This was yet another film that felt twice as long. Another thing that may bothersome is the fact that a 12-year-old child appears wearing only underwear in a film in so many scenes. There were also instances where she lifted her dress to carry fruit or to pull something she was carrying from her underwear. Probably what the director wanted to convey was that the girl wasn't very aware of her body, but that doesn't fit with the fact that she constantly wants to kiss her best friend. This indicates to me that she is starting to enter puberty, which is probably accompanied by a greater sense of privacy, even if it is also accompanied by a lot of curiosity and discoveries. Although uncomfortable for some, this management option is understandable.

The sexual violence occurs about halfway through the film and is presented with enough restraint to fend off most criticism. There is nothing gratuitous or exploitative about the scene; is performed as tastefully as possible, still conveying the horror of the act. As she is being r*ped, the camera cuts from Lewellen's face to her bloody hand (being penetrated by a nail), then to the shocked expression of a bystander as she screams in the background. "Hounddog" could have been forgiven for the poor preparation for this event if he had followed through with something intelligent or observed with insight.

"Hounddog" is relentlessly melancholic, but not in a way that provides empathy for the character or her situation. That should be the goal, but Lewellen isn't written skillfully enough for that to happen, as the film bludgeons her with one bad experience after another. Here is a partial catalogue: her father beats her (apparently), he kills her dog, her deeply religious grandmother shows no evidence of love or affection, her father's encounter with lightning takes a heavy toll, she is betrayed and r*ped, deceived and misses the chance to see Elvis, her biggest dream. The cumulative effect of these bad things is not to make one better understand the tragedy of Lewellen's life, but to want the film to end as quickly as possible. There's no doubt that Dakota Fanning is a talented young actress, but this is an unsuitable match for her abilities. She's good at times, but there are times when she's clearly acting, where her natural charm is overcome by the need to act. Meanwhile, David Morse and Piper Laurie play their characters in such exaggerated clichés that they come close to veering into parody territory.

"Hounddog," despite its narrative simplicity, is a bit confusing. It provides minimal insight into its characters and their circumstances, and compounds this problem with an erratic pacing that threatens to bore the viewer to sleep during the first half, before piling on the antics during the second. Deborah Kampmeier's direction received mixed reviews, with some praising her bold approach and others questioning her choices, especially regarding the film's episodic narrative. Some have argued that the film lacks focus in its exploration of Lewellen's loss of innocence and struggles following the violent scene. Meanwhile, the film's cinematography and soundtrack are worthy of praise for effectively capturing the ambiance of the American South in the 1950s, providing a visual and auditory immersion into the era. Furthermore, "Hounddog" brought to light important questions about the representation of sensitive topics in cinema and the fine line between approaching these subjects respectfully and falling into gratuitous exploitation.

The plot unfolds towards a symbolic redemption for Lewellen, with the introduction of mystical elements and a touch of symbolism. The character's relationship with Charles, her African-American neighbor played by Afemo Omilami, takes on a more spiritual dimension as he helps her overcome her emotional pain. The presence of serpents in the narrative adds a layer of symbolism, possibly representing Lewellen's healing or spiritual purification. The film climaxes when Lewellen, now stronger and more resolute, expresses her pain and emotional growth through singing a blues-gospel version of "Hounddog". This final scene is emotionally charged, as we see the character face her wounds in a way that could be interpreted as an act of self-empowerment.

However, ambiguity persists at the conclusion of the film. Kampmeier's narrative choices leave room for diverse interpretations of the meaning of Lewellen's journey. Some may see the character's redemption as a powerful representation of resilience in the face of adversity, while others may question whether the film offers a satisfactory resolution to the narrative's complexities. Regardless of individual interpretation, "Hounddog" continues to challenge cinematic conventions by approaching sensitive topics in unconventional ways. The film's ambiguous and provocative conclusion remains a significant point of discussion about the role of cinema in representing difficult experiences and, at the same time, raises questions about the emotional and ethical impact of such approaches on audiences.

Deborah Kampmeier has written and directed an atmospheric film about life in the South (Alabama to be specific) in the 1950s, using this confused period of time to examine how a child can rise out of her squalid surroundings, replacing her disappointments in expectations of family, friends, and trauma with tenuous grip on the dream of becoming a performer like her idol Elvis Presley.

Fortunate for Kampmeier she cast the rather amazing young Dakota Fanning to inhabit the role of the feisty but abused Lewellen, a headstrong prepubescent girl whose mother deserted her at birth, leaving her to live with her abusive Lothario, worthless father (David Morse) whose current paramour is his ex-wife's sister (Robin Wright Penn) who leaves Lewellen also when the father's abuse and desertion overwhelm. Lewellen's sole friend is young Buddy (Cody Sanford) who shares show and tell games with Lewellen until a promise to find tickets for an Elvis Presley concert includes a 'favor' for Buddy's older friend (the rape sequence that is germinal to the film and all the more powerful for its lack of graphic detail). Lewellen's life crumbles: even her Bible thumping grandmother (Piper Laurie) can't console her, her only support comes form her old African American friend (Afemo Omilami) who is Lewellen's sole visionary source for Lewellen's gift for music and soul jazz. Some change comes when Lewellen's father is struck by lightning, ending his career of philandering and making him dependent on Lewellen for all his needs. How Lewellen rises out of all of this stagnation and arrives at an important life change forms the resolution to this story.

There is not a lot that is novel about this film, but the flavor of the missing connections is improved by the general feeling of the Southern situation in the 50s well captured by the camera work and the music. Dakota Fanning continues to show a remarkable degree of depth in her talent as an actress. Watching the film for her performance alone is worth the time. Grady Harp

There are a lot of well worn Southern clichés in Deborah Kampmeier's film - rusty trucks in the yard, bare feet, the drunk no-count daddy, the old swimming hole, and the rise of Elvis using Black Southern music as his own. They are dear and familiar, and provide a good framework to a movie, but it's all a framework. There isn't anything inside to make this film worthwhile.

I imagine that most people are watching and waiting for the infamous rape scene with 12-year-old Dakota Fanning. It requires a lot of slogging through a film that really isn't more than a young girl's obsession with Elvis. It is that obsession that gets her in trouble.

I remember David Morse from "House." I hated him, but he played the character extremely well. Here he is reduced to a drunk that gets hit by lightning and becomes even more of an intellectual cripple. He goes looking for Lewellen (Fanning) one night without a stitch on. Not a good role for a gifted actor.

There are two good messages in this film, and they both come from Afemo Omilami as the kindly black man (another Southern cliché). He shows that the differences between black and white is not related to race, but to class, and he helps Lewellen heal with music. She just spit out words before the rape, and now she can sing with real feeling.

A stranger (Robin Wright Penn) arrives to relieve her of her miserable existence, but there is a cost that I don't think Lewellen realized.

To those who think there might have been too many renditions of Hound Dog in the film. I was in the first grade when that song came out and I remember my babysitter playing it over and over. I certainly heard it more times than it played in the movie.

It was good to hear Jill Scott as Big Momma Thorton, the person who originally recorded Hound Dog.

I just watched the final Sundance screening of this film earlier this evening. It was excellent. I found it to a highly emotional film with a very powerful message. Also, Dakota Fanning has a beautiful voice for someone who had never sang before filming began. Not beautiful as in technically perfect, but beautiful in the way it conveyed the emotions of the character at the time. Just to clarify for all of those who haven't seen it, there is no pornography in this movie. In fact, Utah's Attorney General watched it for himself, and said that it does not break any laws and contains no child pornography. Please withhold judgment until you have actually seen it.

One of my favorite movies of all time. Top 5 material. Dakota Fanning is magnetic and more talented than 99% of actors out there, adults and children. Plot is so grounded in reality yet poetic and beautifully crafted. The ending makes me cry like a baby every one of the 10 times I've seen it and I highly recommend it to everyone.

HOUNDDOG is a film which ambitiously attempts to be 'heartfelt' and 'honest', but ends up foundering in cliché. The film is a Female Coming Of Age story set in the rural poverty of 1950's era American South. Dakota Fanning plays Lewellen, a scrappy preteen who grapples with her nascent sexual identity by mimicking the pop-swagger of Elvis Presley. She lives in a rundown shack which she shares with an ineffectual and alcoholic father. And, just down the holler lives her bible-thumping grandmother. Neither of these characters provide any realistic parental guidance or authority. The plot unfolds through a series of events which are not so much 'foreshadowed' as 'telegraphed'. In spite of her hardscrabble existence, Lewellen remains upbeat and optimistic, until she is raped by a local teenager. Then, she becomes withdrawn and comatose, discovers the healing nature of The Blues, and is saved by Stranger Lady. Along the way she encounters many snakes, idyllic swimming holes and halcyon copses, a wise and caring black man, a puppy, and more and more snakes. The character of Stranger Lady (who is Lewellen's aunt) is played by Robin Wright Penn, and is one of the relative high points in the film. Dakota Fanning's performance comes off as a bit empty, however one can see that she is destined for far better roles than this one. In the end, HOUNDDOG is revealed as sepia tinged hokum which does nothing to advance the Southern Gothic Genre, or provide any new insight into the sexual awakening of adolescence.

Curiosity got the best of me and I finally saw this controversial film recently on DVD. The controversy centered around a rape scene and whether an 11-year-old girl should be acting out scenes like that. Well, when you're Dakota Fanning and your parents have already placed you in R-rated movies beginning at the age of seven or eight, I guess this is no big deal to them.

What I found a little different than most reviewers here: I thought the story was interesting - not boring; the acting decent (Fanning is always good), and the photography good.

What I found objectionable were way too many scenes with the thin 12-year-old (when the movie was made) Fanning being seen maybe a third of the time in just her underwear, with a lot of closeup shots of her. Man, how perverse and stupid can filmmakers be? This must be a favorite film of pedophiles. In this day-and-age (or any age, for that matter), do you really think it's a good idea to do that? Director/writer Deborah Kampmeier, apparently sees nothing wrong with it, along with giving us the rape scene and having the young girl walking around with her totally naked dad, played by David Morse.

Also, if you read discussions on the film from people who saw the movie at the theater, there were several more very shocking scenes that were not even in this DVD. There is much more nudity involving several of the kids. Kampmeier is an example of liberal extremism run amok to the point of being really irresponsible. She sees this all as "sexually liberating" women from an early age. That isn't just my opinion; the woman talks about it at length on the interview part of the DVD.

The real shame is not the movie but that Fanning's parents think it's cool for her daughter to act in films like this, showing so much skin, at a very young age, all in the name of "stretching her acting talents." Wow. And they lambasted "Mommie Dearest?"

In an era of Internet child porn, is it any wonder few theaters would show this movie, and that many people walked out of the theaters during screenings of this film (which were far more explicit than what's on the DVD)? The only thing is, all the editing that took place for the DVD, it made the story way too confusing with no answers on several key issues. It just winds up being a mess.

Kampmeier also hates "the church," as she explains on the DVD bonus feature, calling it "opressive" and "repressive." You see that in the film with the girl's "Grammie," played by a bitter-looking-and-talking Piper Laurie who shows only a nasty side....while being a church-goer and Believer, of course! In today's entertainment business, this kind of consistent bigotry is not only condoned but encouraged. "Hounddog" is just one more example of it. Kampmeier's previous film also has the same bias.

By the way, if you were wondering why all the snakes, Kampmeier they represented "the church." Thankfully, the public isn't in tune with her radical views and the film has been pretty much ignored.....and we only saw the much-edited "tame" version!