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.

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.

I have been quoting this movie for years!!

All in all, it has an intensely intuitive message that works not only in the context of this short film about the chaos of adolescence, but in the context of every human interaction I've ever witnessed...

Everything changes, Nothing changes. The Tables Turn and Life Goes On.

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 ...

i never saw this film until after i saw sophia coppola's new film "Thirteen". They are very similar. They're both interesting, modern accounts of teenage girls. Moving to a degree and i think for the most part very well acted considering these are very young actresses and actors playing very emotionally unstable characters.