Virgin Suicides

genuine film talent runs in the blood. sophia coppola's debut is so perfectly done that it'll be hard for her to top. her use of camera angles and shadowing and filters came together so well. i didn't get to see it big screen but you don't need to. it's so elegant and "large" a film.

the acting is subtle and astute. the soundtrack lends to the film better than most films i've seen come out of new hollywood.

the only continuity flaw i saw was the elm tree being in the front yard towards the end after it was so cerimoniously cut down. being the psychological focal point of the film, they should have been more vigilant chequing the dailies...

virgin suicides and american beauty both show profound promise for new hollywood. see them both...

"The Virgin Suicides" is a touching, artistic film which transforms you through various stages of grief to realize what you already knew all along - Suicide is pointless. The film focuses on the lives of five teenage sisters from the perspective of the teenage boys who adore them. It's warm, funny, and totally engaging…not to mention a soundtrack to die for! There are incredible moments of cinematography - images that burn like when mother Kathleen Turner insists that her daughter, Kirsten Dunst burn her rock albums, Kiss, Aerosmith….the overwhelming stench and smoke billows out the doorway behind her when Kathleen throws the rest in the trash…and without a flinch she re-enters the billowing doorway. Only a few rocky transitions between scenes catch you by surprise and pull you out of Sophia's incredible imagination and back to your theatre seat. With wonderful performances by Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, James Woods and the rest and powerful directing by Sophia Coppola…you're left wondering as any friend or parent would - "why?" "Didn't they know we loved them?"

A strange, surreal flight-of-fancy of death and love, remembrance and how romanticized our memories become. It's also very funny, tending to mix the black comedy of something like "Heathers" with the stifling suburban scenario of "American Beauty" (but it's better than both). Kirsten Dunst is fantastic as the foxiest of five golden-toned sisters in the mid-'70s who feel trapped by their parents (a peculiar, but not overly monstrous couple), trapped by their feelings, trapped by time. They can breathe--and live freely--only in their fantasies (and perhaps in death), but do their realities represent a prison? It's the talent of writer-director Sofia Coppola not to push everything over-the-top; she's careful, she leaves the viewer contemplating the characters' motivations and actions. The situation is indeed unexplainable, yet it is in our nature to expect a resolution, to expect concrete evidence as to WHY and demand an answer. Yet there are no answers to the sadness of the strangers who live across the street, even as we pass through their lives and through their houses. "The Virgin Suicides" offers fascinating food for thought. *** from ****

A beautiful adaptation of a great novel.

It is the premises for this admirable work of sofia Coppola to reflect, in precise manner, the universe proposed by Jeffrey Eugenides. The faithfull portrait of characters, atmosphere, life in neighborhood is one of basic virtues.

The second good job remains the acting and the surprising way to define, from Josh Hartnett to Kirsten Dunst the complexity of age, the seduction and vulnerability and life like dream, preserving the ambiguity defining the story.

Not the last virtue is the intensity of emotion of reader of novel, rediscovering details and slices , accurate adaptated.

A film about loneliness, life of small comunity , a couple loving, in his way , cold and precise, their daughters and a form of vulnerability , not surprising for teens, but defining the perspective about life in cold manner.

25 years ago in an affluent Detroit suburb, math teacher Ronald Lisbon (James Woods) and his wife (Kathleen Turner) have five beautiful girls. The neighborhood boys led by Tim Winer are all fascinated by them. The youngest Cecilia (Hanna Hall) tries to kill herself. Psychiatrist Dr. Horniker (Danny DeVito) tells the strict parents to let the girls interact with boys. They throw a party for the girls but Cecilia throws herself out the window impaling on the iron fence spikes. Father Moody (Scott Glenn) tries to comfort the family. Cecilia haunts everybody. Lux Lisbon (Kirsten Dunst) is the most outgoing and catches the eye of hunky Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett). Lux and the sisters Mary (A.J. Cook), Therese (Leslie Hayman) and Bonnie (Chelse Swain) would always hang out together. After a night out, the girls are kept inside with little outside contact.

Sofia Coppola brings a floating sad mysterious moodiness to the movie. She creates an unique dreamy vibe. The girls are fascinating but like the neighborhood boys, they remain a mystery throughout the movie to me. They feel like something imaginary that one can't get a hold of. That is very fascinating but after awhile, it's also very tiresome. We are forever outsiders looking in. I love the music, the mood and the style but I still want more.