Violet & Daisy

I had great expectations for this movie. I mean, how could you miss with the great James Gandolfini and wonderful Saoirse Ronan as headliners (and Alexis Bledel is certainly eyeworthy), and yet the first time through this film I did not enjoy the experience. Then it dawned on me, well, duh, this film is intended to be a Tarantino parody, and it went up several stars in my estimation. Of course, making a parody of a QT film is problematic, because Quentin films are already parodies of other genres such as kung fu, grindhouse, and noir. And so, in a sense, the filmmaker is making a parody of a parody. I mean, Saoirse playing patty-cakes with Danny Trejo? The scene is totally Quentinesque to a ludicrous extreme. And that's parody.

Other motifs that echo and exaggerate Tarantino's style include the implausible violence sequences that can only exist in some alternate film universe (think Black Mamba single-handedly wiping out a small army of yakuza in "Kill Bill,") and the interminable gabfest that fills out a QT script (these people love to talk and talk and talk)... And so, as a parody of a parody, and for its very impressive cast, this film is worth an amused watch.

Violet & Daisy is about 2 teen girls assassins who take on one last job in order to buy some dresses they really want. This is the first movie I watched from writer/director Geoffrey Fletcher, reviewing his profile he didn't do much else beside this movie and you can kinda tell.

The movie is somewhat disjointed and the script feels like it's been written by a 12 year old girl. Strangely enough the somewhat childish dialogue and behaviour of the characters combined with the well-done action/violence kinda works for this movie and I was quite sucked in. The 2 teenage assassins played by Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan are well cast and perfectly fill the role of naive assassins.

I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone expecting an action flick or a deep/moral story. If you're just looking for an easy to watch movie with some good-looking young woman you'll probably like it 7/10

I had the chance to check out Geoffrey Fletcher's directorial debut on its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and I was blown away. Geoffrey Fletcher is known as the Academy winning screenwriter of the film Precious, and his debut as a director took me by surprise because it did not at all offset any element from his writing work on Precious. He goes from social consciousness, inner-city story, black American social issues, etc.. and does a complete 180 degrees to create a world where two (white) teenage girls go on killing sprees for a living. but then again, Precious was adapted from a book, so he can kind of get away with this. Nevertheless, this really took me by surprise!

Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan play the title characters, who seem like they spun out of a Tarantino movie. Violet and Daisy are hit girls in New York, casually amoral about assignments with their only real concern being what dresses to buy with the pay. The movie unfolds in 10 chapters with the first being the most Tarantino-esque, which actually establishes the wrong tone for what is to come. Saoirse Ronan will definitely be mentioned come award time! I must admit that the film was entertaining and filled with great comedic timing and actions scenes that came straight out of a Tarantino flick. In fact, If I didn't know who had directed this film, my first guess would be Quentin Tarantino. Violet and Daisy are given a new assignment — an easy one for an increase in pay,they are assured — takes the film into much trickier terrain. The target, played as a wry and rumpled sad sack by James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) actually welcomes the girls' visit to his dumpy apartment. This bothers them: Shooting a willing victim seems unprofessional. The movie now devolves into a three-hander, with any number of incidents and other "guests" causing interruptions but the movie essentially becomes a play and delves into a poetic set of scenes filled with symbolic imagery to reveal each character's motives in life. The key confrontation in this life-or-death situation between killers and a eager victim forces self-examination on the parts of all three.

I applaud Fletcher's first effort, but can't really define him until I see more from him, which should be interesting to see what's next.

Violet (Alexis Bledel) and Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) are two innocent looking hired guns. Daisy just turned 18. They worship style icon Barbie Sunday. Russ (Danny Trejo) has an easy gig for them. The Guy (James Gandolfini) stole from their boss Chet. However the job gets a little more complicated.

Precious screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher tries to do a Tarantino style assassin movie. He has the central concept of girls with guns. He brings in a Gilmore Girl and the great Saoirse. He has Gandolfini who always has his A game. However he doesn't have the sharp quirky dialog or any new inventive style. This is rather bland. Despite all the great pieces, it doesn't add up to anything interesting.

The movie is great at its best moments. And almost boring to death (no pun intended) in its worst. It's almost a shame that it does not find a way to stay even throughout. The two main actresses (Kudos for going that way, which also provides the movie with some of its best moments) are very different from each other. I'm not saying it's borderline cliché, but some people may expect a lot of the "twist" turns in the plot that the filmmaker thought of.

So while I would have loved to like it even more (I still think it's a decent movie overall), there are too many moments in it, that just don't work. On other news, it seems like someone was watching the Sopranos! You're not only getting Mr. Soprano himself (Mr. Gandolfini) in a completely different role, but you also get one of the regulars from that show to appear here.