The Virgin Suicides (2000)

Previously criticized for her marginal acting skills, Sofia Coppola made her directorial debut with The Virgin Suicides and silenced her detractors. No amount of coaching from her director father (Francis Coppola) or husband (Spike Jonze) could have guaranteed a film this assured, and in adapting Jeffrey Eugenides's novel, Coppola demonstrates the sensitivity and emotional depth that this material demands. Surely the pain of youth and public criticism found its way into her directorial voice; in the story of four sisters who self-destruct under the steady erosion of their youthful ideals, one can clearly sense Coppola's intimate connection to the inner lives of her characters.

Played in a delicate minor key, the film is heartbreaking, mysterious, and soulfully funny, set in a Michigan suburb of the mid-1970s but timeless and universal to anyone who's been a teenager. The four surviving Lisbon sisters lost a sibling to suicide, and as its title suggests, the film will chart their mutual course to oblivion under the vigilance of repressive parents (Kathleen Turner and James Woods, perfectly cast). But The Virgin Suicides is more concerned with life in that precious interlude of adolescence, when the Lisbon girls are worshipped by the neighborhood boys, their notion of perfection epitomized by Lux (Kirsten Dunst) and her storybook love for high-school stud Trip (Josh Hartnett). Unfolding at the cusp of innocence and sexual awakening, and recalled as a memory, The Virgin Suicides is, ultimately, about the preservation of the Lisbon sisters by their own deaths--suspended in time, polished to perfection, and forever untainted by adulthood. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

good movie!

movie is very very close to the book....good job with keeping true to the book....i dislike when directors deviate too much from the book.....if you can read the book first, go for it, and then watch the movie.
November 25, 2008

Sofia's launch to a movie that seems to grow on you

What I loved about the Virgins is the simplicity of complexity that revolves itself around the absurd. Then again what is absurd, and what is unimaginable? In a world with six billion plus, anything and everything is possible. The film lingered with me for hours after seeing it, I didn't want it too end almost, I wanted to know the girls more, and yet I couldn't, they were lifeless, and that is the pure remarkability of Coppola to bring us into a world so perverse that we only want to be on the outside window shopping, and see that even in the most glorious of beauty, lies the complex intricies of abnormaility. It's a sick film, a funny film, it reminds me sort of in a way to Almost Famous. I can't really say why, but it seems to share some sort of tangible relevance to actually care whats going on in each moment of the film.

The Virgin Suicides has a killer soundtrack, Air is breathtaking in key scences that surely needed it and the stereotypical role of the jock using the girl for as long as he could to just make it around home plate, is a sure kick in Jonny Football hero's keester, as its spot on.

I recommed this for people who want something entirely different, and James Woods of course handles it yet again, and gracefully shows us what acting is beyond reciting lines, its living a part, and he does it deliciously so. Great seeing Scott Glenn, who I think is just awesome, even in a bit part, and shame on the company for giving Danny Devito top billing for his less than two minute role, which was pointless and pathetic. Josh Hartnett is made for the role in which he portrayed. Buy it!

A Strong 3.5 Stars

August 29, 2008

Haunting

This is one of my top 5 movies. It's not a feel-good movie, but rather leaves you feeling melancholy and haunted. But I can't help wanting to watch it again and again. Sofia Coppola did an excellent job directing and Kirsten Dunst is great as Lux Lisbon.

One of the best parts of the movie is the music. There are two soundtracks; one by Air (they wrote the album for this movie) and another a collection of various songs. They go extremely well with the film and have played a huge part for me. August 4, 2008

Very Melancholy Feeling. . .

I can't believe this didn't get 5 stars from everyone - maybe it's because of the subject matter. It's an excellent film - you won't leave feeling good, but it defines the tragedy of suicide and the remnants of those left behind VERY well. It won't necessarily make you cry, but it will hold you, and you'll probably watch it again. I've seen it over and over - it's one of those movies that's interesting no matter how many times you watch it. I haven't met anyone yet who didn't like it. June 28, 2008

THIS MOVIE REQUIRES ONE TO HAVE A DEEP MIND! THIS MOVIE WAS GREAT!

A LOT OF PEOPLE TEND TO FIND IT BORING AND POINTLESS. I PERSONALLY THINK THIS MOVIE IS AN AQUIRED TASTE WHICH I HAPPEN TO POSESS. THE POINT OF THIS WHOLE MOVIE WAS THESE GIRLS KILLED THEMSELVES AS AN ESCAPE FROM THE PRISON THEY WERE IN CONTROLLED BY THIER MOTHER! SHE WAS PSYCHOTIC. I DONT KNOW WHAT THIER MOTHER WENT THRU OR WAS GOING THRU BUT SHE WAS HORRIBLY CLINGY TO HER DAUGHTERS. ITS LIKE SHE WAS AFRAID OF LETTING THEM GO. THEY COULDNT DO ANYTHING, THEY WERE TRAPPED IN THE HOUSE AND DEPRIVED OF HAVING A LIFE OUTSIDE OF HOME. THERE WAS NO NEED TO ADD MORE TO THE MOVIE SO THAT U CAN UNDERSTAND IT WAS A REAL DEPICTION AND IT MADE ITS POINT HINCE THE NAME THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. BASICALLY NOTHING NEEDED TO BE ADDED ...THE POINT WAS THEY HAD A OUTRAGOUS MOTHER WHO ONLY THOUGHT OF HERSELF WITH NO CONSIDERATION...NOT A OUNCE OF IT FOR HER DAUGHTERS...
SHE KEPT THEM CRAMPED INSIDE THE HOUSE ALLOWING THEM TO HAVE NO FREEDOM WHATSOEVER...THEY FELT THAT IN A SENSE THAT THEY MAY AS WELL BE DEAD...THATS WHY THEY KIILED THEMSELVES... I LOVE THIS MOVIE April 28, 2008

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