The Virgin Suicides (2000)

It starts as a bad analogy. Detroit did not die simply because of the auto industry collapse, but because the diversity that came in made it too dangerous for people to stay. So it is the lack of borders and boundaries that killed the towns. I feel the same about the girls. NONE OF THE GIRLS WOULD HAVE KILLED THEMSELVES IF THIS WAS REAL LIFE RATHER THEN FICTION. The truth is children are made stronger and happier when they interact more with their family, and when their parents set strict boundaries. Even too strict, if done without abuse is not a big problem. They were not lonely, they had each other and their parents. They were too young to actually need boys in their lives. I mean it would have been OK, but in real life, kids seldom act out because of strictness. I have seen families where the parents have strict expectations, and are overprotective, and the kids that come from such homes are extremely stable and successful. Familiarity and routine are great for teens, even though they say they don't like them. All I am seeing is a writer who knows very little about life, or about girls trying to fit what happened into his unrealistic point of view. No, diversity is not great for neighborhoods. No, strictness, and overprotective behavior that is loving and unabusive is NOT BADS for teens, and would never result in suicide. And a BS story, no matter how pretty is not great art.

The movie brought high school movie sub-genre to a weird spot as it places the high school life backgrounds and all the complexities surrounding it facing the contrast element of death and loss and coping with them. The movie goes curiously with it's opening and builds its story casually after-wards. The time frame background permits the story to exhibit cultural practices that may be deemed strange by people nowadays. Yet these weird practices gives a great way for the story to development into it's unpredictable ending. The acting overall is surprisingly good. James Woods and Kathleen Turner did their parts well in acting out as the parents. This movie sure was a showcase to display then young talents such as Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, Hayden Christensen and even Leslie Hayman. Cameos and smaller parts by Michael Pare and Danny DeVito nicely add some flavor to the movie as a whole.

A beautifully depressing and sad movie about 5 sisters, who ended their lives at a very young age. The movie has an interesting way of telling a story, the story is told by the boys who loved the girls, but unfortunately the movie feels kind of cold. It is very hard to emotionally engage in the movie, since you never really get any real and emotional character interaction, it never really showed any of the girls communicating with one another.Just 2 of the sisters had their time under the spotlight, for most of the movie, and that, in my opinion, destroyed the real lust and emotions the movie could have had. I wanted to see more character engagement in the film, i get that the idea was to make you feel sad and emotional via the lenghty sad fragments of the girls dieing of boredom, being oppressed by their religious parents, but at least they could have made them talk with each other.When you look at the movie as a whole, it was a really good movie, but then, when you start thinking about some of the details, which i mentioned above, the movie kind of loses its charm and just seems blatant and plain, so it is better to just enjoy it, without trying to figure out the details and flaws of the film.

An extremely hard novel to adapt to the big screen, from one of my favourite novelists Jeffrey Euginides comes the directorial debut of Sofia Coppola who would go on to direct the award-laden Lost In Translation. Kirsten Dunst plays the role very well and the performances given from the parents of the five elusive Lisbon sisters, Kathleen Turner and James Woods were very impressive. The film cleverly mirrors the pungent adolescent anxieties and dark trails of obsession that are laced throughout the novel, however the film is less visceral and more Hollywood than would've been preferred, Sofia polished most of the feeling out of the film, however the story and style forgive all the film's flaws.