Innocents (2000)

This is a smart film. When I watched this film I found myself thoroughly engaged by it on many levels. But it's a very complex film, insofar as it not really about things that happen, so much as it is about what causes people to do the things they do.The two girls, Megan and Dominique, do terrible things in this story, but what is lovely about this film is that it creates an opportunity for us to feel ambiguous about their actions. Are they justified in their actions or should we judge them harshly for their deeds? Society would judge them, the law would judge them - but how do we judge them as human beings, trying to survive the chaos and emotional turmoil of life? Is it rational to judge them? These are all good questions - and in the end, The Innocents becomes more than a simple story. The Innocents is a Greek Tragedy by any other name. Its classic issues are at the core of the fabric of humanity. It's tough material and strong and bold.The protagonist, Gerard, who travels with the girls on this so-called "innocent" journey, is caught in a web from which he cannot extricate himself. Should he try, the girls will pin their deeds on him. It's the perfect platform for a crime. The more the innocent man objects and tries to pull away, the more guilty he will look. In the sense, there is a "Hitchcock" homage at play here, for those who know the genre.On the surface these are very nice girls, but underneath, they are damaged, angry and in fact, given the wrong set of circumstances, very dangerous. This film leads you on an emotional roller-coaster and no matter what anyone may say, this is extremely well-written and most unpredictable. In an era of Hollywood film-making where plots are derivative and endings are known by an audience twenty minutes into the film, The Innocents (called Dark Summer in Europe)breaks the mold. There is nothing predictable about "The Innocents". Not at all.The actors are extraordinary, including Jean-Hugues Anglade, Connie Neilson, Mia Kirshner, Anne Archer, Frank Langella, Keith David and Robert Culp. You don't see cinema like this very often in America (because this may be too intellectually and emotionally demanding)and to that extent I am positive that certain reviewers may not get this film, it's their loss.I saw the European DVD of this movie, as well, and there are many more scenes than are in the U.S. version. It's quite interesting to see the additional scenes and definitely more satisfying.The Innocents is a very smart, cunning, emotionally well-crafted piece of film-making and high regards to those who had the vision to back it. I hope to see many more films from this filmmaker.

Since my first kid I am the video store junkie from hell and I look for films I have never seen all the time. The film I found called "Dark Summer" I have no idea why this movie was not in the theaters. (Hollywood BS I'll bet, good films never get seen-GO INDIES!!!!) I saw from the cover Connie Nielsen and Mia Kirschner (Exotica-another great film) so I took a chance. The lead character played by this Jean Hughes Anglade was absolutely yummy for a French guy and the film was filled with all these cool actors like Keith David, Frank Langella and Anne Archer playing the most amazing character i have ever seen and probably the best of career. I won't give away any of the plot but this film has it all, great acting, gorgeous photography, murder, mayhem, perverts, drug addicts/alcoholics and a really kick ass cast. Support independent films and if you want to see a great movie, "Dark Summer" is one of the great ones that no one knows about out there!

This has been compared to Hitchcock but I'm not sure why. It isn't that Hitch didn't make a lot of road movies. He made a lot of them, beginning with "The Thirty-Nine Steps." But there was always a gimmick, something towards which the protagonists were heading, and the reason was clear even if the particular MacGuffin was not. This road movie has no goal, not even character development. We get the picture of character in the first few minutes: one peaceful Frenchman and two crazy sisters, an innocent and two broads. (That's meant to be a play on words. See Mark Twain.) The sisters remain pretty much the same throughout. The French musician realizes what's up but feels some vague sense of loyalty (or something) towards these women that keeps him from turning them over. He has the best line in the movie -- "You Americans, and your guns!" The film runs from one episode to the next without adding much to what we already know. Hitch's movies were filled with episodes and set pieces too, but they added up to more than the sum of their parts. The cameos here are interesting but don't change the nature of the film. The cellist and the Gold Dust Twins run into all kinds of creepy characters -- two pick-up artists in a cowboy saloon; a retired judge with a penchant for peeping (naughty!); the pick-up artists redux, this time as rapists/gunmen; the mother, a nice quick portrait by Amy Archer made more impressive by horrible makeup and compulsive use of the f word. What's there isn't badly handled. There's a nice Dakota thunderstorm. When the two gunmen get blasted, one gets it in long shot, with a distant strobe flash and puff of smoke bluish in the headlights. The acting is okay too. The Frogs have this ability to take an actor and make him inhabit a part to such an extent that we forget that he never seems a promising lead -- this guy here, Jean Reno, others. Ordinary faces in extraordinary circumstances. In its structure, if it resembles Hitchcock at all, it's late, kind of tired Hitchcock. "The Birds" maybe, without the Oedipal underpinnings, the incest theme notwithstanding.

It is so rare to find a film that makes you really think. Where dialogue and subtext combine to bring as much dynamic as physical action.After watching Gregory Marquette's "Dark Summer" I found myself brooding about what I had just scene and catching my breath at the same time. For a first time director I was really impressed by his command of the material he himself had written.Don't get me wrong the film had some problems but they were easily overlooked by the sensational cameos. Frank Langella gives a disturbing and memorable portrayal of the two heroine's dying father. I just wish there were more of him in the movie. The same follows with Keith David who I've been a huge fan of since "Platoon". Keith always delivers the goods and he bookends the film nicely as the cynical detective but again I wish there were more of him. Robert Culp gets the meatiest role as the Judge, I don't want to give anything away but get the kids out of the room when his scenes are up!!!!The three Main characters are hypnotizing. I looked up this Jean Hugh Anglade and this actor has an amazing bio in foreign films. I would expect to have seen more of him but I felt his acting was right on the money. Connie Nielsen from "Gladiator" is deliciously dangerous as well as her deranged sister played by Mia Kirschner.The whole cast was incredibly strong, the photography was stunning and the pace is breathless. Maybe a little too much so and the film could have been more balanced. One thing for sure it is a real stunner because you are never sure where it's going until the end.