Killroy
June 1st, 2007, 11:33 PM
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000MTFFO0.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000MTFFO0/dreamindemon-20)
The Dead Girl
Directors: Karen Moncrieff (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0597673/)
DVD Release Date: May 15, 2007
Rating: R
Studio: First Look Pictures (http://www.firstlookstudios.com/)
Run Time: 83 minutes
ASIN: B000MTFFO0
Karen Moncreif delivers another great film after her 2003 debut, Blue Car (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000ARD7R/dreamindemon-20). The Dead Girl is a film of 5 vignettes detailing the lives of 5 women who are all living trapped in unhappy lives. The reasons for these women living the way they do are each different, as some are by choice, but how they each go about changing their situations are not. The one thing that is common with each of the stories, a common thread that connects them all, is the discovery of a dead hooker's body. This event is the catalyst that ignites each of them to do something to change their fate. The first four stories take place after the discovery of the body while the final story takes us back to when the girl was alive.
The first of these stories, titled The Stranger, is about Arden, the woman (Toni Collette (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001057/)) who finds the body. She is trapped in an extremely dysfunctional relationship with her ailing mother (Piper Laurie (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001453/)). Arden is mousy and timid, chained to her abusive mother by some form of guilt. She finds strength in a necklace she takes from around the dead girl's neck and her new relationship with Rudy (Giovanni Ribisi (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000610/)), the bag boy from the grocery store who has a fascination with serial killers. This chain of events give Arden the courage to finally make a decision she has been to scared to make. This story is the starter and immediately displays some great acting from all involved, especially Collete and Laurie, the latter brings back her role as Carrie's mother but makes it more frightening and more real. Ribisi comes off quiet and creepy while still playing a familiar character, but like the other males in the rest of the film, takes a back seat to his female counterparts.
In the second story, The Sister, a young woman named Leah (Rose Byrne (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0126284/)), is in charge of prepping the dead girl's body at the morgue. Leah's entire life has been defined by the abduction of her sister 15 years earlier. Her mother's (Mary Steenburgen (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005460/)) unrelenting search for her abducted daughter and her firm belief that she is still alive has left Leah living in the shadow of a sister who is no longer there. It has cumulated to the point that Leah is at the brink of a total breakdown. She is depressed, in therapy, antisocial and all parental support seems to have been absent. When Leah finds evidence that convinces her that the dead girl may be her long, lost sister, we get a brief glimpse of how Leah's life would be if she and her family could find closure in regards to the missing sibling. Byrne is absolutely convincing as a girl who has lived a life with parents too focused on something else. She is desperate to "bury" her sister and is close to coming apart at the seams. Steenburgen, while only on screen for a short amount of time, is just as convincing as a mother in denial and so blinded with the fear of dealing with the death of a daughter, that she spends more time dealing with the missing daughter than the one right in front of her. James Franco (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0290556/) does a good job as Leah's co-worker and possible love interest and Bruce Davison (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001117/) has a small amount of screen time as Leah's father.
The third story, The Wife, is about Ruth (Mary Beth Hurt (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002148/)), a woman who is living a very unhappy existence in a loveless marriage with her seemingly timid husband (Nick Searcy (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0780678/)). They live on the premises of a storage facility the husband operates located off of a L.A. highway. Ruth constantly finds herself sitting alone while her secretive husband leaves the house for unexplained and extended night drives. On one of these particular occasions, Ruth makes a discovery that reveals her husband is not who he seems and is possibly capable of horrendous and brutal acts. With this discovery, and a possible connection between her husband and the dead girl, Ruth must now decide whether to continue to live unhappily, and stand by her husband or face the possibility of living the rest of her life alone. Her decision, and following actions are surprising. Hurt is amazing to watch in this role and like the rest of the women in this film, is completely transformed into this character.
The fourth and final forward story, The Mother, involves Melora (Marcia Gay Harden (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001315/)), the estranged mother of the dead girl, Krista. After identifying the body, Melora's desire to know more about the final days of her runaway daughter leads her to a roadside hotel and Rosetta (Kerry Washington (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0913488/)), a street hardened prostitute who lived with her daughter. Through Rosetta, Melora learns about her daughter's life and is made privy to some shocking revelations that leave the grieving woman reeling with even more regret and guilt. These bits of information lead Melora to a possibility of some type of redemption and a possible way to right a wrong she didn't know she committed. This, by far, was the strongest of the stories. Excellent performance by Harden as you can almost feel all the emotions this mother is going through each time she learns something new about her daughter. As each piece of information stab into her. Washington is surprisingly effective as as the prostitute friend who finds that in their time together, and despite the fact that she and Melona our opposites in almost every conceivable way, they do share a common bond in more ways than just the death of Krista.
The fifth and final story, The Dead Girl, takes us back before Krista's (Brittany Murphy (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005261/)) death. We see Krista as a young tempest who is at one of the lowest rungs of society's ladder as a prostitute and a junkie. She is at a mall with one of her clients, a biker named Tarlow (Josh Brolin (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000982/)), who is buying her a necklace. Murphy delivers one of the best roles of her career with Krista. She is not the typical drug using prostitute seen in film. On the contrary, she is full of life and a strong-willed person, a protector of sorts and refuses to lay down and die no matter what life continues to throw at her. Her fate is already known to the viewer, which make watching the events that happen in her last day of living more tragic.
Acknowledgment must be given to Moncrieff for assembling such a great cast of actors. The ladies in this film are top-notch and all seem to be in their second skin. Some of the scenes are so memorable they will stick with you long after you have seen the film. From the humiliating taunts from Arden's mother directed to her on the eve of a date, to a double-heartbreaking scene involving Leah and her mother in a restaurant, The Dead Girl has numerous scenes that place each of these actors talent in the spotlight without having any of them take center stage. This film is not a thriller or a whodunit, it is a sobering character study and how the death of a human being, no matter their color or class, ripples outwards to effect different people in different ways. In The Dead Girl, Krista's death is what it takes to get a group of flawed women who have all been living in different types of denial, to make steps towards changing the course their lives have been headed. Great performances, great movie. Highly recommended.
Photos
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9138/20070601205110tk6.th.jpg (http://img359.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601205110tk6.jpg)http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/8017/20070601192153in5.th.jpg (http://img360.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192153in5.jpg)http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7883/thedeadgirl1ql5.th.gif (http://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thedeadgirl1ql5.gif)http://img466.imageshack.us/img466/8056/20070601192257uv3.th.jpg (http://img466.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192257uv3.jpg)
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/5320/20070601192243bc3.th.jpg (http://img293.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192243bc3.jpg)http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/6529/20070601192209mx0.th.jpg (http://img354.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192209mx0.jpg)http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/3571/20070601192032ly7.th.jpg (http://img395.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192032ly7.jpg)http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/3051/20070601191904bn0.th.jpg (http://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601191904bn0.jpg)http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/96/20070601192133qa9.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192133qa9.jpg)
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/849/thedeadgirl3ti0.th.gif (http://img179.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thedeadgirl3ti0.gif)http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/8988/thedeadgirl5hq4.th.gif (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thedeadgirl5hq4.gif)http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/5903/thedeadgirl6wq5.th.gif (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thedeadgirl6wq5.gif)http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/8905/thedeadgirl2pu8.th.gif (http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thedeadgirl2pu8.gif)
Links
Official Site (http://www.firstlookstudios.com/deadgirl/)
IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783238/)
Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000MTFFO0/dreamindemon-20)
The Dead Girl
Directors: Karen Moncrieff (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0597673/)
DVD Release Date: May 15, 2007
Rating: R
Studio: First Look Pictures (http://www.firstlookstudios.com/)
Run Time: 83 minutes
ASIN: B000MTFFO0
Karen Moncreif delivers another great film after her 2003 debut, Blue Car (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000ARD7R/dreamindemon-20). The Dead Girl is a film of 5 vignettes detailing the lives of 5 women who are all living trapped in unhappy lives. The reasons for these women living the way they do are each different, as some are by choice, but how they each go about changing their situations are not. The one thing that is common with each of the stories, a common thread that connects them all, is the discovery of a dead hooker's body. This event is the catalyst that ignites each of them to do something to change their fate. The first four stories take place after the discovery of the body while the final story takes us back to when the girl was alive.
The first of these stories, titled The Stranger, is about Arden, the woman (Toni Collette (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001057/)) who finds the body. She is trapped in an extremely dysfunctional relationship with her ailing mother (Piper Laurie (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001453/)). Arden is mousy and timid, chained to her abusive mother by some form of guilt. She finds strength in a necklace she takes from around the dead girl's neck and her new relationship with Rudy (Giovanni Ribisi (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000610/)), the bag boy from the grocery store who has a fascination with serial killers. This chain of events give Arden the courage to finally make a decision she has been to scared to make. This story is the starter and immediately displays some great acting from all involved, especially Collete and Laurie, the latter brings back her role as Carrie's mother but makes it more frightening and more real. Ribisi comes off quiet and creepy while still playing a familiar character, but like the other males in the rest of the film, takes a back seat to his female counterparts.
In the second story, The Sister, a young woman named Leah (Rose Byrne (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0126284/)), is in charge of prepping the dead girl's body at the morgue. Leah's entire life has been defined by the abduction of her sister 15 years earlier. Her mother's (Mary Steenburgen (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005460/)) unrelenting search for her abducted daughter and her firm belief that she is still alive has left Leah living in the shadow of a sister who is no longer there. It has cumulated to the point that Leah is at the brink of a total breakdown. She is depressed, in therapy, antisocial and all parental support seems to have been absent. When Leah finds evidence that convinces her that the dead girl may be her long, lost sister, we get a brief glimpse of how Leah's life would be if she and her family could find closure in regards to the missing sibling. Byrne is absolutely convincing as a girl who has lived a life with parents too focused on something else. She is desperate to "bury" her sister and is close to coming apart at the seams. Steenburgen, while only on screen for a short amount of time, is just as convincing as a mother in denial and so blinded with the fear of dealing with the death of a daughter, that she spends more time dealing with the missing daughter than the one right in front of her. James Franco (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0290556/) does a good job as Leah's co-worker and possible love interest and Bruce Davison (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001117/) has a small amount of screen time as Leah's father.
The third story, The Wife, is about Ruth (Mary Beth Hurt (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002148/)), a woman who is living a very unhappy existence in a loveless marriage with her seemingly timid husband (Nick Searcy (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0780678/)). They live on the premises of a storage facility the husband operates located off of a L.A. highway. Ruth constantly finds herself sitting alone while her secretive husband leaves the house for unexplained and extended night drives. On one of these particular occasions, Ruth makes a discovery that reveals her husband is not who he seems and is possibly capable of horrendous and brutal acts. With this discovery, and a possible connection between her husband and the dead girl, Ruth must now decide whether to continue to live unhappily, and stand by her husband or face the possibility of living the rest of her life alone. Her decision, and following actions are surprising. Hurt is amazing to watch in this role and like the rest of the women in this film, is completely transformed into this character.
The fourth and final forward story, The Mother, involves Melora (Marcia Gay Harden (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001315/)), the estranged mother of the dead girl, Krista. After identifying the body, Melora's desire to know more about the final days of her runaway daughter leads her to a roadside hotel and Rosetta (Kerry Washington (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0913488/)), a street hardened prostitute who lived with her daughter. Through Rosetta, Melora learns about her daughter's life and is made privy to some shocking revelations that leave the grieving woman reeling with even more regret and guilt. These bits of information lead Melora to a possibility of some type of redemption and a possible way to right a wrong she didn't know she committed. This, by far, was the strongest of the stories. Excellent performance by Harden as you can almost feel all the emotions this mother is going through each time she learns something new about her daughter. As each piece of information stab into her. Washington is surprisingly effective as as the prostitute friend who finds that in their time together, and despite the fact that she and Melona our opposites in almost every conceivable way, they do share a common bond in more ways than just the death of Krista.
The fifth and final story, The Dead Girl, takes us back before Krista's (Brittany Murphy (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005261/)) death. We see Krista as a young tempest who is at one of the lowest rungs of society's ladder as a prostitute and a junkie. She is at a mall with one of her clients, a biker named Tarlow (Josh Brolin (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000982/)), who is buying her a necklace. Murphy delivers one of the best roles of her career with Krista. She is not the typical drug using prostitute seen in film. On the contrary, she is full of life and a strong-willed person, a protector of sorts and refuses to lay down and die no matter what life continues to throw at her. Her fate is already known to the viewer, which make watching the events that happen in her last day of living more tragic.
Acknowledgment must be given to Moncrieff for assembling such a great cast of actors. The ladies in this film are top-notch and all seem to be in their second skin. Some of the scenes are so memorable they will stick with you long after you have seen the film. From the humiliating taunts from Arden's mother directed to her on the eve of a date, to a double-heartbreaking scene involving Leah and her mother in a restaurant, The Dead Girl has numerous scenes that place each of these actors talent in the spotlight without having any of them take center stage. This film is not a thriller or a whodunit, it is a sobering character study and how the death of a human being, no matter their color or class, ripples outwards to effect different people in different ways. In The Dead Girl, Krista's death is what it takes to get a group of flawed women who have all been living in different types of denial, to make steps towards changing the course their lives have been headed. Great performances, great movie. Highly recommended.
Photos
http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/9138/20070601205110tk6.th.jpg (http://img359.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601205110tk6.jpg)http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/8017/20070601192153in5.th.jpg (http://img360.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192153in5.jpg)http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7883/thedeadgirl1ql5.th.gif (http://img412.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thedeadgirl1ql5.gif)http://img466.imageshack.us/img466/8056/20070601192257uv3.th.jpg (http://img466.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192257uv3.jpg)
http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/5320/20070601192243bc3.th.jpg (http://img293.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192243bc3.jpg)http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/6529/20070601192209mx0.th.jpg (http://img354.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192209mx0.jpg)http://img395.imageshack.us/img395/3571/20070601192032ly7.th.jpg (http://img395.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192032ly7.jpg)http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/3051/20070601191904bn0.th.jpg (http://img299.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601191904bn0.jpg)http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/96/20070601192133qa9.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070601192133qa9.jpg)
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/849/thedeadgirl3ti0.th.gif (http://img179.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thedeadgirl3ti0.gif)http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/8988/thedeadgirl5hq4.th.gif (http://img154.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thedeadgirl5hq4.gif)http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/5903/thedeadgirl6wq5.th.gif (http://img292.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thedeadgirl6wq5.gif)http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/8905/thedeadgirl2pu8.th.gif (http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=thedeadgirl2pu8.gif)
Links
Official Site (http://www.firstlookstudios.com/deadgirl/)
IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783238/)
Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000MTFFO0/dreamindemon-20)