The Bling Ring (2013)
The irreality of their reality is chilling. Illusion upon illusion makes for a dangerous perceptual blur in the minds of teenagers who grow up in a culture that worships fame and fortune above all else. And that is the sadness of all this. When you feel the palpable loneliness of these kid who, despite being well-off and provided for, really don’t feel like they matter.
Read MoreUnder the Skin is like a celluloid skin that you crawl inside of. It is the most intimate role that Scarlett Johansson has taken on. Her skin is the film’s skin. She is an alien in a strange land, but the audience is right there with her. The intimacy is palpable and almost claustrophobic. There is very little dialogue to disrupt the experience of seeing the world through her eyes.
Read MoreThis film is tragic and dark, but it is also unapologetically romantic. It meanders and it unfolds in a dreamlike fashion; moments follow each other, sometimes rushing and stumbling over one another, sometimes lingering and lasting endlessly as the sun sets like a bloody orange into the sea.
Read MoreThe message of Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette is a dark one. Being a woman is a double edged sword. On the one hand, you are everyone’s most valued possession. You are the vessel of life. Women are coddled and protected and kept in a state of infancy. The fantasy of being a little girl forever, of being a princess, of being indulged, comes with the dark side of being trapped, manipulated, and repressed.
Read MoreThe wedding is the ultimate female fantasy of culmination, of dreams coming true, or true love cemented and bound forever in an elaborate ritual. The wedding, in a romance film would be the final scene. It would be the pinnacle. By beginning with the wedding scene Lars Von Trier makes sure that the film's trajectory goes downwards rather than upwards.
Read MoreThis is a film about a journey. The journey from childhood to adulthood. The transformation from art object to art maker. The shift from passive observer to active participant in the script of one’s own life. Nina must decide if she wants her mother to be the author of her life or if she is ready to take responsibility for her own choices and her own pleasure and fulfillment—as a woman, as well as an artist.
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