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| Kirsten Dunst, James Woods, Kathleen Turner,
Josh Hartnett, Michael Paré, Danny DeVito, Scott Glenn, Giovanni
Ribisi (v/o) |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.0 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Narrator
(Giovanni Ribisi): We knew the girls were really women in disguise,
that they understood love, and even death, and that our job was merely
to create the noise that seemed to fascinate them.
Five
teenage sisters with strictly conservative parents end up committing
suicide, to the bewilderment of the neighborhood.
 It's
surprising really how rarely one comes across unexpected delights in
movies these days. Hollywood fare rarely lives up even to expectations
that have been systematically lowered by years of over-hyped productions
one ends up seeing thinking 'how bad can it be?' and leaves behind with
a severe headache. European productions meanwhile usually flounder in
a cross-cultural quagmire of international production companies, limited
not only by their budgets but also compromized by the need to cater
to diverse national audiences, all of which apparently have a stake
in the production, and none of which ends up completely satisfied. What
exhilaration one therefore experiences when you discover an assured,
intelligent and marvelously controlled début like The Virgin
Suicides.
First-time director (and screenwriter) Sofia Coppola has clearly
survived the ridicule heaped upon her following her acting début
in her father's woesome The Godfather Part III, where she was
an ill-advised last-minute replacement for Winona Ryder. Her directorial
début bears favorable comparison with her father's best early
work, with an ability to get under the viewer's skin similar to The
Conversation, and an ease at portraying complex family relatsionships
reminiscent of the first two instalments of The Godfather. The
Virgin Suicides is marked however by a lightness of touch that is
wholly the director's own, and that is all the more welcome considering
the doom-laden tale told in this picture. Sofia Coppola elicits all-around
great performances from her cast that consists mostly of unknown youngsters
and a handful of veterans, all of whom show far more subtlety than one
has come to expect from them. The Virgin Suicides is a little
marvel of a movie that certainly bodes well for this new director's
future. |
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A
Region 1 edition is available from Paramount, with a short documentary
and the trailer as only extras on board.
The Region 2 version (that served as a basis for this review) does not
include the documentary but has some other extra features on the disc.
The
anamorphic widescreen image is framed at an aspect ratio of approx.
1.78:1. The gold-hued cinematography is presented in an appropriately
soft transfer without any major defects.
The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.0. Most dialogues and
other sound activity remains firmly anchored in the center channel throughout,
with the discreet surround channels springing into action most effectively
for songs used for narrative or emotional effect. The sound design is
very subtle and nicely judged, with a well-balanced soundstage.
Two
photo galleries complement this release, one with production
stills accompanied by text quotes from the movie, and one with a few
behind-the-scenes shots and portraits of cast and crew. Both galleries
are designed like a picture scrapbook and hold only a handful of pictures.
Surprisingly fun is the music video for the song by the French
band Air used in the film. It consists of nicely edited sequences from
the movie together with seamlessly integrated shots of a singing piece
of gum. Trust me, it's funny... The theatrical trailer is also
on board. The
static menu screens have a pleasing but unremarkable design, with still
images and snapshots from the film incorporated into easy navigation screens.
Dan
Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on The
Virgin Suicides.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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