Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with Grib's take on PRETTY PERSUASION from Sundance... I don't have words other than this seems to be one of the picks of the fest and I want to see it badly (and not for the three Evan Rachel Wood simulated orgasms Grib describes below, you sickos...). Here's the review!
Harry,
Grib here with some thoughts on "Pretty Persuasion," which I saw at Sundance tonight. Once in a while a film pushes boundaries in such a way that it makes the filmgoer question where the boundaries should be. And why. "Pretty Persuasion" is one of a kind. It starts out like "Election," a satirical comedy about self-centered high school overachievers manipulating the system, then moves to "Heathers" territory as things get more twisted. Then it leaves all such movies that have gone before in the rear-view mirror. This is satire at its blackest, its wickedest. In its current form, this tale of three Beverly Hills schoolgirls who accuse their English teacher of sexual assault could only be released unrated or NC-17. There was quite a bit of pre-festival buzz about this film among the studios, both big and small. The big ones have cooled their jets after seeing a film in which a sixteen-year-old actress depicts giving and receiving oral sex with three different partners, complete with graphic sound effects, simulating orgasms each time. Controversial aspects aside, there is a lot to recommend "Pretty Persuasion."
Evan Rachel Wood delivers a pitch-perfect, courageous performance as one of the most loathsome teenagers ever to appear onscreen. Her performance echoes and holds its own with the best darkly comedic efforts of actors decades her senior, particularly Nicole Kidman in "To Die For." James Woods is at his foul-mouthed best in a performance that is the absolute flipside of his turn in "The Virgin Suicides." The film is also savagely funny, featuring the best dysfunctional family dinner-table scene since Sarah Polley read her fortune cookie in "Guinevere." (Didn't see it? Check it out.) Further, the film asks pertinent questions about how and why society bestows celebrity upon certain individuals. But what makes this an important movie is that it makes us question not only what society will accept, but also what we, the individual filmgoers, will accept. Do we want to see and hear this? Is it okay?
Director Marcos Siega told the audience before the screening that Evan Rachel Wood has been attached to the project for four years. She was twelve, then, when she signed on to do the movie. Would this material have been proper when she was twelve? All I can say is that I hope all of you have the chance to see the film on a big screen to decide for yourselves. Siega has said that he will change nothing in order to make the film releasable in the eyes of a studio. The cinematographer told us after the screening that no alternative, "safe" takes were shot. So we'll have to wait and see. Anything less than what we saw tonight would compromise Siega's vision. This is a great, troubling film. We can only hope that filmgoers are able to see it and judge for themselves how great and/or troubling it is to them.
