To Die For
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Movie Reviews of To Die For
Movie Review: A wicked gem of a film
Summary: 4 Stars
If you would like to see a really great performance by Nicole Kidman, pick up a copy of "To Die For" at your local video store. Directed by Gus Van Sant, screenplay by Buck Henry from the book by Joyce Maynard (both Henry and Maynard have bit parts in the film), "To Die For" is a wicked little gem of a film.
Kidman won the Golden Globe award for Best Actress for her performance, and frankly I thought she should have gotten the Academy Award (unless I remember incorrectly, I don't think she was even nominated for an Academy Award for it). But she is absolutely brilliant in it: chilling, funny, scary, sexy, and horrifically evil.
Kidman portrays Suzanne Stone-Maretto: a devious, calculating, self-centered woman who manipulates Larry Maretto (a very sympathetic performance by Matt Dillon) into marrying her, quickly tires of him when he tries to stand in her way of her greatest ambition in life, which is to be the next Diane Sawyer, and soon convinces her teenage lover to kill him for her. Sound familiar? "To Die For" was loosely based on the real-life story of Pamela Smart, who seduced her 15-year old lover into murdering her husband.
Joaquin Phoenix is Jimmy Emmett, the hapless student who becomes Suzanne's lover; Lydia Mertz is Alison Follard, a young girl who idolizes her; and Casey Affleck is Russel Hines, another student who gets caught up in the scheme. Illeana Douglas is great as Larry's acidic, loving sister Janice, who also gets one of the best lines in the film, and at the very beginning, no less; and Dan Hedaya is Larry's father, Joe Maretto. Dan Hedaya is a master of the "Believe me, you don't want to see me mad" performance, with obvious menace just under a calm surface. The casting is great, and the performances are all right on target.
Look for uncredited cameos by George Segal as a conference speaker, and David Cronenberg as...you'll just have to go see it.
Movie Review: A strangely brutal film
Summary: 4 Stars
"To Die For" is a mean-spirited little film and one that left something of a bitter taste in my mouth. Nearly all of the characters are painted with a very broad brush, and are made to look absurd and ugly for their stupidity, spitefulness and vanity. Such harsh characterizations may seem surprising coming from a director like van Sant, whose other films generally display a strong empathy and compassion for the wide range of humanity (see: "Drugstore Cowboy", "My Own Private Idaho", "Paranoid Park".)
Of course, it all becomes clear as the film progresses that the film is, in fact, a satire on a shallow celebrity- and media-obsessed culture. That is, such pathetic, shallow characters (and the subsequent bitter aftertaste) serve as a condemnation of a culture of headlines and breaking news and journalistic "investigations" in which small, humanizing details and character traits are lost so that the audience make a quick, untroubled about whether the subject is good or bad, malicious or benevolent. All subtlety is lost, and thus much of what makes us human.
I don't know if I'll return to this film (it is just a little too brutal for my tastes), but I'm glad I saw it.
Movie Review: ICY, SATIRICAL DARK COMEDY
Summary: 4 Stars
Nothing like a little dark humor and feminine fangs to make a mash of the culture driven by 15-minutes-of-fame. In this case, a riveting Nicole Kidman as a perky, self-obsessed suburban nutcase who has big dreams of finding fame and fortune, even at the expense of her husband. Directed by Gus Van Sant in his usual cobbled-together manner (hoary, quasi-documentary devices to propel the screenplay, regular flashbacks, direct-to-the-camera diction, etc..) based on Buck Henry's trippy adaptation of a novel by the same name. The result is a pleasantly watchable movie that moves quickly and keeps you guessing the limits to which our protagonist would limp to achieve her ambitious goals.
I felt that the premise, beyond its chirpy surface, is quite thought-provoking. If our perky weather reporter were to be successful in her quest then we could believe that total dedication to a quest is admirable and ultimately rewarded -- regardless of the means employed. Can we condone murder though? Perhaps we are offered a tongue-in-cheek hyperbole that extremes are necessary if we are to escape our station in life.
This movie apart from amusing you will surely leave you with something to savor, not just off its theme but from the brilliant supporting performances of Casey Affleck, Matt Dillon and especially Joaquin Phoenix.
Recommended rental.
Movie Review: The Perfect Psychpath
Summary: 4 Stars
Nicole Kidman plays the perfect psychopath in TO DIE FOR. The psychopath is the one area of psychology that no one has a cure for. Psychopaths lack moral impulse. They not only don't have the vaguest idea of what right and wrong mean, but they also don't understand why other people can get all exercised about violations of right and wrong. Kidman in the movie doesn't murder because it's calculated and she can get away with it; she doesn't even think that far ahead. And that's what makes acting a role like this so blamed difficult. Kidman pulls it off in what I regard as one of the two greatest bravura female acting performances in the past quarter century. (The other is Kate Nelligan in the 1981 movie, EYE OF THE NEEDLE.) If only the screenplay were up to Kidman's level, it would shake five stars out of me. There's a little too much fussing about with the teenagers, and some scenes last too long. A good editing job could have trimmed ten or fifteen minutes out of this movie and made it one of Hollywood's all=time best. But, given what we have, if you watch it only for Kidman's incredible, incredible performance, you'll get a lot more than your money's worth.Movie Review: It seems some amateur critics have missed the point entirely
Summary: 4 Stars
That's right. Suzanne Stone is NOT cold blooded. She is ambitious, young, not wonderfully intelligent and rarely taken seriously. This film's subtly powerful accusations on the professional world's sexist undertones are what make this film so powerful. Some may confuse Kidman's performance as weak, yet I found that the superimposed stoicism of her character is what makes her all the more emotional and REAL. The film comments beautifully on the the idealized "Brilliant Beauty" and "Femme Fatale" that is so often seen on screen and so rarely in the real world. It attempts to deconstruct this stereotype's opposition to the "Beautiful-but she's a moron" stereotype. Kidman gives Suzanne Stone what she needs to be both pitied and hated. However, the direction seems to be more in favor of the "hated." It is easy to watch this film and hate a woman like this, but the film is manipulative, like the news. The subtle innuendos may be too subtle, but this may have been a directors decision to give the film a more "true to life feel." I.E., the subtle sexism in the professional job market. You need to see this one.