herbiehancock

No 262 - The Virgin Suicides Director - Sofia Coppola Let us continue, in reverse chronological order, with my journey through Sofia Coppola. Continuing the theme of upset young women and with an incredibly dark tale. The film begins - wonderfully setting the tone - with Cecilia, the youngest of the sisters, slashing her wrists and going to hospital.... here she is told by a complete idiot of a doctor that life will only get worse. At least the amazing (and far too brief) cameo of Danny De Vito dressed as professor Robert Winston helps to put things in perspective - 'let your daughters meet other children of their own age' he essentially says. This is the main moral of a very bleak story. You see, the Lisbon girls do not get much of a chance to socialise, and this is not a good thing... I don't know quite what the film is trying to say. It seems to imply that if you are a strict and over zealous christian parent you will probably lead your children to kill themselves. I don...

No 128 - Lost in Translation Director - Sofia Coppola Bill Murray has had this amazing comeback playing the wistful , distant, gloomy comedy. He is playing up to his haggard hound dog look and where once he was all wise cracking and sarcastic, now he is a sombre and sober type of comedy. You see it in Broken Flowers , you see it in Wes Anderson's back catalogue (who is probably responsible for this new direction) and you see it in this film. Bill Murray's incredible charisma and screen presence pulls you through this film. Even though he does spend most of it moping around. Bill Murray is important because Scarlett Johansson isn't the most charismatic character in this film, she does however benefit from the presence of Murray. The scenes they share together show a massive improvement in performance. However, Scarlett Johansson does benefit from the more quiet performances. I will rate her performance in this and in Ghost World other any of the more mainstream perform...