Women's Pictures - Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides

Welcome to Sofia Coppola month! Over the course of this series, I’ve noticed a pattern. So far, the first films our directors made have been smallish, personal movies; unpolished films that carry the seeds of themes and images that will grow as the directors do. The Virgin Suicides is not that movie. Sofia Coppola’s 1999 first feature film is neither small nor unpolished. While the film carries themes of isolation and adolescence that Coppola will continue to explore throughout her career, this is not the unpolished or underfunded first film of someone still learning the business. Starring two stars on the cusp of breakthrough (Kirsten Dunst and Josh Hartnett), as well as several well-loved actors (Kathleen Turner, James Woods, Danny DeVito), and shot by a cinematographer with 20 years of experience (Edward Lachman), this may be the most well-varnished first film we’ve seen.

Adapted by Coppola from Jeffrey Eugenides’s novel, The Virgin Suicides is a nostalgic suburban gothic. Set in 1970s Detroit, an unnamed narrator reminisces on his high school crush on the girls next door, five sisters who committed suicide for reasons he still can’t understand:

Everyone dates the decline of our neighborhood from the deaths of the Lisbon girls.

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Review: Welcome to Me

Michael C. here with your non-Avengers review of the week

When we daydream about striking it rich the objects of our fantasies usually fall into tangible, straightforward categories. The things we will buy, the places we will travel, the jobs we will quit. Alice Klieg, the lottery winner with borderline personality disorder played by Kristen Wiig in Shira Piven’s Welcome to Me, has more abstract ideas. Alice has spent her whole life trying and failing to live in the world everyone else seems to inhabit with ease. Now, fresh off the decision to go off her meds and with 86 million at her disposal, she can finally force the rest of us to live in her world.

When we meet Alice prior to striking it rich, she is filling her lonely days watching her vast collection of Oprah episodes on VHS, mouthing the words along with the host. It makes perfect sense then, that when she finds herself thrust into the spotlight her first instinct is to cast herself in the role of self-help guru, albeit one with her own life as her first and only subject. [More...]

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icymi

May came in with a bang. Our best guess is that you couldn't keep up this first week because we barely did! To insure that you read everything - a requirement by law - here are things you might have missed in this very busy week: The podcast returned and we learned that Anne Marie has feelings for Michelle Rodriguez's biceps and Joe Reid really loves watching superheroes fight together; The first wave of Oscar predictions finally wrapped with Supporting Actress and Lead Actress discussions; Orson Welles turned 100 years old and, aside from the Best Shot Mid-Season Finale, Alexa (of 'Curio' fame) got a collage piece accepted for a centennial show in Illinois which you should check out if you live there!; Mysterious Skin turned 10; Nathaniel attended the Marvel Marathon and reviewed The Age of Ultron and also gawked at Penny Dreadful's NSFW premiere episode; Posed with Yoda, Manuel did, for a Star Wars Day photoset while Jason asked you to choose between the Dark Side and the uh... Skywalker side; Mad Men continued knocking it out of the park in its final episodes; David Lynch sold coffee; and The Lovely Laura Linney sold her soul to the devil Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

whew

Oh and we had a very special guest blogger...

THANK YOU, DAVID!
Longtime TFE readers surely had already clocked that we enjoy David Dastmalchian's work and have been waiting for him to bust out so that people can learn his name. Over the years he earned two nominations in our annual awards ceremony (both in the limited or cameo category) for The Dark Knight (2008) and Prisoners (2013). We assume he won't be haunting that category much longer as his career expands. He was kind enough to say yes when we asked him to guest blog for what should surely be his breakout summer given that the film he wrote and headlines Animals, riding critical darling status out of SXSW, opens on May 15th and two months later he gets to play with Paul Rudd in Ant-Man, joining the Marvel Universe. That's an interesting move, given that he first gained notice for a DC movie, The Dark Knight. ET Online recently asked him about the switcheroo. (Click on that photo if you'd like to see that red carpet moment. It's not embedded here because it's an automatic play):

Here's what he wrote for you:
David What? - His origin story & how to pronounce his name
What I Learned From Paul Rudd - On comic improv with Paul Rudd, Melissa Leo staying in character, and an idol of his Malcolm McDowell
What I Saw / Where I Saw It - four of his formative films growing up
The Making of Animals things looked bleak until magically it came together 
Soundtrack of My Life - Have you ever imagined your life in movie trailer form?
... You should follow him on Twitter & Instagram !

We sincerely hope the experience was more pleasant for him that that time he met Jake Gyllenhaal...

Are you enjoying May thus far?

 

The Fantastic Suicide Devil: First Thoughts

Manuel here asking you turn your brain off and go down the rabbit hole that is superhero-related marketing materials. Summer is almost here and superheroes, whether we like them or not, will be dominating the conversation (look no further than TFE's first podcast of the season!) though we'll do our best at TFE to provide counterprogramming.

But until then, presented with the first thought that came into my head are these three new images for upcoming supes-centered films:

Color: DC's kryptonite.  

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YNMS: Ricki & The Flash

Before we get to the trailer, quick uncensored thoughts as they come to me regarding the poster and some new images so it's several  posts in one after the jump...

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