Her debut The Virgin Suicides showcases the gifts she was given. Through faded coloring and natural lighting, Coppola depicts a time when one was at their most unpredictable: the teenage years.
Coppola also shows a common theme that's among her work: loneliness. The Libson girls have essentially sheltered lives, thanks to their parents. Among people their own ages, they rather stay together as a group than be by themselves. Why? They don't know how to talk to other people.
Like her next film Lost in Translation, the leads are bored with their lives and the paths they're going down. They want something different to happen to them, something that's far from their usual mundane lives. They also realize they have to find that life-changing scenario. It's not going to walk right up to them.
The Virgin Suicides is a very good film, but it pales in comparison to Lost in Translation. However, it does shows that Coppola is definitely following in her father's footsteps. It also proves she's a much better director than an "actress".
My Rating: ****1/2
This is one of my absolute favourites of all time. Sofia Coppola makes some great films.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember the boredom at all. It's more about the loneliness, as you said here, and the repression that the female characters especially feel. That's happening while the mean are dealing with the loss of the young women they've revered and objectified. All those levels of emotions are happening.I don't necessarily believe that there could ever be a cinema of boreDOM. Those moments are an expression of the freedom they can't have.
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