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THE CREEP FACTOR
When I was living in Italy, I taught a dear
Sicilian friend, Rosella, the word creepy, in refer
ence to the leering men who used to interrupt
my Roman strolls. She loved the word and used
it constantly, "Look at that cat—troppo creepy!
This dress is strange, it's creepy..." If Rosie were
with me today, and watched all three of this
week's films, her response would doubtlessly be,
"These movies, they are troppo creepy" Enjoy.
ALONE WITH HER (NR) 2006. Voyeurism. We all
do it, right? Don't say you don't. In a society of
reality television and web cameras, everyone's a
voyeur is some form or another. Writer and direc-
falls in lust with Jessie and tries to slime his way
into her knickers under the guise of mentoring.
He takes Jessie out on the town, buying her all
the beer she can chug, lands her a nude model
ing gig and buys her a pair of diamond studs, all
just to grab her breasts, stare at her "chuffs" and
snack on her neck.
My initial reaction was "ewewewewewew!"
Watching a skeleton get intimate with a supple,
young Venus is, frankly, creepy. The film is pretty
hilarious, though. Michell uses the creep fac
tor for sporadic moments of physical humor—
Maurice's awkward and obvious advances (as
would be expected of a 129-year-old drunk) and
Jessie's brusque response
to his overtures (calling
him out with a slap on
the wrist or a kick in the
groin).
Aesthetics aside,
Maurice and Jessie's
quirky, love-hate rela
tionship is rather sweet.
They accept their obvi
ous differences, and, in
the end, settle into a
friendship that brings
each a newfound joy in
their otherwise stagnant
lives. Grade: A
THE DEAD GIRL (R)
2006. In this drama by
director and writer Karen
Moncrieff, the discov
ery of dead prostitute/
junkie Krista (Brittany Murphy) brings to light
disturbing revelations in the lives of four unre
lated women.
The film is divided into five chapters: "The
Stranger," "The Sister," "The Wife," "The Mother"
and "The Dead Girl." Each woman's life is turned
upside down by Krista's death, and her remains
serve as a metaphor for something dead and
forgotten in each woman's life: for Arden (Toni
Collette), the stranger who first discovers Krista's
body, the dead girl is a reminder of a spiritless
existence lived under
the rule of her cruel,
overbearing mother
(Piper Laurie); for
Leah (Rose Byrne), a
depressed grad stu
dent who p|fforms
Krista's autopsy, the
dead girl is a reminder
of her hopelessness,
a reminder that her
missinq, older sister
will never return; for
Rose (Mary Beth Hurt),
the wife of Krista's
killer, the dead girl
is her resignation to
her loveless, twisted
marriage; and finally,
for Melora (Marcia
Gay Harden), Krista’s
mother, the dead girl
resuscitates the secret
life of her estranged,
and now deceased,
daughter.
Moncrieffs bleak,
chilling screenplay
is brought to life by haunting cinematography
and excellent performances, particularly those of
Hurt and Collette. My only issue with the film is
its structure. Besides the obvious, the dead girl,
the chapters lack connectivity. They seem more
like miniseries that share one central character,
as opposed to five coherent parts of a greater
whole. Grade: B-
Robin Geddie
Alone With Her
tor Eric Nicholas reveals the disturbing side of
our inclination to watch in Alone With Her.
Doug (Colin Hanks) develops an obsession for
exotic beauty Amy (Ana Claudia Talancon), silent
ly filming her from a distance. When watching
her isn't enough, Doug attempts to creep his way
into Amy's life by systematically destroying it
(poisoning her), then swooping in to rescue her.
The entire sequence is captured on "surveil
lance," through various cameras that Doug
plants in Amy's house, as well as on a small body
camera he wears when
"running into her" at a
local coffee shop. The
creepiest part of the
film is that Doug isn't
seen until the very
end of the film—until
then, the audience is
left helplessly in his
viewfinder, waiting
to see what his next
move will be.
Good but not great,
simple yet suspense
ful, Nicholas' project
is a scary glimpse into
what can become of
a voyeuristic society.
Grade: C+
VENUS (R) 2006. Love
knows no boundaries.
Well, lust knows no
boundaries. Better yet,
Peter O'Toole knows no
boundaries. In Roger
Michell's (Hotting Hill, The Dead Girl
Persuasion) dark com
edy, O'Toole gropes, gawks at and relentlessly
pursues a twenty-something love interest.
Jessie (Jodie Whittaker), a rude, impolite
country girl, comes to London to live with her
Uncle Ian (Leslie Phillips), a sophisticated
older actor, in h9pes of landing a modeling gig.
Upsetting the delicate balance of her uncle's
stale existence, she captures the fancy of his
chum Maurice (O'Toole), a veteran actor well
known amongst London's theatre society. Maurice
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