Watch Some Girls For Free

the audience applauded

Really Surprised!

A Disappointing Continuation

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Gabriella D'Arc (Jennifer Connelly) left the semester for her sick granny and hasn't returned. Michael (Patrick Dempsey) is overjoyed to be invited to meet her family in Quebec City for her birthday over Christmas. Her eccentric atheist father writes in the nude. There are her sisters Simone and Irenka. Irenka's boyfriend is handyman Nick. They're joined by Father Walter, Gabby's religious mother's former love. Michael is discombobulated after quickly insulting Gabby's mom by expressing sympathy and Gabby telling him that, "I'm not in love with you anymore." It's a week of strange family drama. Granny is delusional and thinks that he is her husband Michael.This is a cold movie and I don't mean the snowy Quebec City. Jennifer Connelly is an enchanting mercurial presence. I don't like her character in this movie. Patrick Dempsey is a pathetic puppy chasing after her. While I don't like his character either, I certainly understand him. Damn, the girl is hot, but most of this movie leaves me cold. It's definitely not actually funny. It's the unknowable nature of women and it leaves me unsatisfied.

This is one of my all-time favorite films. It was too subtle and philosophical to make it in the mainstream. The various 'love' themes between sisters, mothers and daughters, husband and wife are all beautiful. But the love between the boy and old woman - a love that spans lives and time - goes beyond touching; it's eternal and amazing. Other than the Granny's accent being Russian and not French, I found the movie flawless! Wish it came in DVD!

This film goes beyond the usual boundaries of its genre insurprising and sensitive ways. While always amusing, it is alsogenuinely intelligent and genuinely emotional without ever beingpreachy or maudlin, thus placing itself far above 98% of the filmsout there. Jennifer Connelly gives a luminous performance andPatrick Dempsey infuses his character with a flawless combination of frustration, joy and wonder. The story itself isgrounded in the "coming of age" sex comedies of the 70's and80's, just long enough to set things in motion. Once the film reallyhas its own legs, however, it delves more deeply into thecomplicated and strange family relations that drive the themes andpropel the plot toward a beautiful and somewhat unexpectedconclusion."Some Girls" has easily been among my favorite films since thefirst time I viewed it as a rental I had not previously heard of. Theonly tip-off that it might be something extraordinary was the superbsupporting cast, and I have rarely been so delighted at havingpicked a winner.

The American Beauty in Some GirlsSam Mendes's re-release of American Beauty has driven audiences to relive a captivating tale of suburban America dysfunction. Its masterful fusion of separate plots into a believable, complete story is amazing. As popular as this summer blockbuster has become at the box office, many elements of it existed eleven years ago in a strikingly similar film: Robert Redford's 1989 Some Girls. First, it must be understood that the two are of completely different settings and budgets. Some Girls was little seen when it was first released. It has developed an increasing audience over the years, and deservedly so. In addition, the story takes place in 1980's Quebec, rather than present-day American suburbia. Overall, American Beauty is a longer, much more involved work. Its characters are portrayed brilliantly; from the floundering marriage of Lester and Carol Burnham (Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening) to the stern, ex-Army officer Colonel Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper). In both films, nudity, sex, doomed relationships, infidelity, inadequacy, and self-discovery are key. Both draw excellent, well-defined plots from such differing ideas. Don't be fooled by its lack of attention; Some Girls is an exceptional work. Patrick Dempsey's role as the confused adolescent Michael is commendable. As the movie begins, he travels from the United States to Quebec to visit Gabriella D'Arc, an old girlfriend. Upon arrival, he finds out that she doesn't love him. Her two seductive sisters try painstakingly to tempt him, he ends up saving and then undressing the family grandmother, attends Gabby's unexpected birthday party naked, and sees the girls' father nude on many occasions. Notice a prevailing theme? Interestingly, each type of nudity used in Some Girls is different in meaning and value. At the most basic level, the nudity of Mr. D'Arc is a portrayal of self-expression and shamelessness. His character is further developed as his practice of atheism and rather obsessive study of Pascal is revealed. He gets naked in front of everyone, and likes it that way. His brash demeanor is further emphasized when he bluntly asks Michael, "How many of my daughters have you slept with?" Meanwhile, Michael never had any of them, although he tried (and came close). The D'Arc sisters were ideals of beauty. Unfortunately, they were mentally lacking. Gabriella was naked in several scenes, but never had sex with Michael. Redford played the sexual tension element intensely here. Among the sisters, there was an eerie quality of togetherness. At times, it appeared pretty close to incestuous lesbianism. The real shocker is Michael's experience with Granny (Lila Kedrova). After rescuing her when she left her hospital room for a home to rural Quebec, he removes her wet clothes. Meanwhile, the dying Granny believes that Michael is her dead husband. The scene is intense, as the expectation for sexual confrontation lies unwillingly in the audience's mind. After her death, Michael undergoes a transformation that helps him cope with the absence of love from Gabriella. Suddenly, sex with her is not as important. Apart from nudity, Rupert Walters threw in the mother lode of symbolism when he penned Some Girls. For example, Granny's last name is Lumiere, compared to her granddaughters, Gabby, Irenka, and Simone D'Arc. This is possibly symbolic of the negative effects of the girls versus the positive of Granny upon Michael. In addition, a painting of the Three Graces appears periodically throughout the film. Historically, the original 1534 painting by Pillion was believed to be of the three daughters of Zeus and symbolize women as Bloom, Myrth, and Joy. The twentieth century rendition by Sossong, however, depicts them as Purity, Fidelity, and Maturity. In a sense, each of these is descriptive of the D'Arc sisters, as none of them actually submitted to Michael. Not to mention the family dog named Beowulf, who persisted in annoying Michael by clutching his alarm clock mid-ring and then jumping out a bedroom window, only to symbolize Michael's recurring failure with Gabby and her sisters. This movie is about as offensive as an Al Gore speech: while many may not appreciate its contents, not one group will be intentionally slighted. Obviously, the themes inherent in the film are adult oriented, and are intended for such an audience. The movie is an excellent piece. Sex and symbol are entwined as almost unseen in other films. My major complaint about the movie is its lack of depth in character, as provided by American Beauty. In that film, you become one of the characters. From the beginning scene to the final gunshot, you feel as if Kevin Spacey is talking to you as a friend. Additionally, the sound and lighting could have been better in Some Girls. Blame it on 1989 cinema technology. Some Girls is a successful example of what many filmmakers fail at. Namely, it combines typically unrelated elements into a coherent, believable, and entertaining story. Fans of American Beauty would be impressed. It is interesting how two movies with similar plots achieve such in two entirely different approaches. It is also understandable why the film has earned a respectable reputation in the eleven years since its release. A film of this form factor is rare. It's an interesting flick, and definitely worth its 90-minute viewing time.