#19

I know that I promised a review about "The Dark Knigh" but since I still am a little puzzled about how I feel and how much I liked the movie I decided to watch the movie once more before I review it so you guys have to wait a little longer. Just so much: I liked it, but I'm not sure how much I liked it.
But since the Olympics ended today I just wanted to write a short conclusion about the last 16 days of Beijing:
16 Gold Medals for the German athletes is a respectable result. We ended up 5th in the medal ranking with a total of 41 medals. I'm really satisfied with this result. 16 gold medals is really a lot.
I'm happy and proud of every German athlete who won a medal. It's an amazing achievement to be under the top three athletes in the world. I congratulate alle the athletes who participated. Through the Olympics I came to love Beachvolleyball, mostly because Sara Goller and Laura Ludwig are really talented, young and also hot. I have always been attracted to beauty combined with amazing talent. But that's another story.
I have to admit that I am surprised about the way the Chinese held these Games. They seemed to have been really good hosts and even though there are a lot of issues concerning human rights and political differences, the Chinese did a terrific job and raised the bar for London 2012. But I'm sure that the Brits will be just as good hosts as the Chinese and hopefully I can go to London in 2012 and see some of the dedcisions of the next Olympic Games.

And now for a short review:

The Virgin Suicides





Director: Sofia Coppola

Cast: James Woods ("Mr. Lisbon"), Kathleen Turner ("Mrs. Lisbon"), Kirsten Dunst ("Lux Lisbon"), Josh Hartnett ("Trip")

Review: Suburban Michigan in the 1970s. Mr. Lisbon is a math teacher at the local high school. He has 5 daughter. Cecilia is 13, Lux is 14, Mary is 15, Bonnie is 16 and Therese is 17. They all are blond, tall and very beautiful. But since her mother is worried sick about her daughters they have basically no contact to other teenagers. One of the reasons for their mother's worries is Cecilia who is depressed and tries to kill herself. After she comes back from the hospital her parents throw her a welcome back party where boys are invited. But Cecilia hasn't been that much better and kills herself that very evening. This causes her mother to be even more protective. None of the girls is allowed to go out, but when the heartbreaker of their school, Trip, asks Lux out to Homecoming Mr. and Mrs. Lisbon allow their girls to go. But it ends in another tragedy. Even though Trip has feelings for Lux he leaves her alone after having sex with her on the football field. When Lux gets home the next morning her mother takes all the girls away from school. From now on they have to stay inside the house and Lux has to burn all of her records for punishment. But as the movie is narrated constantly by a neighbors boy we find out that the Lisbon girls contact 4 of the neighbors and listen to music over the telephone. The 4 boys have been in love with the girls for a long time and they hope for a romantic adventure with the Lisbon girls. Some nights later, Lux invites them over to go for a ride. lux is going to get her parents car and the boys are to wait in the living room for the three other sisters. They can't wait and go to the basement where they find one of the sisters who has hung herself. They run out of the house and nearly stumble over the second sister who has put her head in the oven. The next morning the police find all of the girls dead in their home. Lux has killed herself with the exhaust fumes of her parents car and the fourth sister killed herself by taking too many sleeping pills.
"The Virgin Suicides" is a social behaviour analysis that shows the viewer what overprotection and too much worry can cause in your children. It seems to be a popular topic in movies to show parents with beautiful teenage daughters who are protected from society and men as if they were raw eggs. The biggest problem is that many children and teenager are crying for help but nobody hears them. In a time where growing-up isn't a slow but a very fast process and sex seems to be a goal that must be reached as fast as possible in some social groups, it is very difficult and confusing to be a teenager. Especially when you don't have anybody who can help you with your situtation. And there you have the vicious circle that I see. Even though 13 or 14-year old girls may already be sexually mature they still are childs psychologically. So they are pressured by society into being sexually active and they think that this is the right thing to do, but in the end their minds don't understand what is happening, because it still is in a child phase.
So to come to a conclusion:
"The Virgin Suicides" is not a movie that lives from its cast, even though they all perform more than solid, but from its psychological dimension. And therefore its rating is not based on what the movie is in itself but also on what influence the movie has on the viewers mind. It made me think a lot about the problems teenagers and especially teenage girls have, even though it is set in the 1970s.

8,3 out 10 psychologically damaged teenage girls