|
| Wicked
Year: 1998
Directed:
- Michael Steinberg
Actors/Actresses:
- Julia Stiles
It began with tragedy and ended with irony
So I guess the tragedy and comedy masks the Christensen family keeps in their dining room parallel the plot. Not to mention, Ellie Christensen (short for Electra maybe...?), played by Julia Stiles, has an Electra Complex, just like the character from the ancient greek tragedy for whom the psychological condition was named. She is obsessed with her father, and may very well be responsible for the brutal murder of her mother.<BR>I really liked this movie and I loved the music. Yeah, it was twisted, but I've encountered less severe cases of the Electra Complex in various texts and films and so it was something I could recognize, and relate to. It's so much better when you watch a movie to be able to say, Ok, this is what that is.<BR>Anyway, don't watch this with your parents.
Surreal and twisted dark comedy
This movie features Julia Stiles playing a posessive teenager who turns into a domineering young woman with the Electra-complex after her mother's death. She is posessive of her father which whom she becomes obsessed with later on in the movie. As far as the plot, it takes on many facets which do not fit right for the theme of the movie. Through the protagonist's eyes, you can see how far away reality becomes, and eventually how she is corrupted through the events following her mother's death. At times, the incestual overtones made me queasy, and the end was sort of expected due to the lack of definition to the characters. Sometimes during the movie, one could get the feeling that it was more of a who-dun-it film than anything else. Although disturbing and dark to watch, there are not any scenes of nudity, just the adult situation, language, and violence content. Hope this helps.
Almost good enough for two stars!
Well, if it looks like trash it probably is, and the cover of this one definitely looks like trash. Hollywood has been busting a gut for years trying to get Julia Styles a big hit, and this was one of her prep efforts. Stiles plays a rebellious teenager. A very rebellious teenager. So bad, in fact, that we are led to believe that she murders her mother to win over the affections of her father. Or did she?
That's the puzzle throughout the movie. It's the reason it almost gets a higher rating, but because of the way it was handled, it stays in one-star territory. The movie does try to be ambitious by showing her taking over ALL the roles of her mother. And when dad marries the maid that was fired by her mother, boy does Julia get jealous!
All of this could have been elevated to the level of great trash, but unfortunately the plot and direction fall off quickly. With mom offed rather quickly, you're hoping to at least see a few more people get knocked off, especially an irritating neighbor who keeps putting her nose into everybody's business. But even this falls short. Finally, we have one of those endings that are supposed to make us look at what we've seen completely differently. Is someone else responsible for mom's demise? Or is this person just taking over the family wickedness. When nobody who was watching the film with me could figure it out, that makes it just bad storytelling.
Buy Wicked at Amazon.com
Buy posters at Allposters.com
Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone! | |
|
