Released: April 23rd, 2002
Starring: Dominique Swain, Mischa Barton, Brad Renfro, Bijou Phillips, Lacey Chabert
Writer/Director: Christina Wayne
Description: After becoming part of the snooty in crowd at school, 16-year-old Cat Storm ends up involved in a depraved world of drug use, sex and -- during a weekend at a well-appointed country estate -- a grisly murder.
[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]
***
At some point, these private school movies start to run together, and now I have only made things more complicated by adding another film. They follow the same structure: some bad, influential crowd persuades an outside girl or boy by using drugs, alcohol or sex, and once they give into to the vice, everything spins out of control. It's their punishment for sacrificing their principles.
"Tart" is an R-rated movie version of "Gossip Girl", and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the same sets were used. Cat Storm (Swain) dislikes the popular and more privileged clique because of the way they treat her friend, Dehlia Milford (Phillips). But after Dehlia gets expelled from their school, Cat befriends U.K. transfer, Grace (Barton), and the ones she used to hate. Eventually, she soon loses herself and what's important.
The film does one thing that those of us who try to write teenage characters and their situations, it tries to make things seem more important than they are. In an effort to make the story more edgy, so that it is not considered fluff, writers tend to over-exaggerate what goes on. Sure, kids use drugs and alcohol, but it is odd that things get so crazy over a short period of time. Maybe I'm wrong, but its overdone in my eyes.
This also goes for the anti-Semitic tone of the film. It's way too obvious, and thankfully, I guess, I've never seen it to this level. It felt like they were in the first half of last century, and not the early part of the 2000s. The first thought that came to mind was that the writer watched "School Ties" and then, wrote this script because the prejudice seemed out-of-place. Again, correct me if I'm wrong. Also, the movie's plot could have done without it.
With a story that looked like it didn't know where it belonged, the performances needed to save it, but they were just as much a part of this movie's problem. Swain gives her character no emotional depth, and this was the beginning of the end for Renfro's acting career. Barton was adequate in her small role, and the supporting cast of Lacey Chabert and Nora Zehetner -- and the indistinguishable male actors -- added nothing to the movie. The only character that was given any nuance was Phillips' Dehlia. Not know for her acting, Phillips gave the most compelling performance, despite her little screen time.
The cinematography and direction looked straight out of a Lifetime Movie of the Week. There was no polish to it at all, and lacked the charm that an independent film should have. Everything was stale and stiff, even the party scenes were too static for the material. When the other two aspects of a film (acting, writing) are lacking, the tone and setting need to keep the audience interested. But it's no surprise that both the direction and writing are poor since Christina Welsh served both roles. There's never a mediocre writer/director, they're either terrible or brilliant; with little in between.
"Tart" is a movie that tried to cash in on a seemingly bottomless well of people who enjoy private school movies, and the producers hoped to ride the coattails of "Cruel Intentions". Probably would have had more success as a made for TV movie, but again the writer was more worried about losing respect from critics, then trying to find the right audience for the material. And that insecurity loses people a lot of money.
No comments:
Post a Comment