CHRISTINA WAYNE
Bil’s rating (out of 5): BB.5.
USA/Canada, 2001. Green Moon Productions, Interlight. Screenplay by Christina Wayne. Cinematography by Stephen Kazmierski. Produced by Patrick D. Cheh, Diane Isaacs, Nile Niami. Music by Jeehun Hwang. Production Design by Marian Wihak. Costume Design by Gersha Phillips. Film Editing by Ray Hubley.
More teen angst, served up bitter and frank. An excellent Dominique Swain stars as a private school girl who wants social acceptance so bad that she turns her back on her troubled (and I mean troubled) best friend (Bijou Phillips, morally bankrupt as always) and befriends a group of rich, snotty, soulless prep-schoolers. Her particular target is a moody boy (Brad Renfro, giving a most unappealing performance) who has a personal problem with petty thievery and drug abuse. For the first two-thirds the film is an incisive and probing examination of peer pressure and the lives of young people who would never be seen in a Julia Stiles movie. Unfortunately, a stupidly melodramatic turn in the last third that apes a bad Larry Clark movie coincides with Swain’s character and performance falling completely apart. Melanie Griffith appears, all too briefly, while Alberta Watson is excellent as Swain’s concerned mother.
