Award winners Christina Ricci (CURSED, MONSTER) and Jessica Lange (BIG FISH, ROB ROY) star in this emotionally charged true story about a journey into excess! When talented young writer Elizabeth Wurtzel (Ricci) earns a scholarship to Harvard, she sees it as her chance to escape the pressures of her working-class background and concentrate on her true talent. But what starts out so promising leads to self-destructive behavior and paralyzing depression that reflects an entire generation's struggle to navigate the effects of divorce, drugs, sex, and high expectations. Based on the best-selling autobiographical novel, PROZAC NATION also stars Michelle Williams (THE STATION AGENT), Anne Heche (JOHN Q), Jason Biggs (JERSEY GIRL), and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM). Fans of Christina Ricci will note that the saucer-eyed actress takes a big leap from deadpan-child! and grumpy-ingenue roles with
Prozac Nation, an adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's bestselling book. Ricci puts her all into playing Lizzie, a self-absorbed Ivy League writer wannabe who alienates friends and family with her out-of-control mood swings and other chemical imbalances. Ricci is committed and convincing, but nothing she does ameliorates Lizzie's exasperating personality; spending 90 minutes around this person is an eternity of tantrums. Around to provide audience stand-ins are Jason Biggs, Michelle Williams, and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, all of whom disapprove of Lizzie's self-destructive behavior. Jessica Lange, professional as always, is Lizzie's brittle mother. If the movie really did capture the sense of the zeitgeist suggested by its grandiose title, or if it carried some intriguing stylistic urgency that carried us into its depressive labyrinth, perhaps Lizzie's journey would be palatable. But the long delay between
Prozac Nation's shooting (in 2! 001) and its emergence on cable-TV and DVD is all too easy to ! understa nd.
--Robert HortonA YOUNG WOMAN CAUGHT BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH... AND A FUNERAL DIRECTOR WHO APPEARS TO HAVE THE GIFT OF TRANSITIONING THE DEAD, BUT MIGHT JUST BE INTENT ON BURYING HER ALIVE.Quite a few folks in the movies have seen dead people, especially since
The Sixth Sense, but
After.Life gives this by-now-familiar conceit an intriguing spin. As director-cowriter Agnieszka Wojtowicz-Vosloo's 2009 film would have it, the deceased aren't exactly dead. At least not yet; in the days between whatever killed them and the moment they're put in a box and lowered six feet under, they're caught in some kind of purgatory, no longer alive but still able to move and communicate. Not to everyone, of course; only Eliot Deacon (Liam Neeson) has the ability, be it a gift or a curse, to converse with these infernal travelers as he readies them for their final rest in the basement of his funeral home. That's where he meets Anna Taylor (Christina Ricci), who died in a ! car crash following a nasty argument with her boyfriend, Paul (Justin Long). Anna, not surprisingly, is in denial. How can she be dead, when she can still walk, talk, and experience emotions? Well, it's complicated, but Eliot's there to help her sort it all out--that is, unless he's up to something considerably more sinister, a question that remains in doubt even at the very end.
After.Life has a cool concept, a good look, an ominous vibe (driven by former Tangerine Dream member Paul Haslinger's relentlessly spacy, downbeat musical score), and some fine performances. But movies like this depend on the rules and boundaries the filmmakers establish. In
The Sixth Sense, those rules ("dead people don't know they're dead," etc.) are simple and consistent. Here they're a bit more confusing. How can the deceased wield a knife, open a locked door, or even make a phone call? If Anna is dead, why can she still see her breath on a windowpane? The willingness to accept su! ch things may well affect one's appreciation of this very abso! rbing fi lm.
--Sam Graham
