BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE PRESENTS

 

 

Regus

LONDON

FILM

FESTIVAL

ON TOUR 2000

 

Credits:

 

Director- Rob Schmidt

screenwriter- Larry Gross

Producers- Pam Koffler

-Christine Vachon

                 - Larry Gross

Director of Photography-

- Bobby Bukowski

Production Designer- Ruth Ammon

Costume Designer- Sophie Carbonell

Editor- Gabriel Wyre

 

Cast:

 

Monica Keena - Rosanne

Vincent Kartheiser - Vincent

Ellen Barkin - Maggie

Jeffrey Wright - Chris

James De Bello - Jimmy

Michael Ironside - Fred

 

USA 2OOO

100 mins

Crime and Punishment in

Suburbia

 

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere California, Roseanne (Keena), the most popular girl in school, just made a mistake that she can't smile her way out of. The popular blond cheerleader in school and with a boyfriend who is the quar­terback in the football team, (he's limited but gorgeous) - you'd think Roseanne had it all. But there is a cloud in her eye, an inner failure to believe in herself that is not helped by the fact that her father (Ironside) is a pathetic drunk and her mother (Barkin) is a repressed housewife. Her plot to remove the one blem­ish in her perfect little world takes a terrible turn for the worse when her mother is charged for the crime because of circumstantial evidence.

 

Nearby, an enigmatic rebel named Vincent (Kartheiser) gazes intensely at the photographs he's been secretly taking of Roseanne, immersing himself in her image. He's a complicated boy with an angelic face and we wonder if he repre­sents Raskolnikov, the hero of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel “Crime and Punishment” on which the film is loosely based. Don't get too wrapped up in the Dostoyevsky connection, director Schmidt and screenwriter Gross have bor­rowed little more than the title and the workings of guilty emotions of the novel. Vincent seems inspired more by the angels in Wings of Desire who secretly watch over their humans, finally to descend to their physical level so that they can heal them. Vincent is the classic loner, whose fantasy places him in the centre of Roseanne's world. But sometimes fantasies become reality.

 

Crime and Punishment in Suburbia is a romantic tale that unveils the many faces of love, in a journey towards the truth. Imagine American Beauty told from the cheerleader's perspective. This is the subtle combination of dark humour and the exploration of modern modernity. At what point, if any, is any crime jus­tifiable? And how far can one go to repair the consequences of their actions?

 

This dark, unnerving teen thriller, set against the backdrop of a suburban, teenage wasteland, poignantly depicts the volatile nature of love in a way which goes beyond the conventions of the usual “teen film” fare (e.g. Ten Things I Hate About You). The intricacies of the plot development combined with the strength and the depth of the characters set the film apart. Originally known as Crime and Punishment in High School the decision to change the title to some­thing less teen-specific is significant and encourages a wider audience, a fact which contributed towards the film being nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at both Deauville and Sundance Film Festivals this year.

 

Filmed on location in Los Angeles, Schmidt successfully combines a cast of relative newcomers as Keena (TV's Dawson’s Creek), Kartheiser (Another Day in Paradise), DeBello (Detroit Rock City; American Pie) and Wright (Basquiat, Ride with the Devil) with the accomplished such as Barkin (Drop Dead Gorgeous, This Boy's Life) and Michael Ironside (Starship Troopers, Total, Recall). Keena does an excellent lob in her role as Roseanne, who is herself an actress, pretending to be a daughter, a girlfriend, a cheerleader whilst all the time screaming inside.

 

Jo Wilcock, Southern Film Education Officer.