You Can Be Anywhere When Your Life Begins: Deeply (2000) and Crazy/Beautiful (2001)

To close out our Girl Power series, I leave you with double the fun.

(Doublemint commercial.  I’m a 90s child, can’t help it.)

Anyway, as a sendoff to this series, I give you Sheri Elwood’s Deeply (2000) and John Stockwell’s Crazy/Beautiful (2001).

Now, if one were to even glance at the covers of these two films, you would see one glaring similarity.

Kirsten Dunst.

I personally am not a Kirsten Dunst fan.  However, aside from her teen comedies, I have to admit that she has a habit of choosing to be in some very good films.  I also have to give her props for playing characters that don’t necessarily cast her in the best light.

That’s where both of these films come in.

Both are forbidden love stories of sorts, with Dunst’s character being cast as the “socially undesirable” one.

As ridiculous as that sounds on paper, she is actually able to pull it off quite well in both instances.

Photo credit: Bellwood Stories

In Deeply, she plays Silly, a girl born and raised on Ironbound Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia.  The island, which makes its living through the fishing industry, is plagued by a curse.  Every 50 years, the fish disappear, the only way to bring them back being the death of someone at sea.

Through signs from early in her childhood, it is shown that Silly is destined to be that “one.”

She grows up to be a hard worker, but definitely the “troublemaker” of the island.  She is also looked down upon by the local doctor for her father being a mere fisherman.

Enter James.

James is the son of a navy Admiral who has come to the island to build the base.  James and Silly quickly form a romantic relationship, much to the chagrin of the boy’s posh parents.

Photo credit: Bellwood Stories

*SPOILER ALERT*

In the end, after James is taken away and returns, he and Silly attempt to escape together, but it is James who is claimed by the sea, fulfilling the prophecy of the curse.

Crazy/Beautiful takes the forbidden love story and places it in a vastly different setting.

In this case, Dunst plays Nicole, the 17-year-old daughter of a good-doing congressman.

Nicole is the epitome of a problem child.  Drinking, doing drugs, skipping class.  However, she also has severe issues that run much deeper than the typical lashing out.

She struggles with depression and anger management issues, having attempted several times in the past to end her life.

Enter Carlos.

Carlos is the opposite of Nicole in every way.  He is the son of poor Mexican immigrants, being raised by his single mother.  Carlos wants nothing more than to make a better life for himself.  Therefore, he is bused in to Nicole’s wealthy high school, excels in his studies, and is also a standout on the football team.  His ultimate goal is to attend the US Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Once the two meet for the second time after a brief encounter on a beach, all hell breaks loose.

Photo credit: Touchstone Pictures

 The attraction is instant and they quickly fall into an affair.

Carlos’ world becomes consumed by Nicole’s powerful presence, causing everything to slowly crumble.  His grades.  His relationships with his mother and friends.

Everything comes to a boiling point when Nicole’s own father, who has offered to write a recommendation for Carlos, seeing his potential, tells him to stay away from his daughter.

Not for her own good, but his.

Tom, Nicole’s father, knows the negative effects his daughter is capable of having on people’s lives and he does not want this young man with so much promise throw everything he has away for her.

However, in the end, it is love that wins out, as Carlos is surprisingly the one who reaches out to Nicole after he has listened to Tom’s advice and broken up with her, and suggests they run away together.  After only a night away, it is Nicole who convinces Carlos that they need to do back, telling him that she wants to be something positive in his life, not make things worse.

I am a big fan of both of these films, and both have their merits.

The story of Deeply is a unique one, and the main plot of Silly’s experiences is bridged to those of another young girl named Claire years later in a creative way.  The characters seem genuine and the audience truly feels for the pain of the young lovers.

If I had to pick one over the other, though, I would have to go with Crazy/Beautiful.

There is just something so raw and real about it that completely sucks me in.  Plus, I love the swerve of the typical forbidden love story, having the rich white girl be the “bad” one for the poor Hispanic guy.  That’s not a twist we get to see very often.

Photo credit: Touchstone Pictures

 The supporting cast is also phenomenal.  Taryn Manning (who can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned), gives a memorable performance, as do Miguel Castro, Tommy De La Cruz, and Herman Osorio.  These three young men at the time were high school students who auditioned for an open call at their school.  Castro would go on to act in the 2003 film adaptation of the novel Holes.  For having such little experiences, all three do a phenomenal job.

Ultimately, I think everyone should see both these films.  They are both done extremely well, and each offers the viewer something different, despite having the same fundamental story at its core.

I hope you all have enjoyed this Girl Power series.  It was definitely a project for me and I had a great time going back and revisiting these films I love so much.  I’d love hear if any of you know of any films that would fit this category well.  Leave a comment and give me your ideas.

To return to the beginning of the series, click here.

Deal With It: Girlfight (2000)

As cynical as I can be, I've never been a fan of those film critics who are always overly critical or just plain negative in general. I don't want this blog to keep a positive tone, but every once in a while, I'm just going to have to vent.

This is one of those occasions. I give you Girlfight (2000).

Now, believe it or not, my issue has nothing to do with this film itself. Quite the opposite, in fact.

My issue lies with Hollywood.

Girlfight tells the story of a young woman who wants to become a boxer. She has to persuade an aging trainer to take her under his wing and eventually shows that she can be a success, renewing his lost hope in life.

Sound familiar? It should.

You're most likely thinking of 2004's Million Dollar Baby. That film won Oscars, was headlined by three “stars” (Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, and Morgan Freeman), and had a 30 million dollar budget.

It seems in all the hype of this supposedly landmark film, everyone seemed to forget about a little film that was released 4 years earlier.

I've seen both films and I have to say that while watching Million Dollar Baby, I was honestly getting angry. I kept thinking, 'They're ripping off Girlfight. They're ripping of Girlfight. What is going on?'

And yet, with a budget nearly 30 times the size and A-list stars, I genuinely feel Baby falls short.

As trite as it sounds, Girlfight is a film with much more “heart.” The characters come off as real people, ones we've all met before at sometime in our lives. The lack of “stars” even helps in this regard, as I never saw “Michelle Rodriguez playing Diana Guzman.” It was just Diana Guzman.

Photo credit: Ilsmutant

Speaking of, let's talk about Michelle Rodriguez.

This was her first film. Her very first (before she rose to fame as “Letty” in The Fast and the Furious franchise), and she knocked it out of the park.

Her character, Diana, is a “trouble-making” high school student who takes up boxing as a way to release her frustrations, and I believe every second of it.

All of the characters share that quality, from Diana's trainer, to her love interest, to her father and brother. Diana's brother, portrayed by Ray Santiago, is particularly one of my favorite cinematic characters. The child the father is pushing to become a boxer but who secretly wants to go down a different path in life. The viewer can see throughout the film how his character struggles with his desire to make everyone happy, ultimately supporting his sister, who he loves dearly.

In the end, it is these performances, supported by a strong story and script, that give Girlfight its power.

So...if you want my advice, next time you're interested in renting a movie for the night, pass on Million Dollar Baby and go for Girlfight.

Up next in our Girl Power series, Summer's Moon (2009).

To return to the beginning of the series, click here.