The Virgin Suicides (1999)

Directed by Sofia Coppola. Starring Kathleen Turner, James Woods, Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, Jonathan Tucker, A. J. Cook, Anthony DeSimone, Noah Shebib, Robert Schwartzman, Leslie Hayman, Hanna Hall, Chelse Swain, Michael Paré, Joe Dinicol, Suki Kaiser, Lee Kagan, Hayden Christensen, (voice) Giovanni Ribisi. [R]

Elusive, ethereal meditation on adolescent discovery, the loss of innocence, and idealized yearning set in the Michigan suburbs of the late-70s. Four juvenile boys pine for the entrancing Lisbon sisters, princesses of bewitching purity in their eyes, though the cracks in the armor start showing after the youngest girl commits suicide. The moody mystique of Jeffrey Eugenides’ allegorical novel is deftly captured by debuting writer/director Coppola, and her confident blend of euphoric fantasia and disenchanted reality (the metaphor suggested by the film’s dramatic turning point on a football field) eludes any forensic examination of what precipitated the disturbing climactic reveal. Woods and Turner excel at playing the girls’ strict and unmindful parents. Soundtrack features a pastiche of the era’s pop tunes, as well as lush contributions from French electronic/dream pop duo Air. Danny DeVito and Scott Glenn make brief appearances.

83/100