I saw this movie. It was OK.
there were some incredibly strong performances from the actors, particularly from the girls who played Liz and Michelle. i found some of the other leads to be a bit over the top, some were a bit wooden, but overall the acting was one of the stronger points. the concept was interesting but wandered a little at times, at other times skimming over things which seemed like they deserved more attention.
it was difficult to really empathize with either of the female protagonists (the teenage girl or the psychiatrist)- mostly because their characters seemed to almost be fighting over which one was the focus of the main story. because of this they both came off a bit cold, something which may have been solved by their relationship with each other but wasn't. in their scenes together Juliet (the shrink) came off as patronizing and superficial, and the girl as a result just came off like a whiny brat (which considering she's recovering from a savage attack seems pretty damn harsh). there were other characters and sub-plots which could have brought a more human element to both these characters: Juliet had an ex-boyfriend character who was a rape counselor, any and all warmth about her character came from their relationship. unfortunately for her he was only in a couple of scenes (which also seemed strange considering his character was pretty much imperative to the whole story). he was one of the film's only completely sympathetic characters, had the potential to link Liz's family and Juliet on a more personal level but didn't. instead there was scene after scene of the parents fighting with each other which just distracted from the main story and made their characters seem cold and selfish. Liz had a best friend Michelle who spent most of the film going through an emotional crisis/ethical dilemma. the actress in this role delivered a notably convincing performance but the character just sort of added to the heaviness of the plot. there was a definite opportunity to balance this (which i can only assume was cut from the film for god knows what reason): they had a third friend who was a goth (the only teenage girl that didn't have blonde hair?) who for some reason was only there for the beginning and the end of the film. she was clearly supposed to be best friends with Liz and Michelle, it was set up that these 3 were being constantly verbally (albeit lamely) abused by the "popular girls" but that their strong friendship bond prevented the bitchiness from affecting them. why was she not around while Liz spent most of the film in a violent mental/emotional struggle and Michelle spent most of the film in tears? some of the other characters just blended in as part of the backdrop, such as the crazies in the psych ward, the bitchy girls, the nurses etc, probably their scenes could have been minimized as much of their interaction was unnecessary.
there were a couple of plot holes which was frustrating, it did seem as though there was little communication between the director/writer and the editor and some of the shots were weird and slightly inappropriate (stuff like characters cut off the edge of a shot for an entire scene... if they're there why can i only see their arm?). it ran too long (which i think is pretty standard fare for a writer/director debut)- some scenes dragged, some probably should have been cut. the music was really repetitive and often completely inappropriate. the dark mood probably would have been more balanced with a greater diversity of music- the only music was the score (apparently they lived in a suburb with no radio stations?) which was all based around a sombre piano that came in suddenly and forebodingly no matter what the scene.
there were some great elements in the film, there were also many things overlooked. brings up some interesting points but doesn't follow all of them through. the acting is good, if you can get past the urge to punch the characters for all being total downers. not a movie to cheer you up if you're feeling blue. might have made a great TV show.
