Tanner Hall (2009)

Tanner Hall is a vivid peek into the private world of an all-girls boarding school. In a cozy, but run down New England, the knot of adolescent complexity is unraveled through the coming of age stories of four teen-age girls.

Directors:

Francesca Gregorini, Tatiana von Furstenberg

Writers:

Tatiana von Furstenberg, Francesca Gregorini

Stars:

Rooney Mara, Georgia King, Brie Larson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rooney Mara	...	Fernanda
Georgia King	...	Victoria
Brie Larson	...	Kate
Amy Ferguson	...	Lucasta
Tom Everett Scott	...	Gio
Amy Sedaris	...	Mrs. Middlewood
Chris Kattan	...	Mr. Middlewood
Shawn Pyfrom	...	Hank
Ryan Schira	...	Peter
Susan Misner	...	Roxanne (as Susie Misner)
Tara Subkoff	...	Gwen
Annika Peterson	...	Olga
Alaina Lauren Steinberg	...	Margaret (as Alaina Steinberg)
Konstantine Kakanias	...	Mr. Tependris
Lowry Marshall	...	Ms. Wallace

Storyline

Tanner Hall is a vivid peek into the private world of an all-girls boarding school. In a cozy, but run down New England, the knot of adolescent complexity is unraveled through the coming of age stories of four teen-age girls.

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Plot Keywords:

boarding school | coming of age | new england | older man younger woman relationship | teenage girl | 

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Taglines:

Lose your way. Find yourself.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content including brief nudity, and some drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 October 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Os Segredos de Tanner Hall

Filming Locations:

Providence, Rhode Island, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$2,803 (USA) (9 September 2011)

Gross:

$5,005 (USA) (16 September 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Tax Credit Finance, Two Prong Lesson

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Rooney Mara's first name is used as her character's last name,when Victoria returns Gio's letter to Fern's mailbox, her full name is Fernanda Rooney.

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Soundtracks

"Deep Inside"
Written & Performed by Antonia Steinberg

User Reviews

The misadventures of four forgettable and unrelatable teenage girls

Tanner Hall is one of those all-girl boarding schools set in the old, countryside serenity of New England. It's probably prestigious (since rich girls go there too), and literally gated. Locked on the inside and out – which seems not only inappropriate but not feasible either since somehow pizza delivery boys can get in. "Tanner Hall" is a teenage girl movie, and of course, our four main girls find no end of trouble in their small school.

A main indicator for how good (or how poor) a movie is, is how well they can reach their target audience. Despite competent casting directors, set directors, and cinematographers, "Tanner Hall" is just way too slow to really engage their youthful audience. We are slowly introduced to Fernanda (Rooney Mara), Victoria (Georgia King), Kate (Brie Larson) and Lucasta (Amy Ferguson). And then with poorly thought out drama (and no comedy) we venture forth as they struggle with coming of age.

Victoria is a trouble-maker, but one misplaced early scene ruined any chance for a strong moment of empathy for her character. Kate is a sexually adventurous trouble-maker and the one with the best chance for intrigue and suspense but she was only the third main character. Fernanda is supposed to be a good girl but then she falls into temptation with an older man. Lucasta, the fourth-billed, was struggling to figure out what kind of girl she was, wanting to understand what she was attracted to and what was attractive about her. Clearly, this is the most sympathetic character and the one that every girl could relate to in one way or another. But instead, the writers and directors made us spend most of our time with Fernanda whose extracurricular activities were not only immoral but illegal too and completely unrelatable to the normal school-age girl.

The grown-up, slowly maturing, adult version of me couldn't connect with any of the girls and found it awfully hard to sit through. The teenage girl version of me would have been able to connect to one of the girls, but it wouldn't really be worth my time.

Don't bother seeking out "Tanner Hall". Just because Rooney Mara is now famous, and an Oscar nominee, doesn't mean we need to start releasing her earlier, forgettable work.