Hey folks, one of my chief femme fatales.... Mata Hari was out cruising for that new film.... The one directed by Coppola.... Sofia Coppola. That's right folks, Sofia has directed a movie entitled THE VIRGIN SUICIDES and I have been getting quite a bit of good word on the film. Remember... Just because a lot of you have a deep searing hatred for a certain role in the culmination of a certain trilogy of films.... Doesn't mean that she isn't brilliant as a director. It's possible. And from the sound of things she definitely got the job done on this one. I'm eager to check it out... sounds promising...

Dear Harry,

MATA HARI here. Just thought you might want to know that last week I went to a screening of Sofia Coppola's (yes Sofia) directorial debut The Virgin Suicides at the Beverly Connection in Hollywood. Some guy just shoved a pass in my hand and ran off to the next person without asking me any of the usual questions. The pass said for me to call me to call in to reserve a spot and get there at 6:45. It wasn't one of those Movieview passes but some other company called Marketcast. My friend had read the book and said it was pretty good and obviously the Sofia factor peaked my interest so I called and prepared for an excruciating evening of cinema. I'd been to those Movieview screenings before where they ask you to get there an hour early and this was only 45 minutes. Better, right? Wrong. My friend and I got there right on time and of course we ended up in the back of a HUGE line. Some girl came around and asked if we called. She checked off my last name and gave us tickets. Then they gave us cards to fill out with our age, ethnicity, and all those questions about if we were in the entertainment industry, advertising, Blah, Blah, Blah, or if we knew anyone who worked on the movie. Whatever. Of course I lied and marked no but it wouldn't have mattered if I'd marked yes to everything because they never checked the cards. We just dumped them into a bag. The age for the movie was 16-49 but I saw a bunch of silver foxes waiting in line. They didn't seem to care about the old folks and never asked us our age. The people running the screening were all suited up and wearing those stupid headsets like they have at Old Navy. They had that urgent 'what we are doing is so monumentally important' look while they were basically standing around doing nothing. A word of advice: If you are in the business and don't want to get caught sneaking in to one of these things have no fear, Marketcast is here. These secret service wannabees wouldn't know Sandra Bullock from Jim J. Bullock. I think everyone got in including the seniors and all the second string dregs in the other line who didn't call in.

Anyway, now on to the movie. You are not going to believe this but I LOVED IT HARRY. This was one of the best new movies I've seen set in the 70's. The movie stars James Woods, (in a magnificent performance) Kathleen Turner, (surprisingly subdued) and Kirsten Dunst in a role tailor made for her. The story revolves around the Lisbon sisters, 5 girls living in an upscale neighborhood in Michigan in 1975 and told in voiceover by one of the neighborhood boys who even 25 years later cannot forget them. The film opens with the suicide attempt of the youngest Lisbon sister, 13 year old Cecilia who is found with her wrists slit in the bathtub. The neighbors murmur the typical gossip and Cecelia's baffled parents (Woods and Turner) send her to a psychiatrist (Danny Devito in a cameo) who tells the parents that Cecilia needs to interact with boys her own age. In order to cheer up Cecilia the Lisbons throw their first and only party during which Cecilia flings herself out the window and dies on the fence in the front yard. The family is numbed into a kind of stupor. When their priest (Scott Glenn) comes to visit, Mr. Lisbon can only interact with the game on T.V. The girls return to school acting as if nothing has happened. The neighborhood boys obtain Cecilia's diary and try to gain insight into the lives of the sisters. Fourteen year old Lux (Kirsten Dunst) is doggedly pursued by the hottest guy in school (Josh Hartnett). He convinces Mr. Lisbon to let him and three other boys to take Lux and her sisters to the Homecoming Dance. In a well crafted sequence that vividly recalls the anticipation and awkwardness of the teenage years, Lux and her date are crowned Homecoming Queen and King while here sisters try to have a good time with their dates. Lux stays out all night, losing her virginity on the football field and in a beautifully shot scene, wakes up alone. She takes a cab home and as a result of her adventures, the Lisbons pull the girls out of school and they become virtual prisoners in their own home. Getting through to the sisters becomes a covert mission for the neighborhood boys. They call each other and play songs back and forth to describe the way they feel. Responding to the rejection she feels Lux begins to have a series of random sexual encounters with unknown boys on the roof of the house. The neighborhood boys watch from their telescope. Events come to a head and result in a tragic conclusion. The boys and the audience are left to wonder why. The Virgin Suicides is a thoughtful and provocative film that asks as many questions as it answers. Deftly written and directed by Sofia Coppola who it seems has finally found her calling.

MATA HARI