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The Dead Girl

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The Dead Girl (2006)

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Reviews Counted:20

Fresh:13

Rotten:7

Average Rating:6/10

Consensus: This dark thriller boasts a fresh approach, but it can still get bogged down by its heavy subject matter.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, grisly images and sexuality/nudity.

Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Dec 29, 2006 Limited

Synopsis: THE DEAD GIRL, the new film from acclaimed writer/director Karen Moncrieff (BLUE CAR), is a quintet of stories about seemingly unrelated people whose lives converge around the murder of a young... THE DEAD GIRL, the new film from acclaimed writer/director Karen Moncrieff (BLUE CAR), is a quintet of stories about seemingly unrelated people whose lives converge around the murder of a young woman. "The Stranger" is about the woman (Toni Collette) who finds the body. The publicity generated by the discovery creates an opening for her to break away from her abusive mother's (Piper Laurie) control and form an unlikely bond with the mysterious Rudy (Giovanni Ribisi). "The Sister," a forensics graduate student (Rose Byrne), is torn between her mother's (Mary Steenburgen) pressure to hold onto hope for her abducted sister's return and her longing to move forward with her own life. When she examines the dead girl, she is convinced that she has found the body of her missing sister, finally releasing her from her burden. "The Wife" (Mary Beth Hurt) is trapped in an intense hate/love relationship with her husband (Nick Searcy). A terrible discovery about his connection to the dead girl's murder forces her to confront what she though she knew about him-and herself. "The Mother" (Marcia Gay Harden) searches for answers about her runaway daughter's life and is confronted with a series of revelations that change the course of her own life. She gets help in her quest from another troubled young woman-the prostitute (Kerry Washington) who lived with her daughter. "The Dead Girl" (Brittany Murphy) is a fireball: hyper, volatile, self-destructive and subject to hair-trigger bursts of uncontrollable rage. She also has an innocent and child-like side. She dreams about improving her life and becoming a good mother to her young daughter. The characters in THE DEAD GIRL are linked not only by their connection to a brutal murder but also by the difficult hand that life has dealt them. The film scrutinizes their inner struggles to overcome or surrender to their misfortunes. As in BLUE CAR, Moncrieff creates multidimensional portraits of women as they seesaw emotionally through a tangle of conflicting desires and fears. Riveting and ultimately heartbreaking, THE DEAD GIRL confirms the promise of BLUE CAR, and heralds the arrival of Karen Moncrieff as a major American independent filmmaker. [More]

Starring: Toni Collette, Brittany Murphy, Marcia Gay Harden, James Franco

Starring: Toni Collette, Brittany Murphy, Marcia Gay Harden, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Rose Byrne, Giovanni Ribisi, Kerry Washington, Mary Steenburgen, Mary Beth Hurt, Piper Laurie, Nick Searcy

Director: Karen Moncrieff

Director: Karen Moncrieff
Screenwriter: Karen Moncrieff
Producer: Tom Rosenberg, Henry Winterstern, Gary Lucchesi, Eric Karten, Richard Wright, Kevin Turen
Composer: Adam Gorgoni
Studio: First Look

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Release:

May 15, 2007

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Reviews for The Dead Girl

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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Karen Moncrieff's previous film, the shallow and pretentious Blue Car, in no way prepares you for this superbly acted, emotionally acute picture.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
03/22/07
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Moncrieff never gets melodramatic with subject matter that easily could have been; she won’t make you feel good, but she will make you feel.

Full Review Source: Associated Press | comment Comment
03/02/07
Christy Lemire
Christy Lemire
Associated Press
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All Screams aside, movies about serial killing are rarely chipper affairs. But few are as glum as The Dead Girl.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
02/23/07
Amy Biancolli
Amy Biancolli
Houston Chronicle
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It must be said that The Dead Girl is a film of considerable integrity. But before that, something else must be said: That's about as unappetizing an opening to a film as can be imagined.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
02/09/07
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
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The use of multiple plots can be a dangerous exercise if not skillfully executed, making viewers feel cheated and wanting more, but Moncrieff works it out, ably shifting from one story to the next and keeping us satisfied with the open-ended outcomes.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
02/09/07
Teresa Budasi
Teresa Budasi
Chicago Sun-Times
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A stern account of how the brutal murder of a young woman affects an array of far-flung characters.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
02/08/07
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
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Seeing multiple responses to a sexually motivated murder allows us to reconsider our understanding of sex crimes.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
01/27/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
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The Dead Girl has such a glacial pace, and with such tonal monotony -- most of the first 20 minutes are either grim, in the dark or both -- that audiences will follow at their peril.

Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | comment Comment
01/19/07
Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
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Ms. Moncrieff’s ambitious second film is a bit of a disappointment after the promise shown in her more tightly structured debut effort, Blue Car.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
01/17/07
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer
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Moncrieff (Blue Car) pushes a view of women as victims that might create its own pornography of masochism if it didn't touch so many authentic shattered nerve endings.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
01/10/07
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
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Works like a package of crisp, individual psychological profiles of the women whose already troubled lives are disrupted by the murder.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
12/29/06
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
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If the segments are uneven, Moncrieff -- with the help of her excellent cast -- nevertheless crafts a gripping overall narrative that exposes a shared dissonance among the protagonists.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
12/29/06
Kevin Crust
Kevin Crust
Los Angeles Times
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Occasionally the movie manages to achieve a real sadness, but some story lines are forced.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
12/29/06
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post
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Messy and melodramatic, then quiet and contained -- The Dead Girl is definitely unpredictable. But then so is life. And [director Karen] Moncrieff gives us five fat slices of it here, all full of painful color and inconvenient drama.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
12/29/06
Stephen Whitty
Stephen Whitty
Newark Star-Ledger
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The relentless emotional violence in this film, a compendium of five vignettes related to a young woman whose corpse is discovered on a hillside, is of a level rarely found in movies.

comment Comment
12/29/06
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
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The chief problem with The Dead Girl, as with most current multipart films, is that the truncated stories don't give actors much room to develop a part. They're on-screen for such a short time that they act furiously from the get-go.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
12/28/06
Jim Ridley
Jim Ridley
Village Voice
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There's no mistaking the integrity and craft on display here, and the writing and direction are too smart to dismiss The Dead Girl as victimology or man-hating.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
12/27/06
Andrew O'Hehir
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
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Yes, it’s dark, depressing material, but watching the film isn’t. Because you’re seeing such talent at work there.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
12/26/06
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
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Pic's weak ending demonstrates that its multi-narrative strategy, though full of cinematic potential, also holds traps for a film's overall impact.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
11/20/06
Robert Koehler
Robert Koehler
Variety
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Moncrieff chooses to scrutinize highly unpleasant material but, fortunately, she never takes an exploitative or sensationalistic approach. The movie has its integrity.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
11/07/06
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
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