On a few occasions a movie really is worth your money

Rating: 10/10 (11 February 2004)

***possible spoilers ahead***
And this is one of those movies. Begins like a light breeze, gets under your skin and ends up sucking the marrow out of your bone & replacing it with oxygen. At last, some oxygen in a movie.
The best part is that the whole resolution of the film lies in lines that you cannot hear, for He whispers them in Her ear.
I was sceptical, since I thought Virgin Suicides stank big time, because it tried to create a mystery by not telling anything; problem: the message WAS "this (young girl's thoughts) IS a mystery". And a mystery only works when people can fill in the mystery. No one's interested in a mystery that cannot be filled. That's not mystery, but a riddle - and riddles get boring without a final solution. (Note that this same issue was addressed superbly by Peter Weir's Picnic At Hanging Rock (1975))
BUT people, this time Coppola succeeds in telling the tale, the mystery, by leaving out bits - like telling "around" the story, something for which Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray and Tokyo are greatly to thank. This is chemistry! Not the "hey you look like a democrat wanna go to bed" chemistry, but this almost intangible near-to-touch chemistry which always seems to be at the point of falling to pieces, but does not. Not since Gustav Von Ashenbach dreamt of stroking Tadzio's hair (Morte A Venezia) has a light touch (her ankle, please, save our souls!) represented a moment so dense that it instantly evaporates in something bigger. It prepares for the final moment where miraculously that which is not heard is what you seek and, yes, find.
Well, this just goes to show what mistery is all about - unable to be caught in words. The uplifting resolution reminded me of a mix between the endings of Fucking Amal and Fallen Angels.
A lot of namedropping, but that's just bogus from my ego. What matters? That this seemingly inconspicuous little film gets a full 10. They don't make 'em like this very often.