First Hit: An outstanding, thoughtful, beautifully photographed film.
Staring Evan Rachel Wood and Uma Thurman, both playing Diana. One as a high school senior and the other 15 years later as a wife and mother.
This film is extraordinary in both how it was put together and its acting. Young Diana is a rebellious type who is also deeply thoughtful and heart filled. She acts out in ways that have her labeled as a slut but it is, like most high school labels, incorrect. She spends a lot of her time high on pot and skipping school but is also curious about life in a retrospective way.
Her best friend Maureen (played by Eva Amurri) is a Christian and provides an interesting and insightful counter balance to their relationship. Young Diana wants her life to start and cannot wait for it to happen and she believes it will be away from the small home town she lives in.
Maureen on the other hand wants to marry her first love, have children, and spend the rest of her life right where she is. Uma, playing the older haunted Diana, is married and with a daughter who's as precious as she was when she was young.
Older Diana’s skittishness and haunting behavior is immediately revealed because the film takes place in the week of the 15th anniversary of a Columbine type shooting on their high school campus.
Young Diana was told by the killer just prior to the shooting that he might do it, however she disregarded his threat and feels horrible about it.
There isn’t much else to say about the plot without giving too many things away, however this film will stick with you and keep you asking questions about it long after you leave the theater. There are many levels to what the film is saying. Vadim Perelman directed this beautifully executed film. The timeline is not in sequence, nor can it be to give the real sense of the depth of remembrance for the older Diana. The scenes are beautifully shot and the collage of colors, sequences, angles, and movement between past and future is extraordinary. Uma Thurman is outstanding in her role and carries the energy, fear and wisdom the younger Diana. Evan Rachel Wood, gives another stellar performance. Just like in “13” and “Down in the Valley”, she makes you watch and engage with her as her character reveals herself during the performance.
Overall: This film is one of depth, beauty, and the complications of life laid out as life is, full of questions, doubts, and love.