Prozac Nation (2001) - Ricci and Lange are stellar in wrongfully discarded depression drama

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Star Christina Ricci lying naked in white sheets make up this poster for Erik Skjoldbjærg's Prozac Nation

The true story of Elizabeth Wurtzel, a young American woman from a torn home, who goes to Harvard to study, which escalates her emotional chaos.

Prozac Nation is written by Frank Deasy (Captives (1994)), Larry Gross (Gunshy (1998)) and co-writer/co-producer Galt Niederhoffer (10 Things We Should Do Before We Break Up (2020)), adapting Elizabeth Wurtzel's (Bitch (1998)) same-titled 1994 memoir, and directed by great Norwegian filmmaker Erik Skjoldbjærg (Insomnia (1997)).

It is an impressively well-written adaptation of the bestselling story of Wurtzel's personal battle with depression and pill addiction, among other things. It lives and breathes due especially to the strong performances of Christina Ricci (Miranda (2002)) and Jessica Lange (Tootsie (1982)) as Wurtzel and her mother, respectively, but also Michelle Williams (Certain Women (2016)) and Jason Biggs (American Pie (1999)) are good in it.

A series of visual finesses are utilized neatly in this very realistic and painful tour of what family-driven depression can look like. Not a light dish or one that will appeal broadly but a great drama nonetheless.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 9 mil. $

Box office: 129k $ (Norway alone)

= Box office disaster (returned 0.02 times its cost)

[Prozac Nation premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 95 minutes. Ricci was paid 1 mil. $ for her performance. Shooting took place from May - July 2000 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and in Massachusetts, including in Boston. The film was acquired by Miramax for release following its Toronto premiere, but the company soured at it in the months and years to follow and only released the film in North America in 2005 on the Starz network. The film did have a theatrical release in a handful of other minor markets, including Skjoldbjærg's native Norway, where it made its likely biggest earning, 129k $. A projected total gross of 200k $ would mean that the film returned 0.02 times its cost theatrically. Skjoldbjærg returned with Skolen (2004, TV-series) and theatrically with En Folkefiende (2005). Ricci returned in The Laramie Project (2002, TV movie) and theatrically in Pumpkin (2002); Lange in Normal (2003, TV movie) and theatrically in Masked and Anonymous (2003). Prozac Nation is rotten at 28 % with a 4.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Prozac Nation?

Cape Fear (1991) - Scorsese adds lots of stuff to remake but loses the balance

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The overly ominous poster for Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear

QUICK REVIEW:

The 30 year-old original Cape Fear gets a real lift in terms of style, violence, language and sex here, - anything that sets off the red lights at the MPAA, who rate movies in America. Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear is a colorful and entertaining thriller.

Robert De Niro and Nick Nolte wrestle good and evil in Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear

Oscar-nominated Robert De Niro's (Casino (1995)) character as the wronged former inmate, who has come out to take revenge on his ex-defendant, has gotten extra weight in the balance between him and his adversary in the remake, and Nick Nolte (The Thin Red Line (1998)) fails to make it seem an even match at all, which takes some excitement from the ordeal. Also because his part is no longer the hero (with a handicap) that Gregory Peck played in the original. In the 90's version, he comes off as a spineless whiner with a torn family.

Same still as above, only spiced up by an artist

Where the 1962 film focused on the uncontrollable, outer threat, Scorsese's film is a more moral (and Catholic) take on the story, which conclusively SPOILER reveals all humans' sinful nature. Personally I prefer the slightly more romantic view of the older film.
Juliette Lewis was also Oscar-nominated for her supporting role in Cape Fear, but lost (rightfully so) to Mercedes Ruehl in The Fisher King. Cape Fear also has stars Fred Dalton Thompson, Joe Don Baker and from the original film in cameos, Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum and Martin Balsam.
Scorsese returned to real greatness with Casino (1995), his eighth and final collaboration with De Niro. He is in pre-production at the moment with his coming Japan-set, religious period movie, Silence (2015).

Related reviews:

Cape Fear (1962) - Great suspense in effective home-attack thriller
Martin Scorsese: The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) - One helluva movie!
Boardwalk Empire - 1st season (2010) - Luxurious 1920's ensemble gangster treats
The Aviator (2004) - The grand American biopic 
The Age of Innocence (1993) or, Stayin' IN the Pants 

Watch the original trailer - which scandalously doesn't mention Juliette Lewis' name!

Cost: 35 mil. $
Box office: 182.2 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of the two Cape Fear movies?
Which do you prefer?

Broken Flowers (2005) - Hip search for son and self with Jarmusch and Murray

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+ Best Road Movie of the Year

Star Bill Murray looks unsure of the situation, standing on a doorstep with a bouquet of flowers on this poster for Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers

A former Don Juan, who is now a very domestic aging, single gentleman, gets a letter that says he has a son, and he decides to head out and visit former lovers to learn more about this circumstance.

 
Broken Flowers is written and directed by Ohioan master filmmaker Jim Jarmusch (Permanent Vacation (1980)), based on an idea by Bill Raden and Sara Driver (Sleepwalk (1986)). It is Jarmusch's 9th feature.  

It is an excellent 'little' film. 'Little' because the existential crisis and emotions expressed by its lead character Don (Bill Murray (Hamlet (2000))) are so limited and underplayed.
The film has a stellar cast of women that are all enjoyable, - especially Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under (2001-05)), who has a priceless dinner scene involving Don and carrots. The other women are Jessica Lange (Frances (1982)), Julie Delpy (L.A. Without a Map (1998)), Tilda Swinton (Moonrise Kingdom (2012)), Sharon Stone (Border Run (2012)) and Chloë Sevigny (Mr. Nice (2010)). Also Jeffrey Wright (W (2008)) is a joy as a male compadre to Don, and both the editing by Jay Rabinowitz (Requiem for a Dream (2000)) and the Ethiopian jazz score by Mulatu Astatke (Little Heaven (2011)) are wonderful.
Murray seems throughout the movie to be a fragile, confused man with severe hangovers, and his part is nearly too close to the one he plays in Sofia Ford Coppola's modern classic, Lost in Translation (2003).
SPOILER Broken Flowers' has an open ending seemed unresolved to me, but the film is still a gift.

 

Related posts:

Jim Jarmusch: 2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

The Limits of Control (2009) - Jarmusch hits career low with idea-bereft embarrassment

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  
Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) - Pleasant, precious vignette sit-down with some wonderful people    
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) - Whitaker serves ancient samurai justice in Jarmusch's cool treat   
Dead Man (1995) - Jarmusch's bold, poetic, rich Americana masterpiece 
Top 10: The best B/W movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Down by Law (1986) - Jarmusch's jailbreak movie is an independent character gem 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 10 mil. $
Box office: 47.3 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 4.73 times its cost)

[Broken Flowers premiered 17 May (Cannes Film Festival, in competition) and runs 101 minutes. Shooting took place from November 2004 - ? in New York and New Jersey. The film opened #16 to a 780k $ first weekend in 27 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 433 theaters (different weeks), grossing 13.7 mil. $ (29 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 9 mil. $ (19 %) and Germany with 4.2 mil. $ (8.9 %). The film won an award at Cannes (Jury Grand Prize), was nominated for a European Film award and an Independent Spirit award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Jarmusch returned with Raconteurs: Steady, As She Goes (Version 1) (2006, music video) and theatrically with The Limits of Control (2009). Murray returned in The Lost City (2005). Broken Flowers is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Broken Flowers?