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The Dead Girl

written by Nobuhiro Hosoki

 

Roundtable interview with Birittany Murphy, James Franco, Marcia Gay Harden,

Giovanni Ribisi, Kelly Washington, Mary Beth Hurt and director Karen Moncrieff

Director and writer Karen Moncrieff made her auspicious debut film  "Blue Car" in 2002. This time, in "The Dead Girl," she tackles a series of five titled vignettes that in which we sense that violence lurks around every corner of the world.

In the first installment, Arden (Toni Collette), a reclusive and shy woman, is strolling around a field on the outskirts of LA when she finds a mutilated corpse in a ditch. This morbid discovery makes her a local celebrity among her neighbors. Unfortunately, this discovery doesn't sit well for a bedridden mother who constantly tortures her with verbal abuse, leaving deep scars that make it hard for Arden to contact other people except for strange grocery store clerks like Rudy (Giovanni Ribisi), who has a keen interest in serial killers.  Even though she is simply unable to relate to him, her link with him is still good enough to prod her to escape from her bullying mother.

In the next segment, the action shifts to Leah (Rose Byrne),  a forensic grad student who thinks the dead body she is assigned to work with might be her missing sister. She is desperately seeking closure and some kind of relief for her family, which has been in denial regarding her sister's death after 15 years of harsh reality. 

The third segment, "Wife," offers the most intriguing tour-de-force performance, by Mary Beth Hurt, who plays Ruth, an aging overweight woman who is leading an extremely unhappy marriage in a trailer park. She is constantly involved in bitter disputes with her husband Carl (Nick Searcy), especially when he mysteriously disappears for extended hours. One day, Ruth ominously stumbles across the belongings of a young woman in a storage-facility unit run by Carl, and she suspects her husband to be the serial killer. But she engages in unsettling action that might make audiences furious.

In an equally satisfying segment, "Mother" centers on Melora (Marcia Gay Harden), who comes to a rundown motel in L.A. to ask questions about her runaway deceased daughter. There she meets her daughter's roommate, Rosetta (Kelly Washington), a battered hooker. Experiencing overwhelming guilt over her daughter's death, Melora searches for her granddaughter as a way of grasping at her lost prospects.

Finally, in a flashback, we meet Krista (Brittany Murphy), the dead woman who had become a prostitute. By this point, all the above segments have conveyed as much as we need to know. Audiences are left in a hush, as they contemplate the grim underbelly of a society that  is so oppressive to women. Throughout, the film is a showcase for outstanding performances by actors who deal with human issues on the periphery of society and with the lives of deeply troubled people. By strictly focusing our eyes on female characters, Moncrieff has crafted a solid indie-ensemble piece that delivers significant emotional impact. We are left hoping that any of these characters might take a drastic step of turning their lives around. In the end, "The Dead Girl" has left us with a powerful message.

Written and directed by Karen Moncrieff
Director of photography: Michael Grady
Edited by Toby Yates
Music by Adam Gorgoni
Production designer: Kristan Andrews
Produced by Richard Wright, Eric Karten, Kevin Turen,Tom Rosenberg,
Henry Winterstern, Gary Lucchesi.
Released by First Look Pictures, Lakeshow entertainment/Pitbul Pictures.
Running Time; 93 minutes.

Cast: Brittany Murphy (Krista)
Toni Collette (Arden)
Giovanni Ribisi (Rudy)
Piper Laurie (Mother)
Rose Byrne (Leah)
Mary Steenburgen (Beverly)
Bruce Davidson (Bill)
Mary Beth Hurt (Ruth)
Nick Searcy (Carl)
Marcia Gay Harden (Melora)
Kelly Washington (Rosetta),
and Josh Brolin (Tarlow)