Thursday 21 June 2018

Thursday Movie Picks: Juvenile Delinquents


All pass the Bechdel Test!

Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang
There have been plenty of stories about gangs of boys so its about time there was one about girls. This is actually the second adaptation of the book Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang by Joyce Carol Oates about a group of girls who form a gang in 1950s New York. Truthfully I haven't seen the whole film but from I did see, the girls take revenge on a teacher who is molesterer and start to get a reputation around town after they commit petty crimes. They start to become more violent in their acts when they beat up one of the girls' uncles after he sexually assults her. The leader of the gang ends up in jail after stealing a car  and (that's all I remember) I think they all end up in a house together where they extort money from guys to pay the rent....

Thirteen
Co-written by director Catherine Hardwicke and a then 14 year old Nikki Reed, the film is a semi-autobiographical story about two girls in their first year of high school and how they become more reckless. Tracy (Even Rachel Wood) is a good girl but after becoming teased at school for how she dresses, she ditches her nice girl clothes and attitude in order to make friends with the 'cool' kids. She becomes fast friends with Evie (Nikki Reed) who is seen as a bad influence on her, getting in invloved with drink, drugs and sex, as well as shoplifting. There are some painful scenes and truths that come out and it is basically the destruction of a young girl before she's even grown up. Evie, although is ultimately the liar and instigator, she is also desparate for a proper home and thinks that this is the way to get what she wants.

Fiore
Daphne is arrested for theft and taken to a Youth Detention Centre where she meets Josh. She offers to help patch things up between him and his girlfriend who is on the outside but the two soon start to fall in love, sending each other secret messages and watching each other through the bars of their windows. The boys are girls are housed separately but are together every Sunday for mass and as a treat at New Years Eve for a party. The story is about young love with the barrier being prison, but the two leads are so adorable together they make the story. Some of the actors were actual inmates including Josciua Algeri who plays Josh. Daphne Scoccia who plays Daphne was a waitress in the restuarant opposite the filmmakers' office and cast in her in the role from this chance meeting.

Don't forget to check out where it all started over at
Wandering Through the Shelves