Review(s): DVD The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
MY HEROINE!
"Incredible suspense!" promised the ad, when this movie first appeared on TV back in 1979. I tuned in, not knowing what to expect. It certainly boasted a stellar cast: 13 year old Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, Scott Jacoby, and Alexis Smith.
It's the only movie that ever made me scream.
For almost an hour it kept me guessing. I thought it might turn out to be a monster-in-the-basement flick. It proved to be something totally different.
Young Rynn is living in an isolated house on Long Island with her father, famous poet Lester Jacobs. Only nobody's seen her father for months. And something--or someone--is in the basement. Something Rynn desperately wants to conceal.
But her secret does come out--with fatal consequences.
This is the story of a loner who, facing cataclysmic events, finally learns to reach out to the one who befriends her: Mario, a young amateur magician.
"I'm not going to play their game," she insists.
"Well, you've got to trust somebody," Mario replies.
But in trusting him, Rynn places his life in danger. She has to confront the final threat alone--as the trap door to the cellar creaks open. It's that scene that made me scream--begging her to run to the kitchen and grab a knife!
She doesn't ... facing the final menace armed only with her wits.
This is great drama--a harrowing story of individualism, courage, and trust. (And it's better than the novel by screenwriter Laird Koenig it's based on.) Beautifully acted. Beautifully filmed. With a haunting score by Christian Gaubert. Don't miss it!
"None of your little tricks...."
What a bizarre and frequently astonishing little thriller this is.
Unlike a lot of the reviewers here, I'd never seen this before. But I do know a lot of people who had seen it on TV growing up and their enthusiasm made me curious.
Now I understand. Though sometimes tonally uneven, this is a captivating little puzzler that somehow combines elements of 70s afterschool specials, Roald Dahl, Poe, low-budget horror and a single-set stage play... with apparent nods to Pinter and Orton.
A young Jodie Foster (at roughly the same age as when she played Iris in "Taxi Driver") stars as a teenaged girl attempting to conceal from the world that she's an orphan living alone. Her obvious intelligence and uncanny maturity shield her nicely from most adults (she loves Emily Dickinson and Chopin and is teaching herself Hebrew) but then she's set upon by a pushy, presumptuous landlady and by the landlady's lecherous son, a turtleneck-clad mama's boy played by a stark Martin Sheen (not long after he made "Badlands").
What happens next needs to be seen with as little advance knowledge as possible. And though the dialogue and music sometimes shift into melodrama ("Don't ever leave," the 13-year-old girl tells her new boyfriend, an amateur magician), the shifts almost seem intentional, a means of making the twists that much more surprising and unsettling.
This is a strange and cool little movie, a true underseen sleeper, occasionally quite shocking and a perfect example of a film that arrived far, far ahead of its time.
A Captivating Tale with a Lingering Eerie Atmosphere...
Jodie Foster began her acting career at the age of two making commercials while she entered the television drama scene a few years later. Her big break emerged when she received a spot in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), as she performed the part of the teen prostitute Iris. It was a part that received an Oscar nomination 1977. The same year Taxi Driver was released another film surfaced where she had the role of the story's protagonist. It was titled, The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane, where she portrays the tough and independent 13-year old Rynn, a poet's daughter, who lives in a leased house all by herself. Again, she performs brilliantly, however, this part did not land her any Oscars, but she had the opportunity to polish her talent with Martin Sheen performing against her.
The low rays of the fall sunset reflect off the New England seashore waves, as the camera smoothly pans to the right in the opening scene. Together with the beach, Foster's character emerges in full contrasting figure due to the daylight's reflection bouncing of the water. Rynn stops and stares out over the water, as if she were looking for something, maybe an answer, or for help. In either case, the scene provides some insight to Rynn's character's thoughtful persona and the ambiguousness atmosphere that later appears in the film. Her solitary presence on the beach also gives a conceptual idea of her position in society, as she lives in a small leased without anyone caring for her.
Quickly after the opening credits the story jumps into the middle of the story, as Rynn celebrates her own thirteenth birthday on Halloween night. If this does not evoke any kind of anticipation, the audience might not be aware of the American culture, or the neglectful abuse parents accomplish by neglecting a child's birthday. Nonetheless, Rynn goes about her business, as if she did not expect anything else. The isolated seclusion and loneliness of Rynn immediately wins over the audience to her side, as the audience does not know what to expect form the story. Consequently, someone is knocking on the door and it is Frank (Martin Sheen), a lone trick-or-treating adult. The initial meeting between Rynn and Frank delivers a significantly tense moment, which intensifies when Frank snoops around in the cottage and asks about the father's whereabouts. It is clear that Frank knows something, but what we never find out. However, his presence augments the audience's favorable feelings toward Rynn, as her vulnerability increases with the pedophilic tendencies of Frank.
The story in itself focuses on the father, who obviously never emerges, as Rynn repeatedly lies about his location to all that ask. Through clever camera use, the audience learns about secretively guarded secret that Rynn hides. The secret seems to hide in the basement, as Rynn works hard on keeping the nosy people from her house, including Frank and the owner. The secrecy within the film enhances the apprehension in regards to Rynn. It is obvious that something is wrong, and the initial positive mind-set toward Rynn begins to rumble. The ambiguous nature of the story brings forth an intriguing notion in regards to human nature that humans often have more than the image that they attempt to portray to the people in the social setting.
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane is a highly atmospheric story much due to a combination between the cinematography, scene framing, score, and the performances by the cast, which all helps strengthen the secrecy and suspense within the film. The director Nicholas Gessner's delicate handling of taboo issues also increases the uncertainty that seems to linger in the air, as the audience never knows what will happen next. It shows that Gessner has a brilliant eye on how to build up a solid thriller, however, after having seen the film it feels like there is something significant missing. The film strongly flirts with the audience's anticipation, but it never delivers anything to relieve the tense atmosphere. Instead, the film only leaves the viewer with a highly teasing experience of what could have happened. Yet, within the ambiguousness the story and the open-ended feeling leaves the audience with the idea of finishing the story for themselves. Gessner's cinematic creation leaves the viewer with a clever depiction of something very captivating, which delivers both a terrific and awkward cinematic experience depending how the viewer approaches the film.
Jodie Foster's performance is an excellent reason to why the viewer should experience this captivating thriller. In addition, Gessner's direction helps keep the story fascinating. The combination between these, the direction, and the acting helps develop a unique cinematic experience that will linger for some time in the back of the mind.
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