Foxfire

In the year 2008, french director Laurent Cantet released his motion picture The Class. Critics loved the story about children who have problems at school, that goes out of control. The acting was very good, and you could tell Laurent wanted to show a honest portrait about a teacher, who have to try and help students, in the worst possible situation. I was surprised to see he decided to make a 1950´s american style motion picture, with Foxfire. This is actually a remake from the 1996 movie with the same name, but this time around the story is set in a different year. With very young fresh actors, who have only been in smaller tv productions, is Foxfire a solid production from this acclaimed director, or is he stepping out of his respectfull image ?

Legs ( Raven Adamson ) is a young girl, who is fed up with being treated like an object. She forms the society Firefox with 4 more girls, by tatooing a flame on their backs. This symbol will make them stronger together, to go against anyone who does not listen to their message. While they begin to make their society name heard, painting their symbol on buildings, they end up making big problems in their community. But this society will survive, no matter what anyone tries to do to stop them.

I have not seen the original movie from 1996, maybe because i never knew there was a remake, until i read that Foxfire was based on the original story. Either way, while watching Foxfire i noticed 2 things. The young actors could possibly be new talents to look forward to, they can actually act and show human emotions. My second thought is that the story of a female society could take place anywhere in this world, since women and girls are treated like objects, not humans. And this is where Foxfire tries to bring a message, enough of the male dominated world, women are just as important. Some of the society scenes makes you realise, how easy it is when you are young to be affected by others, to do whatever it takes to be respected. This is a story that leaves a strong message, and for that director Laurent Cantet manage to make the message clear. While i enjoy this story, there is one problem. This motion picture is 2 hours and 23 minutes, way too long. And even if the story is interesting, it should have been cut down to 2 hours, and it might have been even better. Still, Foxfire is still a good example of a strong story, that can be watched by a audience with open minds. The acting is really good, especially from Raven Adamson, maybe we will see her soon in a independent project ? I suggest you check this one out, if you like intelligent imagery sense of cinema screen.

Rating: DDD