The Moth Diaries

62/100 (81 min, 2011)
Plot: Rebecca is suspicious of Ernessa, the new arrival at her boarding school. But is Rebecca just jealous of Ernessa's bond with Lucie, or does the new girl truly possess a dark secret?
Director: Mary Harron
Writer: Rachel Klein (novel)
Stars: Sarah Bolger, Sarah Gadon and Lily Cole

Sex, blood, Lily Cole

The Moth Diaries is not yet another teenage take on vampire/monsters legends. It has something movies rarely have anymore - genuine style and atmosphere. Mary Harron who directed American Psycho and captured the essence of the novel without even showing off most of the events is again on the director's seat here. It's bizarre how her career went from being very close to success to approaching the oblivion. Whilst American Psycho was not the masterpiece of directorial work, it was better than most movies out there yet Harron only went on to make TV movie The Notorious Bettie Page (as lovely as the film was it didn't get much acclaim) and then pretty much disappeared.

While a lot of bad things can be said about The Moth Diaries and its story, which is its weakest link of the film, it tells a tale many of people will relate to - the roots of the protagonist's fragility lie in the loss of a parent, here in quite dramatic events. Her father was a famous writer who committed suicide. The main heroine Rebecca, asks interesting questions in her search for her own self - does it mean she is prone to taking her own life too?

Scene of the Week: American Psycho

directed by Mary Harron

"Hey, Paul!"

The scene: In one of my favorite movies, based on my favorite book a scene takes place that is perhaps the most unforgettable moment of the entire film. Patrick Bateman, flawlessly played by Christian Bale, is a narcissist and a psychopath. He can't stand when someone is better than him, especially Paul Allen, who gets reservations at best restaurants and whose business card is better than Bateman's (it even has a watermark!). Bateman, pretending to be someone else (recurring motive in the film and the novel) lures drunk Paul into his apartment. Bateman, who is a music aficionado starts playing Huey Lewis & the News song "Hip to be Square" and starts talking about the band as he goes into the bathroom, puts on a raincoat, grabs the axe and murders Paul yelling "TRY GETTING A RESERVATION AT DORSIA NOW YOU FUCKING STUPID BASTARD!" after which he sits down, with blood on his face and calmly lights up a cigar.

American Psycho

(102 min, 2000)
Director: Mary Harron
Writers: Bret Easton Ellis (novel), Mary Harron (screenplay)
Stars: Christian Bale, Justin Theroux and Josh Lucas

There is no exit.

(spoilers)
“There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable... I simply am not there. “

Patrick Bateman (Christian Bale), a young, well to do man working on wall street at his father's company kills for no reason at all. As his life progresses his hatred for the world becomes more and more intense.

The movie is based on the novel by Bret Easton Ellis “American Psycho. After I saw the movie, I immediately had to read the novel – this is what the greatest movies do, they encourage you to find out more about the characters, the events, they make you want to stay in this world, you've been watching for two hours. The novel instantly became my favorite book – the depths to which the author goes to describe Bateman's mind and his actions are both shocking and fascinating. The movie contains about 1% of all the horrible, sick and revolting things title character does. They simply couldn't portray more – if they did, the movie would be X rated and shocked everyone and even after “American Psycho” - the movie was released, there were critics who called it “pornography” and even before the release certain scenes had to be edited to get R category. Can you imagine what would happen if the director actually shot the scene with Bateman, victim, tube, cheese and mouse? Despite avoiding a lot of Patrick's doings, the movie captures the essence of the novel – lost, psychotic individual, living in the world were everyone is the same and were the greatest happiness (let me rephrase – the surrogate for happiness which is satisfaction) comes from eating at the most popular restaurant.