Violet & Daisy (2011) Reviews

• Excellent

  alain-leccia2013-12-22

  First when the movie started, I was like...Okay well, it's not the kind of movie I'm used to watch but anyway, there was Saoirse Ronan in it and I've never seen a movie with her by the past so anyway just let's keep watching. I watch and when action starts, at the very beginning of the movie, I'm laughing, I think it's the weirdest thing I've seen since a long time but something catches me...Something tells me " just watch it ". And this part of me was right. The movie is excellent! More the story goes and more you love it. It's crazy but Violet and Daisy is the only movie of its kind. It surprises you because of many weird scenes and epic quotes (no spoilers here) and the ton of the film... I don't know - there is really something in that movie. I am serious when I say these words : it's a must watch. For me, it was the first time that I was watching a movie like that and well I don't regret it. I think that it's now in my top 10. So if you don't know what to think about this film or anything, don't mind, just watch it. You have to. It's a really great film. So I give it 10 stars because it's a pure surprise and seriously, I've never seen anything like that. PS: just don't watch trailers for this movie (it's my advice) because I just found it here, without knowing what it was and I watched it - that way you really keep the surprise a surprise.

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• An Interesting Character Piece - With Guns

  gregsrants2011-09-19

  Violet & Daisy comes from the most unlikely of sources. Geoffrey Fletcher, the Academy Award winner for Best Screenplay for Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire directs this violent yet touching film starring Saoirse Ronan, Alexis Bledel and James Gondolfini. Violet & Daisy opens with a bang. Literally. Violet (Bledel) and Daisy (Ronan) are dressed as two nuns and Violet is telling a joke as the two make their way to an apartment door where Violet & Daisy then unleash a hail of bullets that startled our fully unseated audience while leaving multiple men dead in a hotel lobby. The scene definitely captures your attention and due to the amount of bullets that it takes to bring down each of the men shooting back one can easily be forgiven if you thought the movie was some kind of comical or supernatural film where there is hardly enough bullets to bring down a single encroacher. But then the film takes us in a different direction. We watch these two young girls (Daisy just celebrated her 18th birthday) as they jump around on their bed, play patty cakes and lust over a dress in the Barbie Sunday fashion line (Barbie is some kind of fictional recording artist). Needed money to buy the dresses they found in a magazine, the two hit girls take a job from Russ (Danny Trejo) to kill a man who has stolen from their boss. The two girls set out on the contract dressed as painters, but when they arrive at the target's apartment, he is no where to be found. The two girls then take a nap on the couch when Michael (James Gandolfini) appears and puts a blanket over the two snoozing killers. When they awake, they are confused as to why Michael would show them kindness when they have been contracted to kill him. This confusion, and with a break for milk and cookies, will be the center of the film as the two girls (particularly Daisy) develop a relationship with the man and cannot bring themselves to complete the contract. Michael is a willing participant in the killing. He does not fear death and is estranged from his daughter. Michael then stole from two different crime bosses in hopes that the monies would be given to his only kin. This will then unravel a story where each of the three main characters will dig deep into their own emotions and backgrounds to reveal the persons they have been repressing. And as the girls struggle with their lack of bullets to complete the job and with another rival gang en route to kill Michael, Fletcher unleashes an interesting character study that is as awkward as it is rewarding. Violet & Daisy could not have been better cast. Bledel and Ronan look like a young Zooey Deschanel and Lindsey Lohan and interact with each other with a believable innocence. Gandolfini has never been better on film. He commands a presence even while just rolling his eyes and sitting on his favorite chair, but he is perfectly cast as the determined Michael. The depiction of adolescence with the injection of moments of deafening gunplay lead to an uneven balance. Although we appreciated the film, we had trouble understanding to whom exactly the target audience would be for the film upon its release. It is too violent to be marketed to the younger crowd. And it has too many comic book type elements to appeal to an older demographic that might have a hard time understanding how and why so many genres intertwine throughout the story. We ourselves loved the film. We were able to extract the humour and the violence separately and enjoyed the overall story. The two leads were innocently conflicted and their views and impressions on life and their past were engrossing tales that connected audiences with their characters. The ending to Violet & Daisy may surprise, but it was the only logical development in a story that was too deep not to travel to darker ground. Violet & Daisy might not be the film that everyone wants it to be, expects it to be or maybe even should be, but it was an enjoyable hit man comedy that can take its place amongst the In Bruges of the film world.

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• A visionary film unafraid to take chances

  iyoung19872011-11-28

  Violet & Daisy is a bold and compelling new film written and directed by the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Precious, Geoffrey Fletcher. The film is violent and funny but also has an emotional core that is unflinchingly true. The heroines of the film are wonderfully played by Saoirse Ronan and Alexis Bledel. Ronan brings her amazing skills as an actress and creates one of her most original and fully realized roles in the part of Daisy. Bledel brings her signature sense of humor but also unleashes her vicious side in a way that no one has ever seen before. The chemistry between the two stars is undeniable and from the first frame we are rooting for these two lost girls and their friendship. That Fletcher not only cast these two actors but also made us fall in love with them is a testament not only to the script but his skills as a director. The dialogue in the film is witty, whimsical and complex, reminiscent of the banter from classics of the Hollywood Golden Age such as His Girl Friday combined with the existential questioning of a Godard film. The movie is packed with twists and turns, jokes and pathos and I know that I did not get everything on the first viewing. The film is visually stunning with intricately structured shots, long takes and juxtapositions, but every shot serves the film and creates a satisfying whole. Anyone paying attention will see that Fletcher possesses a new voice that is not afraid to take chances and those who watch and listen carefully will be rewarded with a movie experience that will go far beyond an initial viewing.

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• Decent

  pauldnboer2013-11-11

  Violet & Daisy is about 2 teen girls assassins who take on one last job in order to buy some dresses they really want. This is the first movie I watched from writer/director Geoffrey Fletcher, reviewing his profile he didn't do much else beside this movie and you can kinda tell. The movie is somewhat disjointed and the script feels like it's been written by a 12 year old girl. Strangely enough the somewhat childish dialogue and behaviour of the characters combined with the well-done action/violence kinda works for this movie and I was quite sucked in. The 2 teenage assassins played by Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan are well cast and perfectly fill the role of naive assassins. I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone expecting an action flick or a deep/moral story. If you're just looking for an easy to watch movie with some good-looking young woman you'll probably like it 7/10

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• An accidental masterpiece!!!

  krs19852011-09-16

  I had the chance to check out Geoffrey Fletcher's directorial debut on its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival and I was blown away. Geoffrey Fletcher is known as the Academy winning screenwriter of the film Precious, and his debut as a director took me by surprise because it did not at all offset any element from his writing work on Precious. He goes from social consciousness, inner-city story, black American social issues, etc.. and does a complete 180 degrees to create a world where two (white) teenage girls go on killing sprees for a living. but then again, Precious was adapted from a book, so he can kind of get away with this. Nevertheless, this really took me by surprise! Alexis Bledel and Saoirse Ronan play the title characters, who seem like they spun out of a Tarantino movie. Violet and Daisy are hit girls in New York, casually amoral about assignments with their only real concern being what dresses to buy with the pay. The movie unfolds in 10 chapters with the first being the most Tarantino-esque, which actually establishes the wrong tone for what is to come. Saoirse Ronan will definitely be mentioned come award time! I must admit that the film was entertaining and filled with great comedic timing and actions scenes that came straight out of a Tarantino flick. In fact, If I didn't know who had directed this film, my first guess would be Quentin Tarantino. Violet and Daisy are given a new assignment — an easy one for an increase in pay,they are assured — takes the film into much trickier terrain. The target, played as a wry and rumpled sad sack by James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano) actually welcomes the girls' visit to his dumpy apartment. This bothers them: Shooting a willing victim seems unprofessional. The movie now devolves into a three-hander, with any number of incidents and other "guests" causing interruptions but the movie essentially becomes a play and delves into a poetic set of scenes filled with symbolic imagery to reveal each character's motives in life. The key confrontation in this life-or-death situation between killers and a eager victim forces self-examination on the parts of all three. I applaud Fletcher's first effort, but can't really define him until I see more from him, which should be interesting to see what's next.

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