Teen Pregnancy DVD

Studio: Educational Video Network, Inc.
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

A Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize-winner, Quinceañera is a small film with a big heart. The plot unfolds at the leisurely pace of life itself, yet there's not a wasted moment in the script. The story follows the travails of young Magdalena (Emily Rios), a teen in the Mexican-American, but gentrifying, Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park. As Magdalena's 15th birthday approaches, and the festive coming-of-age quinceañera party that accompanies it, life throws her a curve ball in the form of an unexpected--and possibly miraculous--pregnancy. In disgrace, she turns to her elderly uncle Tomas and sometime gangbanger and not-quite-uncloseted gay cousin Carlos. The interactions of these unlikely family members ring completely true, with stellar performances by Dios as well as Chalo González as her warm Tio Tomas and Jesse Garcia as the smoldering Carlos. The portrayal of life in Echo Park is intimate and effortless, as the teens slide interchangeably between Spanish and English; crime and gang activities coexist with trendy gay couples and their fashionable remodels. And in the heart of it all, the family ties among the three lead characters prove unconventional--and unbreakable. The DVD also contains a commentary with the filmmakers and cast members, a Q&A with them, and a "making-of" featurette. --A.T. Hurley

Product Description

As Magdalena's (Emily Rios) 15th birthday approaches, her working class family prepares for the all-important Quinceañera - a lavish coming-of-age celebration. To help with expenses, Magdalena is forced to wear a hand-me-down party dress and abandon her dream of arriving in a Hummer limousine. But when her father discovers she's pregnant and refuses to believe the incredible truth - she's actually still a virgin - Magdalena moves in with her elderly Uncle Tomas (Chalo González) and black sheep cousin Carlos (Jesse Garcia). Her newfound family is soon put to the test, however, when an unexpected crisis threatens to tear them apart, and Magdalena learns what it truly means to come of age.

Beyond Quinceañera at Amazon.com

More Films about Coming of Age
The Soundtrack
Celebrating a Quinceañera Book

Stills from Quinceañera (click for larger image)

Customer Reviews:

Mild, Yet Tasty Enchillada.......2007-06-12

Half in English, half in Spanish `Quincinera' is a coming-of-age story brimming with warmth and gentle humor. Significantly named, Magdalena (Emily Rios) is approaching her fifteenth birthday worthy of a debutante celebration. She is intimately dating Herman (J.R. Cruz) who is gentle and has aspirations for worldliness and the trappings a higher education can garner. Living with her is her cousin Carlos (Jesse Garcia) who is gay. Both treat each other alternately with scathing hostility and gentle regard. Polarizing the household are strict Catholic household head Ernesto (Jesus Castanos) and gentle great grand-uncle Tio Toma's (Chalo Gonzalez). In the meantime, Carlos, regarded as the black sheep of the family, has an affair with the nearby landlord, and both Magdalena and Carlos have to face conflicts involving betrayal and trust.

Much of the characterization and acting take away some of the soap-opera feel to the movie, especially with some solid writing and directing from Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. 'Quincinera' is good for giving us a fine cross-section of Mexican-American life and a drama that wins our affection.

Appealing Alterna-Reality.......2007-06-06

As a native-born Los Angeleno, I found this appealing film existed in a sort of fairy tale land. It somehow makes LA seem green and lush, with old school charm. The movie is populated with young Latino men who belie few signs of machismo. Instead, they are interested in soft words, art, and, well, each other. Go figure.

But the souce of Quinceañera's real charm is its teen protagonist, Emily Rios as Magdalena. She is a marvel as her character finds her tightlipped way through this film. Ms. Rios's portrayal is unexpectedly subtle and layered, which is interesting in that the DVD extras reveal that her approach to acting is extremely simplistic. Brava!

The DVD extras also show that the writer/director team and production staff for Quinceañera are overwhelming Anglo (and mostly gay). This outsider viewpoint is not a weakness for filmwatchers, but I would argue that it does detract from its verisimilitude. That said, kudos to the filmmakers for introducing the issue of neighborhood gentrification into their film, though it is not really resolved in any fashion. Perhaps that is just as well; this film is essentially a warmhearted character study, and on those terms, it succeeds.

!Que padre! Encantadora!!.......2007-05-29

This unique, and yet universally "human" story combines the charm and vividness of the Mexican culture...the beauty and spirit of that culture and its people, its dance, its religious beliefs, its music and customs and traditions of family and honour, and at the same time transcends these cultural differences it enlightens us on to take us on a human journey of true courage, honesty and love. A movie to watch over and over again, and talk to your friends about in movie clubs! Buy it and treasure it always. Learn how fundamentally we, as human beings, are looking and searching for the same values, even if these values seem to play out in what appears to be different worlds. A wonderful way to get a glimpse of what it means to be a 15 year old girl with mexican roots, living in a modern world. A wonderful way to learn what is important to us all in our search for truth.

Suprisingly good.......2007-05-20

I admit I wasn't expecting much, I bought the movie used from Amazon because it looked interesting. It turned out to be a good story, very well acted. Glad I got it.

pretty Good film.......2007-04-01

i got a chance to see this film recently&it took me a while to figure everything out,but once it got rolling it all came together. this film had some good solid parts. the Brother&Sister dealing with there own personal issues and the challenges they had to deal with. the Uncle was a Good Natured Man. it was a film that will keep your interests. I'd give it close to a 3 and a half.alot of interesting situations and i like how it ends.

Average customer rating:

Typical teen pregnancy movie
Only for Kirsten
Park Overall at her best!!!!
the name of the song
OK MOVIE BUT WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE BIRTH

Fifteen and Pregnant
Starring: Park Overall , Kirsten Dunst , David Andrews , Margot Demeter , and Karen Trumbo
Director: Sam Pillsbury
Manufacturer: Allumination
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00008MTXK
Release Date: 2001-06-01

Customer Reviews:

Typical teen pregnancy movie.......2007-06-22

This movie is okay overall and I've watched it several times on TV. But it's nothing new as far as the whole stereotypical "teen girl gets pregnant" movie. They show Tina (Kirsten's character) in the opening sequence about to do it with her boyfriend and she says, "Don't tell me you love me if you don't mean it." Not surprisingly he didn't reply. But it's sad that she went ahead and slept with him anyway. It shows how desperate young girls are to feel like a boy likes them, let alone loves them. It's realistic in portraying teen girls' vulnerability and also poor decision making! To make matters more dramatic, Tina's parents are separated and her younger sister and brother have their own issues because of that. So add a teen pregnancy and you've got a Lifetime movie du jour.

I think teens should watch it - if you can get past the cheesy music and predictable, overly done scenes with Tina's "rebel without a cause" boyfriend. It's predictable but worth watching. But I think they should have showed Tina's life AFTER she had the baby, too. Sure babies are all cute when you bring them home from the hospital but showing Tina as a teen Mom may have packed more of a punch for teen girls who still think that having a baby around is a breeze.

Only for Kirsten.......2006-04-27

I'm a huge fan of Kirsten Dunst and will watch anything that she plays the lead in.

I didn't realize the poor quality of Lifetime movies. All the music in the film is so hilarious as it sounds like some generic stock music from the 80's that people would put in educational films. The dialogue sounds like the script was written by a junior high school student.

Kirsten is of course the only good thing about the film. She's adorable and you feel empathy for her character. But you're going to wish her mom gets killed or something.
Her boyfriend is the typical "bad boy" jerk that is so laughably reminiscent of a 50's "rebel without a cause" greaser.

But hey,.. it's cheap and it's got Kirsten Dunst in it. So why not?

Park Overall at her best!!!!.......2006-03-24

This movie is a top quality Lifetime movie. Kirsten Dunst shows some early signs of her acting abilities, but it is really Park Overall's performance that steals the movie. She is classic as Evie Spengler. She shows a believeable amount of touhness (especially the scene with Teena's boyfriend on the front porch).

If you like LIfetime movies and the incomparable Park Overall, then this one is for you!!

the name of the song.......2006-03-15

i need to know the name of the song that was playing when tina was dancing on the porch with her dad. it sounds like such a beautiful song

OK MOVIE BUT WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE BIRTH.......2006-03-14

This is an ok movie.I too only like it for Kirsten Dunst.It shows nothing about what happens after the little guy is born and that kinda what irritates me.They should of at least do a sequel.

Average customer rating:

Eros Saw Aviva Was Sore
A Girl With Many Faces In The Search For Love and Understanding
Ah, Satan Sees Natasha.
More torturous sports from Todd Solondz
annoyingly pretentious art film

Palindromes
Starring: Matthew Faber , Angela Pietropinto , Bill Buell , Emani Sledge , and Ellen Barkin
Director: Todd Solondz
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
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Storytelling
Happiness
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Last Days

ASIN: B000A1IOGG
Release Date: 2005-09-13

Amazon.com

Writer/director Todd Solondz has no patience for formulas or safe choices. Most filmmakers, after making a movie as commercially unsuccessful and critically slammed as the underrated Storytelling, would strive to broaden their appeal. Solondz, instead, made Palindromes, a movie about a troubled young girl named Aviva whose only goal in life is to have children--a goal that leads her through abortion, religious extremism, pedophilia, and more. But for many viewers, the plot isn't as off-putting as the casting: Over the course of the movie, Aviva is played by eight very different actresses (including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rush). Like Solondz's other movies (including Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness), Palindromes initially seems emotionally brutal and absurd, but gradually grows engaging and even moving, albeit in strange and unexpected ways. Palindromes is given an extra boost by a hypnotic, emotionally unleashed performance by Ellen Barkin (The Big Easy, Drop Dead Gorgeous) as Aviva's mother. --Bret Fetzer

Description

Palindromes is a fable of innocence: 13-year old Aviva Victor wants to be a mom. She does all that she can to make this happen, and comes very close to succeeding, but in the end, her plan is thwarted by her sensible parents (Ellen Barkin and Richard Masur). So she runs away, still determined to get pregnant one way or another, but instead finds herself lost in another world, a less sensible one, perhaps, but one pregnant itself with all sorts of strange possibility. Like so many trips, this one is round-trip, and it's hard to say in the end if she can ever be quite the same again, or she can ever be anything but the same again. Palindromes features an all-star supporting cast including Debra Monk, Stephen Adly-Guirgis, Jennifer Jason Leigh and seven different and equally brilliant, risk-taking actors of different ages, races and sizes to play the young heroine. Acclaimed writer/director Todd Solondz (Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, Storytelling) once again presents a film of moral complexity, and while this may be his most political and philosophical film yet, it is, in many ways, his most tender.

Customer Reviews:

Eros Saw Aviva Was Sore.......2007-06-11

Solondz is known for making tough and unpopular choices. Happiness and the first half of Storytelling, specifically, are like mind-rapes, so soulfully brutal that it's easy to wonder if the guy isn't just shocking for shock's sake.

His films may be hard pills to swallow, but that doesn't make them any less medicinal. His points, in fact, are surface-level, but their simplicity makes them easy to miss. His scripts don't wink and smirk at the audience; they stare straight back at you with bloodshot and unblinking eyes.

"Palindromes" has Solondz's bravado written all over it. The story is about a girl named Aviva who, in spite of her emotionally flat-lined spirit, desperately wants to get pregnant. She wants the unconditional love of another person, viewing a child like a sort of soul-transfusion. Maybe the dependence and adoration of a baby will give life meaning, or comfort, or make her a person of worth. In any case, it's clear that the ticks of her biological clock don't inform her decision: she's 13.

Her parents (Richard Masur and Ellen Barkin in complex, love-em-hate-em roles) are perturbed by her decision, and they do what they can to stop her, but, like many teenage girls, Aviva is a willful sort, and she ends up running away from home, setting off on a spiritual journey of self-discovery. Yeah, that's right. I just wrote "a spiritual journey of self-discovery."

In the course of her travels, Aviva meets pedophilic truck drivers, militant anti-abortionists, and a Christian singing group composed of handicapped and lethally cheerful children. It's a tableau of Solondz's usual mordancy, off-putting quirkiness directed with a half-shrug of innocence. In mid-journey, Aviva comes across a river, on the banks of which leans a fanciful children's boat, a large plastic toy that looks like it was designed by Playskool. Dusk bleeds out over the horizon as she climbs aboard, expressionless, and drifts out over the unruffled currents. It's a bittersweet symbol of poignance that pretends to be ironic.

In a way, that symbol represents everything about "Palindromes" that works (and the few things that don't). Solondz's films usually operate like harsh mental exercises that force audiences to make tough decisions (like a mother being asked, "If you only had enough time to save one of your children from a burning building, which one would it be?"). This film is far less hands-on. Aviva is portrayed by eight different actors and actresses, removing the physical element from the equation, forcing the audience to think less about Aviva and more about what she represents. Even Aviva's personality is so muted, it's hard to imagine her as anything more than the yen of all people who feel like something is missing inside of them.

Still. Even though the movie deals with child molestation, the horrors of both abortion and anti-abortionists, unconditional love versus radical spiritualism, "Palindromes" makes very few decisions, and Aviva never really changes much. The title, the names of the key characters, the story arc, the movie's central point: it all reads the same backwards and forwards. And though it's clever, it's also a little self-inflated. Like a snake eating it's own tail, or a really, really intense Buddhist, this movie almost disappears straight into its own navel.

Although it delves into some fanciful mushiness, it's easy to respect its steadfast refusal to do anything else. In any other case, the flick could be pigeonholed into a pro-life or pro-choice camp. Like all of Solondz's other works, this movie doesn't operate under a banner you could wave with abandon on Pennsylvania Avenue. I have the urge to give it a label (pro-people? anti-regret?), but its far too slippery for that, and that, in the end, makes it a movie worth watching. In spite of a few pointless scenes (the party with Jennifer Jason Leigh, where Solondz almost tatoos his central thesis across the screen), "Palindromes" does quite well what it wants to. It prompts consideration, debate, and buries (in even the serest of minds) the seeds of thought. It may not be Solondz's most powerful film, but it is his most soulful.

A Girl With Many Faces In The Search For Love and Understanding.......2007-03-29

The 13 years old Aviva Victor is a heroine of Todd Solondz's film "Palindromes". She is the only daughter of the loving parents but she is not happy and the only thing she passionately wants - to become a mother and to have a lot of babies. She gets pregnant at 13 and forced by her mother goes through an abortion. As the result of the procedure gone wrong, she will never be pregnant again. Aviva runs from home and enters the world populated by very strange, often dangerous but always multi-layered characters. What makes this movie rather unusual, Solondz chose eight different actresses (in age, color, and shape) to play Aviva. The writer/director explains the experiment by his desire to make as many women and girls as possible identify themselves with the girl in the search for love and understanding. Aviva is not a real girl, really, she is an archetype of a woman who longs for love and tenderness and who is absolutely innocent in her search for them, often in the wrong places with the wrong strangers.

As for the title, -- a palindrome is a word, phrase, verse, or sentence that reads the same backward or forward. In the way, it is a metaphor for life. The word dies just after been born when it reads letter by letter backwards. It is self destruction. The same applies to Aviva (her name is a palindrome, BTW) - she and the world around her are static, she is in the vicious circle and she can't break it. You can not move on if you just walk in circles. Even if it seems that the world around Aviva and she always change (that's why she's got so many different faces), she is still the same - no matter if she is a little girl, an awkward teenager, a heavy black woman or frightfully youthful Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Even though, I respect Solontz's decision to tell the parable rather than the story of one particular girl, I think that choosing eight actresses was one of the "Palindromes'" weaknesses. The idea was interesting but not all of the performers were up to the task and the constant switching of the actresses was rather distracting.

I admire Solondz for his fierce uncompromising bravery - he knows that his films will never be the crowd pleasers - but he keeps making them.. I am not sure if I like "Palindromes" but I keep thinking about it, and I know I would - for long time.

Ah, Satan Sees Natasha........2007-02-16

Solodnz breeches in Aviva the social and cultural expectations and burdens of young girls, showing that when Aviva embodies these expectations (albeit blindly) she's met with criticism and controlling adults with their own agendas. The adults are all incredibly morally ambiguous, which very much plays into Aviva's lack of center or clue about the workings of the world. Several different actresses play Aviva, their diverse appearances indicating her thoughts of herself, wishing she could be different, have a different life... all tying back to the palindrome: deconstruct a thing however you like, at core it doesn't change. In a surreal way this tactic alone demonstrates a certain absolutism about the treatment of and perspective on 13 year old girls of any race, ethnicity or culture. In the end Aviva withstands a wild experience, yet goes right back to her nature, the adults around her still oblivious. The message is powerfully conveyed more visually rather than through dialogue. To me though, more than illustrating a palindrome, it seemed that Aviva had no identity at all.

This film touches on virtually all levels of child exploitation, from the Britney self-possessed-teen-sexuality variety, the perspective of pedophiliac intrigue and impulse, the Jackson 5 stage parent variety, all of which are in their own way socially condoned. Certainly buttons are pushed by the situations in the film, indicating both sides of the abortion issue, what constitutes a pedophile, moreover, what constitutes a 13 year old girl. Disturbingly achieved, Solodnz makes it easy to see yourself in every character. Again, showing these diverse views brings up sensitive boundaries and liberties, revealing the flaws and truths of moral relativism.

Quirky at best, though its message is powerful this film requires a lot of quick processing from its viewers to make sense. I enjoyed Solodnz's film. His commentary hits hard and without apology, which is most likely not going to appeal to most American palates.

More torturous sports from Todd Solondz.......2007-02-12

In "Palindromes" Solondz has found another novel way to tell us how miserable and futile life can be. He's great at pinpointing where it hurts, but I think I'm ready to call the doctor.

There's a scene in Preston Sturges' "The Lady Eve" where Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck are on the deck of a cruise ship, and Henry Fonda is staring out over the water saying something like, "I feel like I've known you all my life. I keep meeting you, etc." "Palindromes" stretches that idea over 110 minutes, using a young girl who desperately wants to get pregnant portrayed by eight different actresses. When she's finally successful, you'll be mumbling to yourself, "This is so wrong. This is so wrong."

Solondz reportedly wanted Heather Matarazzo to reprise her role as Dawn Weiner from "Welcome to the Dollhouse" for this film; when she declined Solondz had her character commit suicide.

annoyingly pretentious art film.......2006-12-13

You may need to double the strength of your Prozac prescription after watching "Palindromes," Todd Solondz' relentlessly grim and depressing look into the dark underbelly of Middle America. And if you happen to be looking for a movie that makes even a smidgen of sense, this largely incoherent and wholly pretentious "art house" offering may not be the work for you. However, if you happen to enjoy solving a puzzle that comes with distressingly few clues to help you piece it all together, this just might be the movie you've been pining for. Good luck.

The disjointedly episodic screenplay focuses on several seemingly unrelated teenage girls whose stories all involve pregnancy and/or abortion in one form or another. Or are they really all the same girl in different guises, since they each share the palindromic name Aviva and keep taking one another`s places at key moments throughout the movie? And if all this sounds more than slightly incomprehensible, welcome to the inscrutable world that is "Palindromes." All three girls are equally inarticulate and cloddish and suffer from aggravated cases of poor self-image, so I suppose they COULD all be the same person, though, in all honesty, I haven't the foggiest notion who anybody in this movie was supposed to be or how they happened to be related to one another. Eventually, I just threw up my hands in stupefied resignation and - not being the world's greatest gamesman to begin with - gave up trying to figure any of it out at all.

In an effort to paint American society in the worst light possible, Solondz has populated his film with endless caricatures of religious right extremists and in-bred country bumpkins.

Solondz, who made a far more compelling and coherent movie named "Storytelling" a few years back, at least earns kudos for casting relatively "unattractive" actors in the key roles, thereby vaccinating his film against the Beautiful People virus that afflicts even the most "independent "of independent features these days. But with "Palindromes," the director may have erred too much in the other direction, producing a film that sees nothing but the bad side of life and expecting us to wallow in all the ugliness right along with him.

Watching "Palindromes" is like throwing the pieces from three separate jigsaw puzzles into a giant pile, then attempting to put them together from the jumble that's been created. It might ultimately be possible, but it really doesn't seem like the most productive or entertaining way to go about doing it.

Fifteen & Pregnant (The True Stories Collection)

Average customer rating:

Typical teen pregnancy movie
Only for Kirsten
Park Overall at her best!!!!
the name of the song
OK MOVIE BUT WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE BIRTH

Fifteen & Pregnant (The True Stories Collection)
Starring: Park Overall , Kirsten Dunst , David Andrews , Margot Demeter , and Karen Trumbo
Director: Sam Pillsbury
Manufacturer: Mpi Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000784WYA
Release Date: 2005-05-03

Description

A True Story of Teen Parenthood. Tina Spangler is 15 years old and pregnant. Her future looks bleak and her options are few. Abandoned by her boyfriend, she has only one person to turn to: her loving mother, Evie, a woman who knows the harsh realities of being a single mother - she's one herself. Just as Tina's pregnancy has torn her world apart, it could both reunite a shattered family and help Tina to find her true purpose in life: to have someone to care for - and someone to love. Based on a true story, this emotional drama stars Park Overall (Biloxi Blues, Overkill: The Aileen Wuornos Story), Kirsten Dunst (Interview with The Vampire, Drop Dead Gorgeous, The Virgin Suicides) and David Andrews (Apollo 13, Wyatt Earp). DVD extras include: About the Film, About the Stars, Interactive Menus, Scene Selections, Trailers

Customer Reviews:

Typical teen pregnancy movie.......2007-06-22

Only for Kirsten.......2006-04-27

Park Overall at her best!!!!.......2006-03-24

the name of the song.......2006-03-15

i need to know the name of the song that was playing when tina was dancing on the porch with her dad. it sounds like such a beautiful song

OK MOVIE BUT WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE BIRTH.......2006-03-14

This is an ok movie.I too only like it for Kirsten Dunst.It shows nothing about what happens after the little guy is born and that kinda what irritates me.They should of at least do a sequel.

Average customer rating:

Surprisingly good film
A wonderful indie flick.
Awesome
Surprisingly Cool
4 stars for a courageous movie!

Confessions of an American Girl
Starring: Jena Malone , Harmony Blossom , Erik von Detten , Brad Renfro , and Alicia Witt
Director: Jordan Brady
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
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The United States of Leland

ASIN: B0006HBZSS
Release Date: 2005-01-11

Description

A pregnant, idealistic teen (Jena Malone, Saved!) finds that her chaotic trailer-park existence conflicts with her dreams of having the perfect family in this quirky dark comedy. After being rejected by her jerk boyfriend (Erik von Detten), Rena Grubb (Malone) looks for a way out of her turbulent teenage existence. Pinning all her hopes on her dad (Chris Mulkey) ? who was sent up the river for murder seven years ago ? Rena convinces her mom (Michelle Forbes) to drag the whole family to the annual prison picnic. Here, against a backdrop of sack races, barbed wire and conjugal trailers, Rena finally comes to terms with her inmate father and her dreams for the future.

Customer Reviews:

Surprisingly good film.......2007-06-12

I've been a fan of Jena Malone since she started acting. I wasn't expecting too much of this film, I didn't even see it make a theatrical release anywhere near hear but I bought it because she's in it and the majority of her movies are well worth watching. We were surprised. I and my 75 year old mom watched this together and completely enjoyed it. Well done, well acted, well written. It's dark. It's funny. It'll make you think. Highly recommended.

A wonderful indie flick........2005-12-08

Dysfunctional, Open-Minded, and down right humorous describes "Confessions of an American Girl". Jena Malone (Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, Stepmom) shines in this film, just like she always does. Two things that will always go together are Jena Malone & an Indie/Black Comedy. But I'll have to admit some of the best acting in this film was that of Brad Renfro (The Client). He plays a 'closet' homosexual, and the obvious reason he hides it is because of his "tough as nails" prison father.

A lot of the characters in this film are like a lot of people you know & see in real life. And thought most label them as poor, white trash...You discover in "COAG" that they have passionate souls too.

Also, on another note..Clifton Collins, Jr. was one of the best things in this film, and one of the funniest too. So, buy it, rent it..do what you must. It's great!

Awesome.......2005-12-02

The story is interesting and the characterare querky. Malone is great. I really enjoyed this different movie. Something that Hollywood couldnt and wouldnt put out.

Surprisingly Cool.......2005-07-29

Highly Recommended as an Example of How to Stage and Sequence a Complex Scene.

If you like black comedy, you should enjoy "Confessions of an American Girl". Rena (Jena Malone) is the embodiment of that old cartoon where the guy is sitting on the ground with a noose around his neck and a broken rope in his hand; captioned "some people can't do anything right". Rena lives in a mobile home with her somewhat "strange" family, is suicide challenged, is pregnant by a guy who doesn't want to be seen in public with her, and blames it all on the unfair eight year absence of her loving father, who is in prison for murder. Her dim idealic memories of her father are somewhat biased.

The highway and its exit ramps are metaphors for her life and her desire to end her life. The film is not quite as good as "Ghost World" but has much the same tone and feel.

Alicia Witt plays Rena's half-sister. Because Malone and Witt are arguably the most intelligent actresses in Hollywood, you immediately wonder about the wisdom of casting them as moronic trailer trash. But Malone has a special talent for playing this kind of "slack-jawed" character and Witt's standard sarcastic teen character works fine even in this environment. Their scenes together are the best ones in the film; with their reconciliation scene toward the end especially good.

Brad Renfro does a good job as Rena brother, O-Lon Jones (remember the waitress in Seinfeld's "Bubble Boy" episode) is excellent in a small role and Clifton Collins Jr. is great as Buddy, the prison trustee, who quickly sizes up the situation and sets the forces of change in motion.

While "American Girl" is an above average film, its main scene (the picnic at the prison which actually takes up the majority of the film) pushes it into cinema classic territory. This scene is an example of the way storytelling should be done, and the pacing is absolutely inspired. It is staged perfectly as Buddy orchestrates a sequence of revelations that changes all four visiting family members. Even if you hate the subject of this film it is worth watching just to see how wonderfully they manage this climatic scene. The disasterous visit over, the family leaves the prison with the statement "it went better than it could have".

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

4 stars for a courageous movie!.......2005-03-17

At first this movie seemed trite, but less than halfway into it, it became something much more. An honest look at a dysfunctional and insecure girl, her older and just downright mean half sister, her brother John, who is the calmest and simplest character ( with a dark secret ) in the movie. Her hardworking single mother ( played superbly by Michelle Forbes ) and her over the top father sent away to prison for two consecutive life terms for murder.
Jena Malone's character dreams of seeing her father, knowing him and making him proud right at the time that she realizes she is pregnant.
In one day at the annual prison picnic ( do these things actually exist? How scary!! ) the family reunites reluctantly except Rena ( Malone ). What follows therafter are numerous amounts of surprises and several laugh out loud moments. While some of this movie may be funny, this is certainly a more serious film that deals with coming of age, the longing that comes with having an absent father in a young persons life, suicide, depression, and coming to terms with one's reality and not just the dream they want.
I was amazed at how good this movie actually was. The acting by all cast members is really great and the story is not boring, however shocking or disturbing it may be, it is simply real. Possibly someone else's reality which makes it all the more interesting.

Average customer rating:

It Takes Two

Manufacturer: CustomFlix
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Fifteen and Pregnant
It Takes Two

ASIN: B000F9X418
Release Date: 2006-07-13

Product Description

The film tells the story of two teenagers who, on a Prom Night date, have unplanned sex resulting in a pregnancy. The plot then follows the boy and girl during the next twelve months as each experiences the legal, financial, and emotional consequences of this "just one time" sexual act. They wind up in court where the now 19 year old boy finds his life making a turn he did not plan on. The primary target audience is teenagers 13-18 although the content is also informative for adults.The DVD also includes curriculum ready for use in schools or organizations serving teenagers. The court/legal process is that used in California for child support cases but is similar to other jurisdictions. Principal actors are college students. Note: This DVD includes a folder containing two Power Point presentations to assist educators. The two files are located in the toolbox folder on the DVD. MS Power Point is required to view the toolbox presentations.

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East of Hope Street
Starring: Jade Herrera
Manufacturer: Maverick
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Only God Can Judge Me

ASIN: B0002JP48W
Release Date: 2004-09-21

Average customer rating:

Keeps you on the edge
A Sensitive Examination of Small Town Rural America

Due East
Starring: Robert Forster , Kate Capshaw , Clara Bryant , Erich Anderson , and Cybill Shepherd
Director: Helen Shaver
Manufacturer: Showtime Ent.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Detective
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Elizabethtown (Widescreen Edition)

ASIN: B00008WT3Q
Release Date: 2003-06-03

Description

When 17-year-old Mary Faith's secret gets out, the news shocks everyone in her small town. The townspeople soon find out that just one small event can change their lives forever.

Customer Reviews:

Keeps you on the edge.......2005-09-14

This movie keeps you thinking on what will happen next, and you are usually wrong. Most movies let you in on the end result, Due East doesn't do that at all. It was refreshing to be wrong when it comes to this movie. Very good movie!!!

A Sensitive Examination of Small Town Rural America.......2003-11-15

DUE EAST (the name of some small town in the South - probably Georgia) is a story about lack of innocence, a state that touches every person in a town ready for retribution.

Customer Reviews:

Forgot it already.......2004-03-09

This is a totally unremarkable low-budget movie. It has 17-and-up actors portraying 14-16 year olds, the main females of which get pregnant. Competent acting but hardly memorable. First-time directing by Kerri Green (the major girl in "Lucas"), so there is nothing special here. The music was OK, maybe even better than other music-heavy movies, though I'd never choose to listen to any of it. I'm giving it a generous three for effort. It might have been more meaningful to me if I was A) female, or b) pregnant.

Incidentally, I've had more than 400 DVD's and this was the first with no security strip on the package - something to think about.

No DVD extras whatsover, making it a bit over-priced.

Empathetic and Realistic.......2002-06-10

The "First Rites" video series sponsored by Hollywood Video is a terrific way for new directors to reach a wider audience. BELLYFRUIT is one of this series, and, for me, it was a highly worthwhile, empathetic film.

The stories of three young women who become pregnant not by choice but by dint of circumstances are told without sentimentalism. In their quests to find meaning and love, these young people find new life within. The outcomes of each tale are quite different--and each, again, is quite realistic.

This is not a film which provides answers, a fact which might bother some viewers. It also is not man-hating nor pro-abstinence. It is a sensitive portrait of what can and does happen in America these days. Anyone who works with teens, or who is a teen, or who is raising a teen, might gain some insights by watching this video with an open mind.

The two women responsible for this substantial work are to be congratulated on their commitment, honesty, percipience, and empathy.

I LOVED IT.......2002-02-17

THOUGHT IT WAS INTERESTING AND VERY THOUGHT PROVOKING. REALLY TOUCHED ME.

No fruits of labor here..........2001-03-29

It was somewhat an intesting movie. Paints a cynical picture about teenage pregnancy, and men in general. As if to say "young ladies, don't sleep with these awefull men,... see what can happen..". Felt like I was watching one of those contrived "60 Minutes", or "20/20" exposés. Where the presentation is directed at shock value and cynicism. Men hating feminists, and over zelos parents will like this film..

Bellyfruit is fresh!.......2000-09-17

Inspired by real-life stories of teen mothers living in urban Los Angeles, Bellyfruit is a fast-paced trilogy that explores how love and desperation can come together and explode in the anguish of broken dreams and ruined lives With a hip-hop, R&B, funk and techno-rave soundtrack, Bellyfruit is a strikingly honest, unexpected ride through today's US youth culture.

Average customer rating:

Lost Youths In Search of Family
An absolute knockout
Dream catcher 5 stars !!
Desolation On The Run

The Dream Catcher
Starring: Maurice Compte , Paddy Connor , Jeanne Heaton , Joseph Arthur (II) , and Patrick Shining Elk
Director: Edward A. Radtke
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00015YV2W
Release Date: 2004-03-16

Description

Ed Radtke's award-winning film tells the story of two juvenile delinquents (Maurice Compte and Paddy Connor in breakout performances) who meet while hitchhiking across America. The unlikely pair forges a tentative friendship as they hop trains, steal cars and dodge the law while trying to make it to Reno, Nevada. A magical journey full of colorful characters and situations, The Dream Catcher is a poignant tale of two young men who are both running from their past and desperately in search of the same thing; family.

Customer Reviews:

Lost Youths In Search of Family.......2005-11-29

The Dream Catcher is an excellent film. It is the story of two young men; each in a desparate search for family. There is really no hope for these two characters except for what little they can create for themselves. Freddy is on a father quest, he's essentially seeking out his own nature. His journey is motivated by the upcoming birth of his own child. Freddy is quiet and reflective, removed from the world. On the road, he meets Albert, who is younger, hyperactive and looking for his mother. Headed in the same direction, they become travelmates. Albert can't help his bad behavior and tests Freddy's nerves around every corner. Freddy spends his time brooding and trying to keep Albert in line.

Watching this movie, my feelings grew quickly for these characters and as much as I wanted a positive resolution grown out of friendship, it was clear somewhere in the middle of the film that my best case scenario had lost all footing. This is an emotional story that lends a voice to the profound importance of parents and family in the lives of young people. Formally this film is very strong and I would recommend it to anyone.

An absolute knockout.......2004-05-09

In the past week, I have seen "Man on Fire," "The Punisher," "Mean Girls," "Laws of Attraction" and "The Godsend"
in the theaters. I then caught the totally unknown independent feature "The Dream Catcher" on DVD, after I picked it up at the local Fry's without knowing anything about it, except the description on the box. Who would have thought the best movie I have seen this week, and probably since "Mystic River," would be this thoroughly entertaining and profoundly moving road movie featuring two young, unknown actors and a no-name director. In short, "The Dream Catcher" (not to be confused with the awful Lawrence Kasdan-Stephen King horror film of the same name) is one of the best films I have seen in a long, long time.

The plot is simple: two teens, one running from a pregnant girlfriend and one from juvenile authorities, meet on the road and forge a tentative and gradually deeper friendship while they travel to Reno in search of a better life. They couldn't be more different: Freddy (Maurice Compte) is a quiet introvert and the much younger Albert (Paddy Connor) is a loud, hyperactive motormouth who obviously suffers from ADD. They hop trains, they steal cars, they hitch rides, but mostly they fight and irritate each other until they fall into a predictable and comfortable rhythm with each other. I won't give anything else away except to say it is all incredibly moving and at times funny--all the way up to the rather predictable, though appropriate, ending.

This is an absolute triumph for director Ed Radtke, who, based on the great visual look of the film and the excellent use of locations between Philadelphia and Reno, deserves a chance at a big budget studio project. And the acting is uniformly excellent, including every well-cast supporting role, and especially the leads: Compte, who is touching and compelling, and the incredible Connor, who is absolutely sensational as a boy whose hyperactive manner masks a deep and profound inner sadness that at the end just may break your heart.

The best thing about DVD (aside from introducing the widescreen format to mass audiences) is that hard-to-distribute festival winners like "The Dream Catcher" can find an audience and quite possibly gain the respect that they deserve. And hopefully we'll be seeing much more of these actors and this director in the future. They certainly deserve it.

Dream catcher 5 stars !!.......2004-03-16

The Dream Catcher is a movie about two runaways both on the run for different reasons. Freddy ,played by maurice compte ,has a pregnant girlfriend and decides to run away and see his father who he has not seen in years. albert, played by paddy connor, is a juvenile deliquent who runs off to go to veags to find his mom. the two meet and strike up a friendship going together on the road. and as it is a road trip, they meet many different people from a guy in the military to a christian couple. the end of this movie is truly heartbreaking because you feel for these characters, even though you know how it will end. Ed radtke did a good job at directing this movie. the music is also well done as is the acting by maurice compte and paddy connor. it was neat watching this movie because i grew up in dayton where most of this film was shot. and seeing the locations like the dayton library reminded me of my hometown. i hope this movie gets the attention it deserves.

P.s. I am the guy at the end of the movie who is pushing the carts in the store which albert steals from.

Desolation On The Run.......2003-12-22

The Dream Catcher, directed by Edward A. Radtke, tells the story of two young men (boys really) who feel a pressing need to stay on the move. Freddy (Maurice Compte) is running from his pregnant girlfriend in Philadelphia with a vague hope of connecting up with an until recently incarcerated father he has not seen in a decade. Albert (Paddy Connor), an escapee from a juvenile home in Ohio, is heading toward Reno where his estranged mother supposedly owns a restaurant in which he believes he can get work and come in out from the cold. Neither has any money, nor any real family to speak of, and both are living by their wits as they cross America's vast midlands by whatever means they can manage. Although they hitchhike, jump aboard freight trains, and steal a ride or two, at times it almost seems as if they propel themselves forward by dint of highly elaborated fantasy about the future and a desperate desire to be rescued from the gnawing alienation they experience in relation to just about everything except each other. Freddy gets through the days on the road by assuaging his limitless reservoir of emptiness and rage with the help of a good deal of marijuana while Albert relies on a manic defense against his intolerable feelings of worthlessness and despair. He is also an inveterate kleptomaniac. Thus the pair provide an interesting counterbalance to the river of desolation which flows through them and which is mirrored relentlessly by the disconnected physical and human landscape through which they travel. After a number of entertaining, at times devastating, adventures en route to the 'promised land' of the American West, the boys finally reach Utah which Albert describes as being like another planet. But rather than having reached their collectively desired destination of longed for parental protection and love, another fate awaits them entirely. The only fate they could have actually expected to encounter given the emotional undertow established early on in lives characterized by severe trauma, loss and deprivation. I had the opportunity to screen The Dream Catcher as part of Sundance Channel's New Voices series which showcases first time film makers of exceptional promise. As with all the other entries in this splendid set of psychological dramas, I was thoroughly engaged by Radtke's disturbing, utterly revealing film from its auspicious beginning right through to its sad, poignant close.

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