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Speak review

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Speak is about a girl who enters her freshman year of highschool not talking much because of a traumatizing incident that happened the summer before.  Melinda (Kristen Stewart) is a bit socially awkward and trying to cope with all of her emotions on her own.  She is rejected by her friends from the year before and struggles to fit in.  She realizes that no one really cares about what she has to say, so she decides to just stop talking for the most part.

I think Kristen Stewart was perfect for this particular role.  She always seems to have one main expression- pissed off.  But that really did well for her in this film because of what the movie was about.

I loved the mental commentary from Melinda throughout the movie.  Even though the movie was a more solemn, serious kind of film, her thoughts added in a lot of humor.  That was a nice touch.  I think one of my favorite scenes of the whole movie was when they were trying to cook a Thanksgiving turkey.  The mom was going to boil it and put it in the microwave, and the dad was trying to chop it with an axe so it would fit in the microwave.  It was pretty unrealistic (at least I don't think most American families would try that) but it did add humor to the movie.

The character of the art teacher really helped develop the character of Melinda.  He encouraged her throughout the movie and seemed to care when others didn't.  The art teacher is exactly the kind of teacher that every kid would want to have, especially freshman year.  There were a few times where the art teacher couldn't seem to control his emotions in front of his students, and he had a couple outbursts.  However, I really liked how those really affected Melinda- they seemed to provoke emotion from her when nothing else did.

Throughout the movie there are flashbacks from the traumatizing incident that has Melinda so messed up.  I wanted to know so badly what happened at the beginning, but it definitely made the movie better that they spread it out.  Every so often things would trigger Melinda's memory so we would see another flashback.  I always enjoy that in movies.

I didn't really understand Melinda's family.  Sometimes her mom seemed really preoccupied with work and her own life, and then at other times she seemed to really care about her daughter.  I wish the movie had done a little better job of explaining their family dynamics, because I don't feel like that had anything to do with the actual plot; it only added confusion.

The ending...well, I won't say a whole lot because I don't like giving out spoilers.  But I really liked it!  The last scene shows Melinda in the car with her mom, and it was just really touching because it was the first time the entire movie that she starts opening up.  Plus, I'm a sucker for happy endings which is mostly what this movie had.

There were some confusing things about this movie that I wish made more sense.  Like how did she hide away in her secret room in the school for a whole school year with no one finding out?  And where did she find all that time during the school year to hide?  How is it that Melinda told one person her secret and then the next scene the whole school knows?  These were all somewhat minor things, but they would have left the ending with less loose ends if more detail had been included.

Overall this was a great movie; it's a serious story about inner triumph based off a book by Laurie Halse Anderson.  If you're a fan of stories where people learn to face their own demons, then you'll love this one.  Other than the rape theme, this movie was pretty clean (minimal language, etc.).  It's a nice drama for a rainy day, one that will probably probe you to do some thinking.
Director: Jessica Sharzer
Year: 2004
Rating: PG-13
My rating: :star::star::star::star::star-empty:

If you've seen this, I'd love to know if you agree/disagree. ^^

(C) A.greenlaw 2014 
© 2014 - 2024 fotomademoiselle
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MidNightMagnificent's avatar
I haven't seen this one, but the only thing I have bothered aside from the awful Twilight trailers was Snow White And The Huntsman. Not the least bit impressed! I tried The Runaways trailer, but that didn't impress me much.