Thursday, May 24, 2007

Prozac Nation

Erik Skjoldbjærg | 2001 | 95 min | Germany + US

A very prozac-y soundtrack aids Christina Ricci doing her prozac-y best in this adaptation of Elizabeth Wurtzel's autobiography chronicling her struggles with depression while attending Harvard. Prozac Nation is a flurry of cliche teen scenes + dialogue. Everything in this film is crushed under the weight of actors behaving teen cool, teen detached, + teen distant, but who actually just come off as fucking boooooring. Even Lou Reed gets in on it by performing himself performing awful versions of VU songs. The director makes liberal use of fast motion, blurring, twirling, + other moves favoured by early music videos + drug-freak-out scenes from sitcoms + PSAs. The script suffers from frequent references to Springsteen, Reed, Hemmingway, + so forth in the narration, as though merely making mention of better works of art were enough to elevate the film beyond it's station. At one point, Skjoldbjærg even allows a shot in which a young couple has sex for the first time under a 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' poster. I swear.

Even though it was completed in 2001, Prozac Nation didn't debut until a cable television showing in 2005. It saw a US video release shortly thereafter. Elizabeth Wurtzel herself asked the film not be released because it was 'horrible.' Too late to save humankind, Wurtzel.

Ever wanted to read the diary of a nineteen-year-old who thinks she's an amazing writer? Yeah, me neither. NEXT!

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