Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane, The
Collapse
-
- Published: 05-16-2016, 08:34 AM
- 0 comments
X
Collapse
-
Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane, The
Released by: Kino Lorber/Scorpion Releasing
Released on: May 10th, 2016.
Director: Nicolas Gessner
Cast: Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen, Alexis Smith, Scott Jacoby
Year: 1976
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Director Nicolas Gessner's THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE has always been one of the great overlooked thrillers from the me decade. Structured like a stage play, this film is a masterfully constructed slow burn with an intriguing premise bolstered by exceptional performances - top-lined by a young Jodie Foster at the peak of her abilities as a child actress.
13 year old Rynn Jacobs lives alone in a tidy seaside house on a secluded lane. Her father - an ill poet from England - took Rynn to this small town to set her up to live alone after his death. The whole reasoning is kept purposefully vague, but it has a lot to do with Rynn's abusive mother who she's been estranged from since her parent's divorce. The father also had a distinctively antiauthoritarian worldview tinged with some paranoia and desired that his brilliant daughter not be placed under the thumb of callous adults upon his death.
We first see Rynn on Halloween celebrating her birthday alone with a cake that she's made. We are pretty sure her father is gone but we don't know what happened. It's an intriguing setup that appeals to every child rebelling against parental authority as well as a good mystery. The first threat we see manifested is local man Frank Hallet - a married father who is clearly a child molester but has remained protected due to his wealthy and connected mother (who also happens to be the real estate agent in charge of the Jacobs house). His initial visit to the house where he acts inappropriately with Rynn is quite disturbing. Later, the second threat appears - which is Frank's mother. Mrs. Hallet (Alexis Smith) is a bigoted busybody, and she has a very tense initial encounter with Rynn where the girl manages to artfully dodge the realtor's questions about her father. While Rynn is trying to deal with these two, some friendlier faces enter her world - a charming young man with a limp and an obsession with magic named Mario (Scott Jacoby) and a sweet- tempered local cop. Officer Miglioriti (Mort Shuman) comes by the house a couple of times and buys the stories about Dad working but eventually gets suspicious.
The film is a pretty nifty mystery so giving away much more would spoil it. Suffice to say that people start going missing and a couple of accidents occur. We also start to realize just how crafty this little girl is and what she's had to do to ensure her survival and the ability to continue living exactly the way she wants to.
I first saw THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE on TV late at night as a young teen. I identified strongly with Foster's brilliant character and her rebellious streak. On one level, Rynn is a sociopath, but on another one she's a genius protecting herself from genuine threats. Foster's circumspect performance has an onion-like quality to it - the more you peel the more you see. The budding romance between her and the polio afflicted young magician is tender a and well written. I don't even have any particular problem with the infamous underage love scene. It's presented quite matter-of-a-factly and there's nothing salacious about it. Moving on to the film's other performances, the acting from Sheen in particular is notable. His character brings the film closest to the "horror" genre. It's a difficult role and he manages to make your skin crawl without doing anything explicit. Smith does the bitchy society lady to perfection and Shuman is genuinely likable. Jacoby is almost as good as Foster at being believable.
THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE was shot in Canada and looks fantastic. The autumnal palette is captured vividly and the cinematography is outstanding. The house, the beach and the forlorn woods seen so often in the movie are captivating. Gessner's film is a great isolated country house mood piece and despite the occasionally stodgy stage play aesthetic it works perfectly as a sinister drama. The perfect film for a late wintry evening.
Video/Audio/Extras:
THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE made its Blu ray debut in the U.K., but Kino's edition trumps it in a few key areas. It has a marginally higher bit rate and therefore less compression (though truthfully you'd be hard pressed to notice). The MPEG-4 AVC 1080p 1.85:1 has a strong natural appearance that shines most on the film's many closeups. Pores are visible on faces and the gorgeous natural scenery has a vibrant appearance. Color reproduction is excellent and film grain looks normal. This is also a clean print, so element damage is negligible. This is a pretty significant upgrade over the old DVD.
The 2.0 DTS-HD MA audio track is also nicely done. Range isn't huge, but the film's alternately haunting and jarring score is presented without any distortion or flaws. All dialog is clear.
There are three notable extras on this release. The first, and most valuable is a director commentary. This is a USA exclusive and it's a terrific one. Gessner doesn't waste any time narrating what's onscreen. He's got a lot to say about almost every aspect of production. From the controversy with Jodie Foster to the music to Martin Sheen to optioning the project, Gessner has a lot of interesting information to impart. He talks quite a bit about Lard Koenig's original novel and the differences between it and the film as well as how the movie's tricky animal scenes were handled. Despite Gessner's French accent, he's quite lively and easy to understand. This is a great commentary track. Next stop is Martin Sheen for a half hour one-on-one interview. He's a lot of fun and very generous with the interviewer. This is a great chat and he has a lot to say about many different things - but the focus is mostly on LITTLE GIRL. The most interesting stuff in the interview centers on how sheen approached the character. The actor has some interesting ideas about what it takes to be a well-rounded performer and how to approach villainous characters. Finally, Sheen and Gessner are united for a Skype chat. Both are very complementary towards each other and it's a fun sentimental moment despite the technical limitations of how it was done.
The Final Word:
An overlooked gem, THE LITTLE GIRL WHO LIVES DOWN THE LANE gets my highest possible recommendation. Mysterious, strange and unique this is a film that holds up to repeated viewings. And Kino's package is excellent with strong AV and good supplements. Buy.
Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (270)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4139)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2512)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (385)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (295)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (496)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Severin Films
Released on: April 30th, 2024.
Director: Lee Frost
Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
Year: 1969
Purchase From Amazon
Hot Spur – Movie Review:
Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:53 AM -
-
Released by: Mondo Macabro
Released on: April 9th, 2024.
Director: Max Pecas
Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
Year: 1985
Purchase From Amazon
Death Squad – Movie Review:
Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual...-
Channel: Movies
03-22-2024, 11:46 AM -
-
Released by: Quality X
Released on: February 28th, 2024.
Director: Chuck Vincent
Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
Year: 1982
Purchase From Amazon
Roommates – Movie Review:
Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:10 PM -
-
Released by: Blue Underground
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Jess Franco
Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
Year: 1970
Purchase From Amazon
Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:
Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:07 PM -
-
Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Saul Bass
Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
Year: 1974
Purchase From Amazon
Phase IV – Movie Review:
Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and...-
Channel: Movies
03-15-2024, 01:02 PM -
-
Released by: Radiance Films
Released on: March 26th, 2024.
Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
Year: 1969-1972
Purchase From Amazon
The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:
Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this...-
Channel: Movies
03-13-2024, 11:30 AM -