SYNOPSICS
Virgin (2003) is a English movie. Deborah Kampmeier has directed this movie. Elisabeth Moss,Stephen Brian Jones,Andrew Thaman,Charles Socarides are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2003. Virgin (2003) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
Teenaged Jessie isn't like the rest of her highly religious family. While her sister is devoted to long distance running and her parents to their conservative Baptist church, Jessie is a bit too eager, a little bit adrift as she drives the dark night streets delivering newspapers. When Jessie finds herself pregnant without any memory of sex and determines that she is carrying the child of God, she disrupts the accepted roles and unquestioned order within her family and her entire small town. Rich with strange apparitions and mysterious women, but also with heartbreakingly simple human interactions, Deborah Kampmeier's magical and profound first feature explores the meaning of love, family, divinity, and the imagination.
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Virgin (2003) Reviews
A powerful film
High school student, Jessie, the black sheep of a religious family, lives only for cigarettes, Jack Daniels and her crush on a boy beyond her reach named Shane. One night during a dance, Shane walks Jessie out into the woods, and, after rendering her unconscious with drugs and alcohol, rapes her. Jessie awakens with no memory of the attack. When she finds herself pregnant, she believes it to be an immaculate conception and that she will bear the second coming -- a delusion which infuriates not only her family, but the entire town. Although the subject matter seems deliberately provocative, the film itself is strangely unsensational because the characters and their actions go beyond cinematic artifice into a realm of deep emotional resonance. Elizabeth Moss completely inhabits the character of Jessie, playing the sad, needy lost soul with an almost painful honesty. I believed her every second. However, as good as Moss' performance is, it would have been impossible without writer/director Deborah Kampmeier. Her script is rich in symbolism and theme, and kept me wondering, and, indeed, worrying about the outcome. Her naturalistic, shakey video style also gave the film a compelling sense of immediacy. My only problem is that Kampmeier doesn't give her male characters the same depth as her female ones. For the most part, the men are presented as little more than real or potential abusers of one sort or another. Still, this "flaw" doesn't ultimately diminish the film. It is, after all, essentially a film about women, not men, and it does its job well. If it weren't for the film's well-deserved R-rating, it could well serve as a cautionary tale for teens about the dangers of date rape. An excellent first effort by Ms. Kampmeier.
Amazing Commentary On Religion and Society
"Virgin" has to be one of the most simple, yet heart wrenching movies I have seen in years. Because of it's low budget, the story and characters really helps the movie flow. Jessie is a small-town girl, who loves cigarettes and JD, with no religion, and a confused family. When she wakes up after a dance in the middle of the woods with no recollection of sex, Jessie is suddenly convinced she is carrying the child of god. With nobody supporting her, Jessie is forced to try and convince her god fearing town with her visions and instinct. I cried through the last half hour. It may not have been visually stunning, but the story and characters made up for it. The director really brought up a good question, and makes the viewer ask themselves, "would we have believed Mary now?" I recommend this movie to anyone, religious or not.
Difficult to watch, but ultimately rewarding
Jessie (Elisabeth Moss, who played "Torch" in Girl, Interrupted) is a teenage girl living in a small-town with a large Born-Again Christian population. She fills her misfit existence with crutches like Jack Daniels, ciggies, and a night newspaper delivery job. She blacks out at a school dance and is raped by the boy she likes. She awakens the next day with no recollection of those events, but feeling she is pregnant, based on a strange dream she had. Knowing that she is a virgin, she believes that it was immaculate conception and she is carrying the child of God. She professes this to her family, and soon the entire town, and they all turn against her. "Virgin" isn't a straight up horror film, but it sure feels like one in its narrative structure. This is a film that is extremely difficult to watch. Witnessing the tragic events that happen to this young girl is nothing short of excruciating. When thinking about the movie in retrospect, when removed from these acts of hatred and violence, it is easier to see it is quite an excellent film. The acting is outstanding, especially by Moss, who was nominated for the ISA Best Actress. The messages are strong but not heavy-handed. The movie is about an outcast girl who finds herself in crisis after crisis, but finds strength from within (and in her concept of God) to rise above her tormentors. It is very rich in symbolism, and sometimes this works, but sometimes it becomes visually overwhelming. Another problem is that some of the characters motives aren't particularly clear--especially the teenage boys in the film. While it is easy to see that this is Jessie's story, the film would have benefited from suggesting why these boys behave the way they do. But overall, "Virgin" is an amazing film that is very difficult to watch, but ultimately worthwhile and moving. It is shocking that this was apparently made for around $50,000. If you've seen the trailer, it looks like a poorly shot film on DV. This is misleading, as this is a beautifully shot film. Co-stars Robin Wright Penn and Daphne Rubin-Vega. My Rating: 7.5/10.
A NEW CLASSIC
Like Charles Laughton's 1955 classic, The Night of the Hunter, VIRGIN is a unique and powerful film that manages to steer a magical course from the disturbing to the luminous. Director Deborah Kampmeier deftly weaves together strands of earthy reality and dreamlike allegory to tell the story of Jesse (in an unforgettable performance by Elizabeth Moss), a 'bad' girl whose personal journey takes her from misfortune and misunderstanding into a kind of mystical transcendence fueled by supernatural courage and intuition. Ably supported by a strong cast that includes Robin Wright Penn and Daphne Rubin-Vega, Moss carries this film. What a fortunate melding of actor and director! With her movie's Gothic, horror-film texture (byproduct of a budget that probably wouldn't even cover Mel Gibson's trailer) and an allegorical, magical-realism theme, Kampmeier tells a story that you won't soon forget. She is a powerful storyteller and a new voice to be reckoned with. If, as I have heard, this is Kampmeier's first film then I can scarcely wait for the next.
A film that reverberates long after the movie ends
I was fortunate enough to catch this film with a friend at the East Hampton film festival almost one year ago. "Virgin" is not always an easy film to watch, but it is one that courageously expresses both the despair and hope of adolescence and young adulthood. "Virgin" did not entertain me, it moved me. Writer/Director Deborah Kampmeier immediately takes her audience into the deep end. She does not stay in safe and shallow waters, but apparently believes that our hearts and minds will expand to take it all in. This belief inspired me to do so. Ms. Kampmeier's symbolism is unsettling and brilliant. If you are willing to think and feel (and have the heart and courage to do so), you will not be disappointed. Even now, almost one year later, I am still moved and reminded of images in her film that express the human struggle and condition. As the mother of two teenage daughters (and two adolescent sons), I am grateful for the opportunity to be able to share "VIRGIN" with them. Although the film is too intense for my boys to see at this time, I am relieved to be able to share a film with my daughters that does not focus on the troubled but "very sexy" longed for experiences (of most teenage girls) more evident in a film such as "THIRTEEN", but rather truly addresses the typical teen's need to be seen and loved through a heart wrenchingly honest and believable performance by her main character, Elizabeth Moss. This film reverberates long after you leave the theatre.