BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 15th, for a screening of the 1995 dark-comedy classic “To Die For,” starring Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon and Joaquin Phoenix.
TO DIE FOR | 1995 | DIRECTOR: Gus Van Sant | WITH: Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon, Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, Ileana Douglas | RATED R for vulgar language, sexual content and brief violence | RUNNING TIME: 1H 46M
The all-American obsession with celebrity turns monstrous in this deliciously subversive (and disturbingly prescient) satire of our television-mediated, true-crime-obsessed age.
In a career breakthrough, Nicole Kidman delivers a diabolical deconstruction of the girl next door as a local TV weather reporter whose perfectly perky facade belies a murderous heart, as her ruthless pursuit of fame ensnares three disaffected teens in a sordid, tabloid-ready scandal.
Deftly deploying shifting perspectives, faux-documentary interviews, and a supporting cast featuring Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, and Casey Affleck, director Gus Van Sant adds provocative layers of meaning to this darkly funny examination of suburban sociopathy.
“To Die For” is the kind of movie that’s merciless with its characters, and Kidman is superb at making Suzanne into someone who is not only stupid, vain and egomaniacal (we’ve seen that before) but also vulnerably human. She represents, on a large scale, feelings we have all had in smaller and sneakier ways. She simply lacks skill in concealing them.
“The film is filled with perfect character studies. Dillon, the former teen idol whose acting has always been underrated, here turns in a sly comic performance as a man dazzled by beauty but seduced by comfort. Illeana Douglas is Janice, Suzanne’s ice-skating sister-in-law, who spots her as a phony and makes life uncomfortable by calling her on it.
“Finally, though, the movie is about Suzanne, and Nicole Kidman’s work here is inspired. Her clothes, her makeup, her hair, her speech, her manner, even the way she carries herself (as if aware of the eyes of millions) are all brought to a perfect pitch: Her Suzanne is so utterly absorbed in being herself that there is an eerie conviction, even in the comedy. She plays Suzanne as the kind of woman who pities us – because we aren’t her, and you know what? We never will be.” — Roger Ebert
Tickets are $6 (including service charge) and available at link above. Students use code STUDENT at checkout for free admission (must show student ID at the door).
