I know, she looks very different! She looks different now too. I went to see the movie at the same cinema where it premiered in Sydney a week or so ago, and the entire cast was there on premiere night. I didn't go that night unfortunately, but some photos from the premiere are here...
http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/ente ... 1ctqp.html
Anyway, Ben you should definitely give the movie a try. IMHO!
Sorry to rave here about the movie, but...
I know the reviews have been mixed. But I am actually really angry that so many reviewers are dismissing it saying it is sexist, because of how the characters suffer and because of the outfits they wear. I have been seeing a lot of reviews arguing against this. And I too believe it is really, truly unfair to dismiss this film on those grounds. This is an exciting, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes empowering, and original movie. One of my best female friends adored it. At the screening I attended, more than half the audience was female.
In response to some critics that claim it is sexist, I will make 3 points:
(No spoilers)
1) The characters outfits and situations are all in the imagination of the Babydoll character (or maybe the Sweet Pea character), and they are a projection of those girls' feelings of objectification. They are
not imposed upon the characters by someone else. The characters create this imagery themselves - as a traumatic response to their own situation and as an amplifcation (you might say an exaggeration) of the objectified way they are feeling in the real world and their own senses of self-worth. After all, they are innocent girls, unjustly locked in a bleak, nasty asylum where several of the men who work there are predatory. There is only one older female character (a doctor) who may help protect them - but she is pretty powerless.
2) Using their imagination, the girls then turn the tables on that whole objectification. They use it to their advantage, both tricking the foolish male characters into falling into a trance. And also by becoming lethal warrior-girls who are almost invincible in the fantasy war scenarios they use. They are in no way submissive! Men are literally paralysed and defeated whenever they use their female strengths. Men are, for the most part, portrayed as monsters throughout the film (with one notable exception).
3) And thirdly, the 'sexy' outfits are not even a major part of the film anyway!! In fact you are so busy worrying about the characters that for most of the time you don't even notice what they are wearing, whether it's plain or otherwise.
This film is
not a film for teenage boys to gawk at. The ending is complex and difficult. I am still thinking about it. Teenage boys are likely to walk in looking for pretty girls and robots, and walk out entirely baffled and arguing with each other, probably annoyed that the film wasn't simpler. It is not an easy film.
Anyway, many of my arguments are shared by critics. I just searched Google News and found more articles arguing in favour of this film - including from feminists.
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/ ... ext|Home|s
http://m.au.ign.com/articles/1160581
http://www.shewired.com/Article.cfm?ID=26980
http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2011/0 ... erspective
As someone who aspires humbly to be an honorary feminist, I wouldn't remotely vouch for this film if I thought it's message was negative to women. I actually nearly cried at one point, due to the powerful (at times heartbreaking) story
But the ending was still a victory.
