This is really a particular movie as it's as much classic as iconoclast : the British education, the rebellious teen, the golden friendship, we have seen or read about these but friends turning into depressive « lovers » and next to criminals are really dramatic new tragedies. What's interesting with Jackson's approach is that he supports those girls, not giving them all the responsibility but rather describing a hard environment : fragile health, need for someone's compassion and out-of- this world dream ! For sure, Kate is really burning the screen as like nowadays she really opens her feelings like nobody else ! At last, we can only support Jackson's « patriotism » to shoot in his native country as New Zealand is indeed a beautiful land much unknown.

Peter Jackson known for low budget gory splat movies from New Zealand makes his first steps in serious film making in this murder drama based on a true incident.The film opens with the aftermath of the slaying as two teenage girls emerge hysterical from the woods in Christchurch.The film is about two schoolgirls, Mario Lanza, Orson Welles and living in early 1950s New Zealand which might had been decades behind the 1950s where rock n roll was to emerge in America.Awkward, morose, gawky schoolgirl Pauline (Melanie Lynsky) meets a new arrival from England, Juliet (Kate Winslet) who is confident, clever and brings Pauline out of her shell. Both bond closely with their love of opera and begin to live in a fantasy land which also allows Jackson to keep his horror fans satisfied with special effects scenes.The friendship between Juliet and Pauline soon becomes unhealthy as they feel superior and reality and fantasy collides. Pauline is resentful of her hokey, backwards family, especially her mother. Not helped by them not understanding her burgeoning sexuality, especially when a older boarder takes advantage of her and they blame the daughter.Juliet is ignored by her self centred parents who on the verge of splitting up and Juliet might end up going to South Africa. As the girls are forcibly kept apart they hatch a violent plan which ends up in disaster and tragedy.This is really a small scale drama from Peter Jackson, a world away from his recent overblown, enormous budget epics with even lengthier directors cuts.Here the acting from Winslet and Lynsky does the talking. Jackson brings the New Zealand of the 1950s to live, a world that is very insular. However the film is an efficient drama, nicely acted, a gory ending but not too far away from a well made television drama with some good special effects.

Just looked at the ratings for this movie, and all demographic groups gave it between 7.1 and 7.7, and there are few if any unsatisified reviews. But I thought it was truly average, and honestly over-rated. Yes, the production values were high etc., but quality form needs salient content. Though it's apparently a true story, and was interesting (though never gripping) in places, the plot seemed derivative and the metaphorical scenes were clichéd (unicorns and adolescent girls? seriously?). Kate Winslet played herself well, as usual, though with a different accent. I feigned interest for my partner's sake, who did rate it highly, though she seemed puzzled and possibly annoyed when the movie ended and I said 'let's watch Night of the Living Dead again, and continue the dead actors theme'. Yawn. Peter Jackson had to start somewhere, I guess

Juliet and Pauline are two girls that become very good friends in a brief period of time, and I couldn't, exactly, understand why. Winslet's character is an arrogant teenager that enjoys being seen as the smartest one. Pauline, on the other hand, seems to be some ordinary girl with some strong anger towards her parents, and the plot never really reveals the reason for it. She's also a naive girl when it comes to sex, which can be noticed in the scenes she shares with an older boy. Even thought a lot of people considered it to be a great film, I didn't like it that much. In my opinion, the plot is too slow and contrived, reason why I felt bored during almost all the way through. However, I'm gonna admit that the final scenes are surprisingly intense and hard to be seen, but that's the only "great" moment in the whole picture. "Titanic" was really a better choice for Kate Winslet...