Movies-TV

emotional and powerful

I was channel surfing on direcTV and saw this on one of the HBO channels. Something about it kind of sucked me in. I found Paulie's love for Tori, although extreme, to be beautiful and powerful. I loved how she recited lines from Macbeth, and how at the parent dinner, she walked up to Tori wearing a suit, and asked her dad to cut in and dance with Tori. I loved the symbolism of the raven/crow whatever it is, and it overflowed with emotion. It really got me. This movie wouldn't be as powerful and wonderful as it is, without its melodrama. Give this movie a chance!

So that's what life is going to be like...

It's strange to me, and just a little frustrating, that nearly every story about gay life, or anything having to do with gayness has to be disastrous. If you've ever read Sara Waters, or Ann Rice, or any other novel about homosexuality, you'll find it depressing and all alike. For some reason, people get it into their heads that no matter what, if you're gay, something isn't going to turn out right, or you're going to end up miserable. The fact is, everyone has something in their life that doesn't go as planned, and it's not right to assume that being gay is choosing the road of dispair. Take Willow and Tara (Allyson Hannighan and Amber Benson) from TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer.Needless to say, the movie doesn't end well. The characters are well developed, and the story line is solid. But some of the dialogue is absurd, and a few of those acting, could use a better director. The cinematography was quite good, and the soundtrack (minus the score) was acceptable, but the score was melodramatic at best. I think they were trying a bit too hard on that. Also, the stereotypical "butch" and "femme" roles were monotonous, and out of place, and made it difficult to understand the character unless you are in that exact position. Overall, I would suggest that you see it if you're not burnt out on the sad ending stereotype. And I think that some of the actors/actresses just need more practice, as anyone would. But please, lets get some of the other perspective on gay life for a change!

Beautifully Tragic

This movie had one of the sweetest displays of romanticism I have ever seen. I highly recomend this movie.... But keep the kleenex box close by, it is a tearjerker.

WOW--A True Independent Film, and one that actually Intrigues the viewer

Wow--a good film, what I believe a good film should be, is a well told story. We often forget that with special effects, cheap gags, cheaper women and a deluge of pretty faces with little or no acting ability overtaking the screen in place of a good story. Good stories however still exist.Now a independent film used to be one with few if any "name actors", very little to no budget, no studio backing, and something different from mainstream Hollywood. My have the times changed. So, it was with great pleasure that I found this film at the video store. A film that was lauded, last year, by many critics. For a run down on the plot(my version doesn't give it away but informs you what kind of tale you're in for), you can check other reviews or look at the plot summary above, I will simply tell you what I liked, really liked abou t the film and it's few flaws. ***POssible Spoilers*** Mary B, our guide into the film and occasional narrator, called "Mouse" by everyone she tells us, is dropped off at the boarding school of her father's and step mother's choice. This is the first time she is away from home and all the feelings one associates with that, timidity, reticence, alienation are explored through her. She is housed with two other roomates, Paulie and Victoria. Paulie, speaks with a poet's heart. She is audacious and fears no one except Victoria, who as the story progresses breaks off her physical and emotional relationship with Paulie. The two are lovers and ultimately that is what the film is about. Love at such a young age. Getting over it. What happens when one person leaves another for reasons that have not to do with the heart but how people will accept you. And how this will change you. Victoria dumps Paulie to cover up any embarrassment she may face at the hands of her sister, parents, and other schoolmates. This is something that Paulie throughout the film refuses to accept. In ways that some might feel comfortable just fantasizing about Paulie tries to win her back.***END SPOILERS*** What I liked about this film is that it is fearless in the way it tells it's story. Never going for a cheap moment, taking it's time to tell it's story and really getting into the minds of the characters and their setting. Not since The Adventures of Tom Sawyer has there been such a strong example of the main character not being the one introduced to the audience but one we stumble upon later. Mary is the main character but Paulie is what the story ends up becoming about. Paulie, her roomate, who has just been dumped by another girl in her all girl boarding school, takes over the story in the same fashion that Huckleberry Finn took over The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Paulie, with her strong ways, outspoken manner, and her undying resolve to win the love of her 16 year old life back helps Mary tell her own story.When is the last time you saw a film where a girl walks into a library, atop the tables no less, and quotes Shakespeare to win someone who has so firmly and repeatedly pushed her out of her life. This film is very daring and the acting is very strong. Piper Perabo who plays Paulie was 24 when she did this film yet looks the part of a 16 year old and plays it like a young woman coming into her own. It's also a film about a girl finding her sexual identity that did not attack men to the extreme of certain gay themed films. And ultimately this is a film told with enough style and substance that it puts you in another place and time for a 100 minutes. I am not a lesbian female yet I can understand and at times relate to the characters in this film and most importantly care about them. NOW THAT IS A GOOD FILM. It's not a story that any studio would tackle and hence it is a veyr good indie film. My only problems with the film are it's overuse of music. Music to signal the viewer what they should be feeling as opposed to being a subtle part of the story. And abrupt msuic cues that take away from certain scenes as opposed to enhancing them. Then there is the narration, which though at the end of the film is at it's strongest, begins tepid like warm water for a cup of tea. It takes some time before it comes into its own.ALL in all I rate this film 8 out of 10 and STRONGLY recommend it if you are into films that evoke what it is like to be 16 and getting over your first love. No cheap sentimentality here.

Something bothered me

SPOILER There have been very few movies that effected me as deeply or bothered me for days after watching them like this one did. The story was sad and the acting was superb, but I've seen many sad movies before and they didn't leave me with the feeling of emptiness that this one did.The first time I saw this film I was aware that Mary was simply a story telling device (the movie is certainly NOT about Mary) and she added no depth or insight of any kind. I knew that she was entirely unnecessary, but I didn't realize that she was the flaw in the film.At the end of the film we hear from Mary how she is impacted by the events of the film, but who cares? I want to know what impact they had on Tory, the only other important character in the film.This story should have been told by Tory from later in her life, similar to Titanic. Then we could have gained some insight into her thoughts during and after the events. Instead, though we want to like her, she comes across completely cold and unsympathetic, a person willing to lie and throw her lover to the wolves out of her own self interests. I didn't want to dislike Victoria. After all, she was just a child acting out of fear and panic. But we were left with no choice, since Tory ended up being portrayed as a less than multi-dimensional character.I would have liked to have known how she really felt through all this. We saw every bit of Paulie's torment, but nothing of Tory's. Paulie was lost and delirious, but I believe Tory was just as lost. Was she really as uncaring of Paulie's decent into madness as she seemed? Did she really like her boyfriend or was he, as we suspect, a beard? And most importantly, what became of her life after Paulie's flight with the raptor? It must have been a terrible thing to deal with, especially if she loved Paulie as much as her behavior at the beginning of the film led us to believe.These unanswered questions left a big hole in the film and in the heart of anyone who became involved in this story and its characters.

Coming of age story

While some would argue that this is a lesbian movie, I would say that this is simply a story of love. We see a group of teenage girls in the all girls private schoool remotely tucked in somewhere on the east coast. They are all sort of discards from their families. Their parents have fulfilled the social contract of having children (or adopting them in some cases) and now that girls have reached a certain age, they are almost an inconvenience to their own parents. Do not take me wrong, they are not a problem kids - they are sent away so that their blended families can get some breathing space. So this seemingly comfortable arrangement has one drawback. These young women are craving for love and attention. Tucked in school, away from families that care for them enough to pay hefty tuitiion, they bond by forming cliques or in some instances, strong loving relationships amongst each other. Two of them fall in love and have sexual relationship that once discovered brings havoc around the entire school. One of the grils (played by Piper Perabo) is sensitive, caring but unable to let go of her unfaithful lover who does not seem to want to resiprocate the love any longer. It is in those tender moments of our heroine's distress that one can see that she fell in love with a person and the sex of the person is totally irrelevant to her. Our heroine is seeking love pure and unconditional the one that does not seek approval from the rest of the society. I totally loved this movie and I still keep wondering when I am going to see Piper Perabo in her next role. She is beautiful, talented and absolutely irresistible.

Easily the Worst, Most Trite Film in Recent Memory

SPOILERS BEWARE (or something)Lost and Delirious was, to quote a newspaper headline, "Just Plain Lost." This movie was an attempt to display the gut-wrenching pain of lost/impossible love, in short. However, the movie turned out to be just a bunch of ridiculous, talentless young actresses hopping around a girls' school as they slowly descend into a pointless display of madness and teen angst.I personally felt that a script for "Dawson's Creek" or "Seventh Heaven" would probably be more entertaining and accurate, so I hope that pretty much gives an overview of how little direction or honesty this film had. Piper Perabo is most definitely my choice for the worst young actress of the past few years, and the other two lead girls aren't far behind, as they galavant with pouts and crocodile tears as they deal with issues that, in the hands of a competent writer or director, would seem important and central to the characters, such as parental hatred, the need for love, the painful process of self-discovery, etc.I couldn't help wondering if I had suddenly been sucked into a strange, lesbian-powered after school special, as Pauly very solemnly gives Mouse the nickname "Mary B" as in "Mary Brave." I mean, wow.....Then there was the falcon (or hawk, i wasn't quite sure). It is referred to as a "Raptor" and Pauly says things to Mary Brave like "Are you crying? Are you GIRLY-GIRL crying? I was GIRLY-GIRL SUCKY-SUCK crying too!" and "Rage, Mary B! Rage with the Raptor!" The absurdity of it all is just overpowering. "girly-girl sucky-suck"?? what the..??Not to mention the annoying slow-motion interludes, the horrid music, the use of poetry and literature as metaphors for the characters' feelings that ended up being about as profound and original as an episode of "Full House." And then there was the gratuitously long sex scene that according to all of my lesbian friends who have seen this movie, doesn't even look like real lesbian sex. The girls are just sort of there making love and looking nervous, and the director chooses to focus on their chests instead of their faces (maybe a desperate attempt to keep the audience from realizing that they are talentless), and the scene's lighting and music just make it feel like softcore lesbian porn. The scene's between Mary and Graham Greene were even worse and the supposedly "touching" fact that Pauly's teacher is an old lesbian is just predictable and underdeveloped, the real problem the whole movie suffers from.In short, this movie was so poorly made in the way it dealt with important and poignant issues that I was both disgusted at the ineptitude and also forced to leave the theater at one point and come back in after five minutes of uncontrollable laughter. It was undeniably the worst movie I've seen this year, and probably the worst coming-of-age movie I've ever seen. Don't waste your time -- go watch "Get Real".

Pay attention

All of you who said "I am a lesbian, so I can comment on this movie honestly," or said that this movie is "anti-gay" weren't paying attention. Paulie isn't a "lesbian" (whatever the hell that is), she is a person in love. While the script isn't full-tilt perfect, and yes, it is Canadian so the cinematagrophy is very TV-esque (haven't you ever watched any other Canadian films?), Piper's knock out performance is worth it alone, and the girl who plays Mouse (and also plays a girl in love with a girl on the excellent TV series Once and Again) deserves credit just for the amazing projects she's been associated with in just the first few years of her carrear. This is a good film for all you hopeless romantics out there with art-sy hearts who typically experience heartbreak like it's the end of the world and not just a broken contract.

The Best Movie I have Ever Seen

This movie is one of the best movie si have ever seen. The story in the movie is so real and heart breaking one has to love it. The movie got me thinking about it for about 2 weeks non-stop about my favorite scenes and the meaning of the end. It's just soo good i really recommed you see it really really good. But don't take my word for it see it and you'll see....

Very Real To Me

This movie hits really close to home for me being that I was in the same situation a few years ago. The acting is surprisingly genuine. The moment that Tory realizes that she just betrayed the love of her life after telling her younger sister that Paulie has a thing for her and that she is not "like that" and she bursts into tears...it seemed very genuine. I would definitely recommend this to anyone and everyone. It's obviously a relevant topic and source of conflict that many people can relate to. I like the movie "Imagine Me & You", but Piper's acting was a lot better in this film.

Moving Story

Piper Perabo and cast did an awesome job of showing how far you would go for true love. I highly recommend this artful look at lesbian love. Buy it!!!!

Love is being lost and delirious

What you find here is a story about girls who only desire for out of life. A couple of girls at this school take their love to the next level, only to discover that one of them can't deal with that pleasure of coming out, nor easily ready to face those challenges with herself.

A Completely Preposterous Premise

My problem with this far-fetched and tedious work evidently lies in what the source material gave the filmmakers to work with, that being the novel and/or the screenplay. I have read neither. It is impossible to fathom that signal after signal of the central female character's dramatic psychological decline either went unnoticed or was deliberately ignored by such an inept staff of boarding school instructors and administrators. If the goals of the school included creating a headstrong group of adolescent girls, they accomplished that and regrettably more, resulting in conditions where, to bend a phrase, "one of the patients was running the asylum." There is not one iota of redeeming value to warrant seeing this film. The girls are inexperienced and throw the word "love" around in a way that makes it a totally misunderstood commodity. Peripheral tidbits come and go as mere fillers, offering no beneficial reasons for being integrated into the plot. If those were meant to serve as symbolism, they failed in their mission because they were shoe-horned in as central story items instead of being eased in the way true adolescent life would evolve. By toning down the script's language throughout and substituting innuendo in the lesbian scenes, instead of everything that required the "R" rating, during another era this film could have been a product shown in entirety as a half-hour "Twilight Zone" episode. The central female character's name being "Pauline" also reminded me of Melanie Lynskey's role as another Pauline in "Heavenly Creatures" (1994), a film costarring Kate Winslet. That movie was based around an actual tragic event that occurred overseas, following similar life experiences by adolescent girls and misguidance by adults, but in more home-based and parental proportions. It will take the viewer some effort to be forgiving about the lack of adult monitoring in the "Lost and Delirious" school setting. After muttering, "Oh, c'mon!", to myself so many times, this film made such effort not worth it in any way.

A very good movie in spite of obvious flaws

What could be more pure and genuine than the serendipity of an honest page from a young girl's diary, spotted with the teardrops she wept as she wrote? The diary belongs to 14 year old Mary Bedford (Mary Brave) as she writes about the heart breaking emotional trauma she suffers during her first year at boarding school. Lost And Delirious is a movie about the purest form of committed love, the kind that transcends all boundaries and causes those committed to devote every fiber of their being, heart and soul, to their loved one. There is no turning back or "getting over" this kind of love; once broken the heart can never mend. Most people will never experience this kind of pure love and, even if the opportunity were there, would never take such a chance with their emotions. If you have ever loved another person so intensely that you felt your life would be over if the relationship ended, you will identify with the character, Paulie Oster, and this movie may break your heart.L&D is not a lesbian movie about girls being naughty and experimenting at boarding school. If you're not the sensitive type and expect to be inflamed with lust this movie would be wasted on you. Get yourself a pound of fried pork skins, a six-pack of $1.49 beer on sale at the local convenience store, and rent Bimbos From Planet Lesbos instead.

You'll need some tissues...

This film arrived too late for the young women growing up in the 60s, 70s and maybe even 80s who felt alone and freakish in a world that had no room for gays or lesbians. Of course, I can't speak for them myself, but I can imagine how it must have been, how it still is sometimes. Any films made during those years would have only reinforced horrific, negative stereotypes about lesbians (think "The Children's Hour" without the surprising tinge of sympathy).

"Lost and Delirious" is certainly not the first film of the 21st century to come along and portray same gender love in a less than monstrous light, but is one of the most easily accessible and less preachy ones. It could be about anyone who has ever been a misfit and fallen in love against everyone else's wishes.


Different people will bring their own history to this tale, but for many it is all too realistic. Even if you gently push the love story aspects aside, the portrayal of life in an all-girls' school is so accurate it almost hurts to watch. It's a sad part of life that many girls are cruel to each other during the teen years, but throw in the fact that two classmates who happen to be of the same sex fall in love with each other and suddenly hearts are being thrown in the meshing machine.

I swore I wouldn't cry while I watched this, I swore, but Piper Perabo is just too good and too convincing as a young woman torn apart inside by her own feelings. Her vulnerability and the way her classmates (most of all the girl she loves) treat her lead to an intense breaking point that would leave the coldest person in the world in tears. It's been a while since I've seen "Lost and Delirious" (even longer since I've been a teenager and been quite lost myself), but the film has always stayed with me...there are so many images, but as with many stories that are exceptional it's a simple scene that lingers: one where Piper Perabo's character forges a special relationship with a hawk, a bird that gives her more love than any human she encounters along the way.

My Favorite Movie

"Lost and Delirious" is easily my favorite movie, and has been for a couple of years now. I happened to find it when I was flipping through the channels in the middle of the night when I couldn't go to sleep. I figured I'd watch it since there was nothing else on, and by the end of the movie, I was in a daze, mesmerized by how stunning and beautiful and amazing the movie was. The actresses, the dialogue, the images, the cinematography, the music worked so well together and were nothing short of amazing. The music in particular is powerful and inspiring. "Running" by Yvet Chamberland(sp?), which is the second song that plays during the credits, gives me a feeling like no other song I know. And the story of deep, true love in this movie... aw, gets me every time. I don't understand how anyone could ever NOT like this movie.

This movie is so real!

The last person's comment so so offensive! Obviously they weren't a lesbian and they have no idea what good music is. The score "So Beautiful" is played when Tori and Paulie are making love. It's by a phenomenal artist named Meshell Ndegeocello who absolutely rocks!! Her song evokes such emotion that I can't resist breaking out into tears sometimes when she sings it. This movie is believable and so real. I feel for Paulie and hope she found peace when she flew away. The love that Tori and Paulie shared was so much more than puppy love. The were soul mates. They loved "like Cleopatra loved" Paulie was the King and Tori the Queen. Tori was so concerned about what her parents and her classmates would think that she went against her own heart. I bet Tori never forgave herself, and she was the reason that Paulie faltered. All she needed was her love, and without it she had nothing.

amazing and beautiful

i didn't know what to expect when i picked up this movie only to find that it is one of the most touching and heartfelt movies i've seen in quite some time. the performances may seem over the top at first but really embrace and capture the raw and often painful emotions that come with losing the thing we hold most dear. i would recommend this movie to homosexual and heretosexual viewers alike as we all have felt and dealt with this at some points in our lives.

A Must See!!

Everyone should see this movie!! It's AWESOME!! I LOVE IT!! :)

And Piper did an AMAZING job in it! :)

RAGE MORE!!

AMAZING!! SHOCKING!! WONDERFUL!!

This movie was absolutely wonderful. It brought me to tears, it made me laugh, and it really screwed with my emotions...I was crying for 3 days after I saw it the first time, then 6 days later I went back to see it again. I would be honestly surprised if Jessica Paré doesn't become high demand after this amazing performance as a girl torn between her true love and what her parents expect out of her. I loved it, I can't wait for it to come out on video so that I can watch it every day. You can watch it from different views, as it is told by Mary, but you can also see it in Polly and Tori's perspectives. A must see for everyone, but be warned that there is a shocking ending.