"Girl, Interrupted" is based off a memoir by Susanna Kaysen (meaning that it's a true story). She spent about a year and a half in a mental hospital in Massachusetts in the late 1960s and was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. The book came out in 1993. Six years later James Mangold came around to direct a movie version of the book. He also directed "Walk the Line" and "3:10 to Yuma", both great movies so I was happy to find out he had directed "Girl, Interrupted."
The camera shots and lighting in the movie just work very well in setting a serious tone for the movie as well as making it look visual appealing with some nice tracking shots and shots down the halls of the hospital with lots of depth. The movie follows the book pretty well. Some scenes were omitted from the movie and others have been added. Also, the end of the movie is a lot different then the ending in the book. The book ending was much better, but I would never have known this fun fact had I not read the book first.
The casting in the movie is great. Winona Ryder is the lead. I have never been bowled over by any of her performances before and am pretty indifferent to her as an actress, but she is pretty good in this movie as the lead. Angelina Jolie stole the movie though, and the Oscar for Best Supporting actress, playing Lisa, a sociopath. Say what you may about Angelina Jolie and her thing with Brad Pitt and adopting half of Africa and popping out a couple of her own, but she is in fact a great actress. Don't watch "Wanted" though...that movie would not prove the point that I just made. Watch her in "Girl, Interrupted" and "Changeling" and you will see the range this woman has as an actress and the emotion she is able to pack into a character. She also definitely got the more interesting role in "Girl, Interrupted," so Winona Ryder shouldn't be blamed. Whoopi Goldberg also shows up as the head nurse and she is great. Many know her as a comedienne or that black woman on "The View" and possibly from such wonderful movies as "Sister Act" or "Sister Act 2: Back to the Habit." She is extremely capable at doing drama though, too ("Ghost" was a great example of her doing the ever popular drama-comedy mix...another great Whoopi Goldberg performance). The emotion that she brings to the nurse character is great and she worked very well with Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie and the rest of the cast and just seemed like a good fit.
The movie overall was good and I would recommend it as a rental to people...A great cast and a great director being involved in the adaptation of a very good book just seems like a good idea.
-Joseph Sbrilli
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