Ripe (1996) Reviews

• under-appreciated film *SPOILER*

  b-severson2004-09-19

  C'mon people! Give the director a break. This film ain't so bad. In fact, I think it is one of the better coming-of-age films I've seen. Despite some areas of imperfection, are the technicalities that important? Who cares if some pieces of the plot are questionable...the performances are heartfelt and strong. I was especially impressed with Daisy Eagan's performance as Rosie, the bitter and rejected twin of Violet, played by Monica Keena. After their parents die in an accident, Rosie and Violet head to Kentucky, where they plan to start over. On the way, they hitch a ride to an army base where they meet Pete (Gordon Currie), a loner who is living on the base. He eventually decides to let them live with him temporarily while they work on the base to earn money for their trip. Throughout the film, Rosie and Violet become progressively more detached from one another, physically and emotionally. Violet, the prettier and more sexually aggressive of the two, develops a crush on Pete, while her sister discovers a fascination with guns after meeting Ken (Ron Brice), an army official working on the base. When Rosie discovers that Violet has lost her virginity to Pete, she becomes dangerously jealous. She sees Pete as a threat to the bond that she and Violet share as sisters and devises a plan to get rid of him. The ending will shock and amaze you. It is by far one of the most devastating conclusions although it is genuinely real. This film is an excellent examination of how bonds between siblings are corrupted by the natural and inevitable events that shape sexual maturity.

• positive comments

  sdrogue2002-08-16

  as the director says, coming of age movies are so laced with sweetness and lace that you would think puberty for girls was a picnic (not verbatim)...this movie shows the confusion and frustration that young girls go through when dealing with the fact they may look, act, and be able to feel older, but in actuality are still just little girls. Its a classic case of wrong time, wrong place for them. The men in this movie, are evil just from being opportunistic to the girls. While the movie is intense in several parts, I think the fact the girls are actually in the right age groups as the characters really throws me for a loop. Casting them was daring and edgy, and about time to do something like that... nobody is right in this film, nobody wins, and everyone loses something... Q

• Fairly amateurish "thriller" based on a true story

  d_fienberg2000-11-02

  There's no rule that says that true events necessarily seem real on screen. It's actually probably more difficult to make a realistic fictional film than to translate a tragic, but true, event to film. Mo Ogrodnik experiences this problem with his first fictional film, 1996's Ripe. Based on an apparently true story of two fourteen year old girls who survive a car crash which kills their parents, Ripe is ostensibly about the bond between sisters and their different ways of dealing with the onset of adolescence. Both physically mature, the two girls run away from the accident and find residence at a military base, where they find a home with a long-haired biker. Out of tragedy comes further tragedy. As evidenced by the film's poster (featuring Monica Keena's nymphet Violet biting into an apple), Ogrodnik, who got his start making documentaries, seems to think he has a provocative story of innocence lost and a fall from grace. The problem is that what he really has is a connection of completely unmotivated actions featuring a string of characters who are completely without depth. Keena's Violet is becoming interested in sex. Daisy Eagen's Rose is becoming interested in Violence. And Peter, the man who takes them in, is basically just there. He has no past and no dialogue to give any sense at all of who he is. I guess the film has a nice look. Wolfgang Held's cinematography calls to mind the empty spaces and spare setting of Badlands, a slightly similar kinda-true story of innocence and violence. But the style is to service of nothing. The plot can't move because everything that happens either seems unbearably tacky (every scene involving the soldiers at the base is like a bad copy of every basic training movie ever made, from Biloxi Blues to Full Metal Jacket). Keena (whose recurring role on Dawson's Creek marks the only time you would have ever seen any member of the cast) and Eagan give decent performances, but it's tough to get involved with the characters' internal lives because of the paucity of closeups. As Peter, Gordon Currie is fairly awful. He's given nothing to do and yet he still comes of only as shrill. He seems neither sympathetic, nor creepy and probably the film would like him to be one or the other. Basically he's a cypher. Ripe is only marginally provocative and it produces no real emotion. As studies of young sexuality it's inferior to the underrated Adrian Lynne Lolita. And as a story of young girls made old before their time it pales in comparison to Manny and Lo. I guess I'd probably give it a 3.5 outta 10 because I've certainly seen worse films, but I sure can't think of much to recommend it.

• Hilariously kinky adventures of trashy orphan girls.

  chucksbadd2001-03-01

  This film, alternately side-splittingly funny and stunningly bizarre,is destined to become a cult classic. It's difficult to decide if the filmmakers were wanting to make a seriocomic social commentary or just indulging a penchant for the outlandish. Either way, this is a movie that must truly be seen to be believed. After two viewings I can't really say whether I like it or dislike it, but I can certainly recommend it to viewers as a film unlike any other. Besides, if it airs on The IFC, it's got have something going for it, right?

• Disturbing Look At Two Damaged Young Girls.

  jehaccess62008-12-15

  I have watched this film several times, it never fails to creep me out. The film explores the lives of two pubescent girls who have never experienced a normal life. As the father of two grown daughters, I squirm at the film's brief glimpses into their demented home life. If the parents had not been killed in a car crash, their children may well have turned on them. For reasons left unexplained, the two girls determine to leave their unidentified home state for Kentucky; after surviving a car crash that kills their parents. The two girls are fraternal twins, and could hardly be more different. Rosie is the more aggressive and intelligent of the twins. She is filled with rage at her dead father and that rage is going to find an outlet when some man offends her. Violet is the more passive and naive of the two girls. She is more advanced into puberty than her sister and is really vulnerable to the first man who will treat her better than her abusive father. When the two girls stow away in the back of a pickup truck, they land in the home of an itinerant grounds keeper on an Army Post. The film was probably using an abandoned Army Post for these location shots. No operational Army Post would become so decrepit if the commanding officer hoped to have a successful career. The supposedly authentic military vehicles were really a hoot to see. I doubt that many of them would even run. The film soldiers on this Post are really homo erotic in their behavior. I suppose this tendency would pass muster in Hollywood, but never in the real Army. There is only one officer on this post and only one mid-level NCO. The budget limitations on this film really showed in the lack of anything resembling a real command structure. The two girls set up what passes for housekeeping in their limited experience. They sleep in their undies on sofa cushions on the living room floor of the shack that serves as living quarters for the grounds keeper. It took no mental giant to see that eventually the grounds keeper would wind up sleeping with one or both of these vulnerable young girls. The two girls start to drift apart when their environment is no longer as hostile as their horrible home life. Violet starts to make friends with the grounds keeper she works with daily. He is obviously responding emotionally to her feminine charms and that is very appealing to her developing sexuality. Rosie is enraged with both the grounds keeper and her sister as the formerly united front breaks down. The plot has the two girls attending a dance as supposed dates for the grounds keeper. They somehow came up with dresses that could pass muster for this event despite having been out on the road without anything more than the clothes on their backs. Obviously, some shopping never shown in the film would have been necessary to outfit the twins. Well, the film ends as Rosie maneuvers the grounds keeper into a vulnerable situation where she can murder him. Violet reacts by breaking the last bond with her sister and skipping out with the money stolen from the dead grounds keeper. My skin crawled as the abandoned Rosie hums a little tune as she plays Russian Roulette with the revolver she used to kill the grounds keeper. I suppose that I wanted to see the twins recover from their damaged childhood and live worthwhile lives. The eventual fate of Violet is left a blank. Rosie most likely commits suicide. Sadly, that happens in real life. This film really got to me despite its production flaws and limited budget. I really was yelling for Rosie to put down the gun as the film credits started rolling. This film would not be a wise choice for young children for obvious reasons.