Very Good Girls

Somehow the art film has become less arty. The quirky, understated flair that used to signal a deeply personal auteur film has become just another style of moviemaking. Any manner of commonplace subject matter can be slipped into the art film's clothing.

That being said, "Very Good Girls" is more than just its packaging. It's a highly political film about female desire and strength in a young woman's melodrama. Though it may be "just about girls," there is power in this movie about coming of age, friendship and letting yourself exploring the full range of life's possibilities.

Lilly (Dakota Fanning) and Gerry (Elizabeth Olsen) have been best friends since they were small girls. Now at the cusp of moving away from home and going to college, they discover that they are both keeping secrets.

Gerry talks a lot about her feelings, while Lilly prefers to keep quiet and observe. So when they both fall for the same boy -- the pulse-raising, mysterious and idealistically artistic David (Boyd Holbrook) -- and they both want to lose their virginity to him, Gerry talks about it and Lilly does it.

In the end, Lilly will find herself caught between loyalty to her friend and the electric impulse of a new desire.

Holbrook oozes with sexuality, but it's not writer and director Naomi Foner's camera that eroticizes him. Fanning and Olsen have amazingly compelling faces that Foner probes in extended close ups. The man is desirable because the women desire him.

The all-star supporting cast includes Richard Dreyfuss, Demi Moore, Ellen Barkin, Clark Gregg and Peter Sarsgaard. The special features on this Blu-ray are basically just interviews. The interview with Foner is quite interesting, while the interviews with Fanning and Olsen are less so.

"Very Good Girls"
Blu-ray
$29.98
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