Mindset

Author(s): Ryan Drake
Location: N/A

"Mindset"

Directed by: Sofia Coppola
Written By: Sofia Coppola

Main Cast

Nikki Reed- Christine Brown
Shia Lebouf- Paul Winters
Sean Penn- John Brown
Allison Janney - Susan Brown
Jeanne Tripplehorn- Chelsea Winters

Tagline: "Zest is the secret of all beauty. There is no beauty that is attractive without zest"

Synopsis: 1965

A car pulls up onto a suburban neighborhood. The sun reflects bright orange and yellow throughout the neighborhood as children play in the leaves on the first day of fall. Paul and his mother Chelsea pull up to their new house. Paul had to leave his old town because he had a falling out with a good friend and it got so bad they had to move. Before pulling in he sees a woman Mrs. Brown and her captivating daughter Christine. The father is fighting in Vietnam, so it is just Mrs. Brown and her daughter. Susan is rarely home, so it’s just Christine. She invites Paul into her basement. Her basement is filled with brown leather, and has a musky dazed feel. Christine is a sexual girl and automatically starts putting up a flirtatious attitude. Paul is intrigued in Christine who is a mystery to him; she is a mystery to everyone. She refuses to tell him anything about her past and all he knows about her is what he hears from neighbors. Paul and Christine’s relationship progresses into sex.

As Christine and Paul’s relationship gets heavier he slowly gets pieces and pieces of her past. He finds out that she has had a rough childhood. Her family is very religious, and before Vietnam the family spent a lot of time with each other, following strict Christian rules. Christine refuses to talk about her father, but we know him as an angry, drunk father who hates is daughter. Paul notices that she has a scar on her stomach, which she doesn’t like to talk about. While she goes upstairs to get something to eat, Paul notices a little closet in the corner of the basement. He finds information on a surgery he has never heard of. Paul asks what these are and she freaks out and asks him to leave.

The next day at school you hear shots in the hallway of the classroom. It is Christine, who has the gun. As Christine has Paul at gunpoint, she says she wants the attention. Paul finally understands her in an instant. He sees flashbacks of her past from clues that she gave him. Christine was abused and molested by her father. Christine became pregnant and an unmarried pregnant girl did not settle well with her strong Christian family. The father knows it is him who is the father, so he tries to beat her to kill the unborn child. Her father now at Vietnam is gone and it is only her mother who doesn’t know that it was the father that did this to her, and she never talks to Christine. She had an abortion. Christine is dying for attention and this story she has been keeping for so long is now causing her to act out. All of a sudden it moves to another location at Paul’s old school. Another kid has him at gun point where Christine had him. Was what happened real, or made up in his imagination the .5 seconds he had while the bullet was going into his skull. As the camera pans out we see another girl shot in the head that looks exactly like Christine.

What the Press would say:

Sofia Coppola does it again making her best feature yet. She uses the musky dazed cinematography that she used in the Virgin Suicides. She is able to make a moving film with such an intense thrill, yet keep it at a relaxed tempo. Her shocker ending is one of the best ending we will see this year. The story questions what you think goes through your mind before you die. Shia Lebouf playing Paul is amazing as a teenager trying to find the mystery behind his lover. He is able to exhibit anger and desperation, yet show a loving compassion for Christine. Nikki Reed leaves us with the knock out performance. His Flashbacks are an example of some of the best acting I have seen from a young actress. We see the growth from a seductive regular teenager to a psychopath with inner demons. Coppola is able to use different quick themed shots of American flags, Christine sitting in a frigid position naked, and etc. to show her past in 10 minutes. Sofia also uses the musical styling of early Simon and Garfunkel, and “right here, right now” by Fatboy Slim. Scarborough Fair for example which is played last gives us that intoxicating, dazed, dream-like feel that the film goes for. Sophia Coppola invites you into the world of youth. She seems to leave you with more questions than answers which is ironic to what the movie is about. With an intelligent script using Paul’s old friend as the person who has him at gunpoint. This movie sinks in your brain for a long time, and you still can’t get a grip on what actually happened. Also though short, Sean Penn gives it his all in his drunken angry version of John. Simply one of the best pictures of the year.

Best Picture
Best Picture-Drama
Best Director: Sofia Coppola
Best O. Screenplay: Sofia Coppola
Best Actress: Nikki Reed
Best Actor: Shia Lebouf
Best supporting actor: Sean Penn
Best supporting actress: Allison Janney
Best supporting actress: Jeanne Tripplehorn
Best Cinematography
Best Ensemble