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Carrie
| Released |
29 November 2013 |
| Director |
Kimberly Peirce |
Starring
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Chloe Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore, Judy Greer, Portia Doubleday, Alex Russell, Gabriella Wilde, Ansel Elgort |
| Writer(s) |
Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Lawrence D. Cohen |
| Producer(s) |
Kevin Misher |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
100 minutes |
| Genre |
Horror, thriller |
| Rating |
16 |
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Growing pains.
The new film version of Stephen King’s novel Carrie reminds me a little of Alexandra Burke’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s 'Hallelujah'. A classic, sparse song given slick production treatment, tackled by a singer who, although possessed of a great set of pipes, really doesn’t sound like she knows what’s going on. Director Kimberley Peirce’s modern-day re-imagining of King’s story is similarly glossy and similarly confused.
Chloe Grace Moretz plays painfully shy teenager Carrie White. Throughout her life, she has been sheltered from the evils of the real world by her intensely religious (and insane) mother Margaret (Julianne Moore). Consequently her high school experience has been difficult to say the least - bullied and tormented by a group of popular girls, the anger she feels begins to manifest itself in telekinetic powers. After a cruel prank, events reach a dramatic climax at the High School Prom.
Although Brian De Palma’s 1976 version of the novel has that untouchable, classic status, I would argue that Carrie is a prime candidate for updating - the themes of religious fundamentalism and bullying are perhaps more prominent than ever, while the trials of teenage life are an eternal constant. Unfortunately, the screenplay seems unwilling to bring anything new to the table. While there are occasional concessions to modern day teenage life (Carrie’s humiliation in the shower after gym class is recorded and shared on the internet before the school day is out), the screenplay actually sticks quite rigidly to the text. Ultimately, the film feels like a pointless exercise and one can’t help but hold it up against De Palma’s version, a comparison which is less than flattering to Peirce’s attempt.
Central to this, surprisingly, is Moretz’s misjudged performance. She invests Carrie with a strange nervous energy which becomes almost comically overwrought during the climax. This Carrie doesn’t have the fragile naivety Sissy Spacek brought to the role, a quality which made her humiliation all the more heartbreaking. Julianne Moore fares better, throwing herself into the role with zeal. All in all though, while Kimberly Peirce’s Carrie is a glossy, well-executed film, Moretz’s problematic performance and a lacklustre script leave it in the shade of De Palma’s classic.
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Linda O’Brien |
