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 dvd Movie Review – Bling Ring 2013 Released on DVD 9/2013

In Virgin Suicides, director Sofie Coppola’s breakout film of 1999, the anti-hero was the hero; suicide was the proper way out of a family of 5 girls infringed by the suffocating moral order of their father, played by James Woods.  The lines were clearly drawn on who to cheer for and how in tragedy, five sisters who were teens and tweens in peasant 70s style dresses smothered themselves in carbon monoxide pre empting a long sought out group date. In the Bling Ring (2013), also directed by Sofia Coppola, there are no heroes, just trumped up teen villains, who even after they get what they want, become even more delusional to the point where self-indulgence seems part of their genetic fiber of a latent toxic strain.  The only antagonistic force in the Bling Ring is the character Mark, played by Mississippi-born Israel  Broussard, whose subtle force of a reflective sub-conscious drives him into higher acts of theft alongside his maiden of despair, Rachel Lee, played by Katie Chang.  The West San Fernando Valley upscale suburban teens are the original duo in scouting Paris Hilton’s house which turns out to be a chain of burglaries that lead to a crime ring of 5 teenagers who commit 11 robberies of popular celebrities in their age range grossing $300,000 in jewels, clothes and other valuables. It almost seems contagious that their choices of who to rob may just be from an image flashed on television, like “Audrina Patridge will be at Demi and Ashton’s tonight”….”let’s go check out her house.”  

The hook in the movie is not so much their pursuit of an unattainable lifestyle like robbing Paris Hilton six times but the revelation of their dark character and their desire which may be as simple as believing materialism in their age is a transient commodity that can be taken and transposed onto their own image and worth.  Stealing $100,000 necklaces then uploading pictures to Facebook was as easy as sliding a key through Hilton’s door.  The elementary notion of scanning aerial views of celebrity property with no plan in mind but impulse made the teen criminal’s growing spree a dare to outrun the unperceivable gravity of true consequences.  Rachel Lee’s audaciousness in opening car doors to look for cash at parties can be countered by Israel Broussard’s character as being pensive and doubtful in each robbery situation leaving the audience ill at ease at how he could be so easily taken.  With his father being a long term employee of the studios, he already had an “in” to glamour but rather chose to trust a histrionic, conscience-impaired teenager as his gravitational social mechanism than people around him at his alternative high school who seemed more sane.  Highlights in the film include Emma Watson’s performance of Alexis Neiers, the true blinger, who had a home schooled education and mom who was post modern hippie combined with New Age spirituality.  She would begin each lesson with a millennial prayer that would be uplifting but lofty.  Emma, like the other teens, took everything around them for granted including the comfortable life they already had.  The group of 5 started clubbing more and showing off with their stolen wares more that they felt they had not only got away with something but got a piece of Paris Hilton, Megan Fox, Orlando Bloom , Lindsey Lohan and Rachel Bilson. Even the fate of Lindsey Lohan and police charges of Lohan stealing a necklace she rented from a Santa Monica store were entwined with the teen’s maliciousness. The downside of the movie is there was no moment of truth for the criminals.  As they got more reckless and haughty like stealing Megan Fox’s gun then swinging it, it made it hard  to admire anyone.  Mark, the lone archangel, who was silent in his own social demise, one could root for yet at arm’s length.  With the acting nobility of Emma Watson, the movie had appeal for a baby boomer like me.  

Watching a Harry Potter prodigy transform into a Valley girl arm candy was enough entertainment in itself.  Watson not only nailed Alexis Neiers, who was also a reality star when arrested, but exuded her deprecating self measurement of being mad at a reporter for saying she wore Louboutins shoes to the trial instead of Bebe kitty heels.  The greatest mental breach was thinking wearing Paris’s personal jewelry or finest clothing could make them something their peers would admire. Courtney Ames, one blinger, wore Lindsey Lohan’s necklace to her trial, the noose that would reveal her guilt.  Three of the high school students served 3 years probation and 60 days community service.  Rachel Lee and Nick Prugo served hard time for around a year.  The fortunate conclusion of the movie was that no one could really clone another Paris who retained her own Teflon originality nor could anything bring them deeper into the cosmos of celebrity aristocracy.