To die for

Gus Van Sant’s vicious black comedy stars Nicole Kidman as Suzanne Stone, a vapid and celebrity obsessed sociopath whose dream to become a famous TV personality turns into a nightmare for the people around her. In her determined quest for stardom Suzanne bullies her way into a job as a weather woman for a local cable station, much to her husband’s (Matt Dillon) growing displeasure, and shrewdly uses it as a way to instigate her own pet projects. Through one such project, a documentary about teenagers, she meets and befriends three of her subjects, Jimmy (Joaquin Phoenix), Lydia (Alison Folland) and Russell (Casey Affleck), three awkward teens with very low self esteem. Jimmy and Lydia take a particular liking to the glamorous and confident Suzanne who seizes on their crush as a way to manipulate them into helping her achieve her own murderous goals. Buck Henry’s (‘The Graduate’) caustic screenplay is serviced well by Gus Van Sant’s direction, which chronicles Suzanne’s ruthless climb to the top of the American dream through a series of first hand accounts from the various characters. Joaquin Phoenix and Alison Folland are impressive as the painfully shy teens, while Kidman’s performance is spot on as the cold and calculating Suzanne. Cast also includes Illeana Douglas and Dan Hedaya. (Awards: Golden Globe Award for Best Actress-Nicole Kidman) See also ‘Drugstore Cowboy’, ‘My own private Idaho’, ‘Good Will Hunting’.