Kurt Voss

R rated and Unrated versions of the 1995 movie (nudity and language). Thriller ("dark/adult"). (barely 3 stars, closer to 2 1/2 stars)

The DVD reviewed contains just the movie and some cast & crew information. There are four different versions of the movie: two widescreen (R and unrated) and two full screen (R and unrated). Testing will allow you to find the best version of the film (both formats cut off the edges, the top, or the bottom). This review is of the unrated widescreen version.

Credits: The movie stars Alyssa Milano (Lily; TV: "Who's the Boss", "Charmed"), Xander Berkeley (Professor Donald Falk; TV: "24"), and Jonathon Schaech (Gredin - a roommate; TV "Partners"). The director is Anne Goursaud ("Embrace of the Vampire"). The movie is written by Chloe King.

Plot: The movie is the about a young inexperienced woman, Lily, who moves to Los Angles to attend an art school. While there she finds a box left behind by Ivy. Among other things, the box contains a diary and some self-portraits of Ivy (Drew Barrymore, apparently the box has been sitting around undisturbed for three years) the subject of the previous movie. The movie boils down to this: "pure" young woman's life is changed by "rule-breaking"/taboo-breaking helped along by an explicit diary, an art teacher and a male art student.

Review: I appear to be watching this series backwards as the only other movie I have seen in the series is the third (the 2nd and 3rd movies are direct to video sequels). The third movie in the series, which I watched first and stars Jamie Pressly, is a better movie than the second movie in the series.

The movie opens on Donald Falk's art classroom with Falk and a woman having some fun (immediate nudity). Falk stops in the middle and breaks up with the woman (I believe he got what he wanted, though). And now we meet the just arriving Lily looking like she is wearing many layers of clothing in the style of a hobo, and wearing army boots. Despite the hobo appearance, she appears to have similarities between her and the just rejected woman (a pattern - looking for a younger version of his wife?). Lily arrives thirty minutes late to an art class two weeks after school started carrying all her luggage. The professor isn't particularly put out, and directs the attention of the class to the posed pale red-haired nude woman. After class, Lily heads off to her coed group house where she meets Gredin: I don't know why, but when I first see Gredin, he looks like he is a little fake, looking like he is trying to look like a rough Val Kilmer-type person - we later learn that he is a "rebel" and not constrained by "traditional" art traditions. Later, after a bad experience in art class due to comments by Gredin, Lily reads Ivy's diary and butchers the self-portraits, while this occurs "Ivy" (who I strongly doubt is Drew Barrymore) dances around nude representing the pictures (black & white filming would have worked better here, considering the pictures themselves are black & white). Apparently, one reading of the diary and one deep glance through the photos causes Lily to start down the slippery slope (the change to the "bad" girl side is just too quick, and the slope leads to nudity for Lily).

The movie is quite unrealistic. Lily arrives two weeks late to her classes at her new art school, and the teacher doesn't seem to mind that much (perfect opportunity for the lecherous teacher to "privately tutor" the woman, but he doesn't suggest it, instead he hires her as a baby-sitter; and as a model). Having the class immediately start drawing a posed nude woman after apparently two weeks of background, is not particularly realistic. Also, Lily seems to have just one teacher and one class (part of the struggle of college is having to take so many classes at once). Based on an early phone conversation between Lily and her parents, this is not a graduate art school, so why are the art students drawing nude portraits so soon?

David Falk and Milano seem to have some acting ability, most of the time, while the rest of the actors seem to have some trouble acting, that or they are very good actors - acting as if they are disturbed artists (none of the characters are likable). Personally, I like the music. The clothing is reflective of the time, I suppose, but quite horrible (early: army boots, drab clothing; later: clothing you might see on an episode of "Charmed"). The plot and dialogue hinder the movie (though Berkley and Milano seem to put some energy into trying to make it work). Overall, I would give the movie 2.63 stars (due for the irritating nature of the plot and dialogue "your beauty scares me"). Contains nudity, attempted rape, death . . . described by one word: "unrealistic"… (mere)