No longer children is a soulful indie film of 2012. In front of us the main character Rachel and she is only 15 years old, she is in a community with a bias in religion and has never seen the “big world”. Rachel embodies innocence without a single misdemeanor, but one fateful evening curiosity takes over and now she descends into a dark basement where her brother holds tapes. She listened to the forbidden recording and then became pregnant with the “child of God”. She believes that the man singing on the cassette gave her a child and now she is eager to find him. Her father intends to marry her, but she escapes to see the real world, but accidentally takes his brother, Mr. Will, with him. After arriving in Las Vegas, Rachel begins searching for the father of her child, a man singing on that tape. And so in this lustful, seductive city, she meets a group of guys. One of them is called Clyde and it is with him that our main character will have a love line.
The film evokes a carefree teenage atmosphere, although the theme with the immaculate conception is unfinished and not clear to the end. I especially like skates and rock concerts. The atmosphere of the 90s is immediately felt, although the film was shot in 2012 and is not aimed at evoking nostalgia from the audience. The film is pleasant for its simplicity in terms of choosing the decisions of the characters, for this I note the moment when Clyde easily invited Rachel to marry her. I also want to mention the bright palette of the city of Las Vegas and its free lifestyle. But still I put 7 instead of 8, because the ending was a little unfinished and delayed, but about the virgin conception and the fact that it was not explained, I will say that it is even better than if everyone was laid out on shelves, because the film is not about that.
7 out of 10
There are so few films that could be called favorites, which would be so much different from any mass or black art house. But that's exactly what this movie is. From beginning to end, it is clean, but not boring. There is no violence, violence, play on negative emotions. What is light can also be light.
The immediacy and nature of all Rachel’s actions are worthy of respect, this is precisely the link that allowed her to get together with the company and join it.
The scene where Rachel first hears "forbidden" music is shown in an incredibly realistic way. There is no doubt and a catch, she hears this for the first time. And even the legs involuntarily begin to move from place to place, picking up the motive.
The film stays on top until the very end. Something is always happening.
After reading the description of the film, I thought that this story was taken straight from the brain of a mental hospital patient with a very vivid imagination. Are you really serious? Immaculate conception from a tape? Ha! But for some reason there was a desire to still watch this film, which I later did not regret.
From the very first moments I was attracted to the picture. A little gloomy, but warm tones, creating the impression that this film was shot in the 90s of the XX century, but not in 2012, cause some incomprehensible nostalgia. I don’t know why, but during the viewing, shots from the movie “Route 60” popped up in my head more than once, despite the fact that these two films are completely different. Perhaps a common spirit, a road, a red car. Well, I was distracted.
The main character is a pure, innocent child who does not know the “big” world and its laws, feels clearly out of place. I mean, of course, she loves her family, her home, the society she lives in. But there is clearly a fair amount of adventurism and pure curiosity. She does not want to sit in this cocoon for life, even if she does not want to admit it to herself. She asks her mother to tell the story about the red mustang, and this story is a kind of symbol of freedom, passion and everything forbidden, despite the fact that initially its meaning is not too clear for a naive virgin.
And here's this tape. A ticket to another life, bright and dynamic. Learning about the pregnancy and the fact that her father wants to marry her, the girl breaks down without hesitation, believing that the child is a gift of God, sent after listening to a song that runs through the film with a red thread.
To be honest, I expected that when the girl was in the real world, she would be waiting for the universal horror - ridicule and ridicule of people, all the temptations. All around debauchery, lust, drunkenness. After all, it's Las Vegas, otherwise! And here is a kind of “prairie child” in a modest dress and with an innocent look. Typical situation... Ahn no! Well, of course, she got into ridiculous situations, but what surprised me was the kind attitude of all new acquaintances to her. No one looked at her with contempt or arrogance. Surprisingly, yes. But no anger, just laughing at her weirdness. I really liked the moment during the "I Never..." game - when she said she never spoke on the phone, to which she was given the phone and called. It was so ridiculous and stupid, but insanely sweet and sincere.
In search of the father of her child, Rachel finds friends, trouble, adventure, faith in herself. She learns to live in this, another world, begins to understand that there is no black and white, but there are many halftones and a huge number of facets of the human soul.
Clyde. Sweet, sweet Clyde. Or, as Rachel put it in her cassette diary, “He must be a devil.” A troubled teenager, a little strange and even moved, and yet very kind and reliable, even if he hides it. Rory Culkin perfectly conveyed the complex character of his hero.
You know, I liked the fact that it was never revealed to the viewer whether there was a virgin conception, or everything was much more prosaic, and everything else was the fantasy of the main character. The main thing is that for Rachel, her child was sent by heaven, and there is a man next to her - not a guy, but a real man who fell in love with her so - eccentric, strange, and believing in the incredible.
Very bright and kind film, leaves an imprint on the soul and light sadness. Don’t be afraid to love, travel and do crazy things. This is life.
I didn’t think the movie would make such an impression on me. I may be one of the few who even found a place to cry at the end. Why? I don’t know, I guess something caught me.
The plot is quite unusual, but the question of the immaculate conception remained open. And did you need an answer? For me, the main thing in the film was the determination of the main character, her belief that she will find the father of her child. But she found something more and discovered a new world. Do you agree that each of us, at least once, dreamed of taking the keys and going to the unknown in search of something better? But not everyone decided, and she decided. And I found it.
Unlike many films in which writers and directors are too obsessed with the plot that they forget about the characters, here everyone is revealed in a special way, both the main characters and secondary ones. Everyone has a story. And the actors play in a way that you believe them, and it can not but rejoice. And in terms of joy, it's possible that it was the joy for Rachel that made me cry, the joy that she found her place and her man no matter what. I don’t know if it makes sense to write more, watch or not, it’s your choice.
In the family of Mormon fundamentalists, somewhere on the outskirts of Utah, lives fifteen-year-old Rachel (Julia Garner). The father raised his daughter, like the rest of the family, in God-fearing and humility, which made Rachel not only quiet, modest, but also curious. It was curiosity that one night led the young lady into the basement of the house, where she discovered a blue audio cassette. Putting her on the record player, Rachel heard forbidden in their house rock and roll music, which she really liked. She liked it so much that she realized later that she was pregnant. While everyone around her suspects fornication, Rachel genuinely believes that an act of divine, immaculate conception has happened to her. After running away from home, she goes in search of the man who sang on the tape because she believes that he is the father of her child.
A little, a little fabulous and quite soulful indie drama. If we abstract from the religious background (which, in fact, is far from the main one here), then the film turns out to be a familiar story about a teenager thrown into the adult world. Despite the fact that at first the picture can cause some awkwardness (for example, a scene where innocent Rachel gets into a real punk den with rockers) due to the insane contrast of the main character, looking like a princess from the prairie with the surrounding environment, in the process of viewing there is a pleasant feeling of something new. Contrast in general is a key element in the idea of the script and successfully copes with the balance of the variety of moments in the plot.
The cast was equally astounding, especially given the fact that there are no truly famous faces. Of course, the local star was Julia Garner, who exemplary played a teenager, brought up on the principles of faith, suddenly found himself in a bustling city. Usually, when this happens, the actors rarely hold their role so well, remaining either pinched until the end of the session, or relax, doing it almost at a click. Julia showed that such an aggressive process of growing up can be made emotionally rich. Rachel in her performance is in no hurry to learn to drink beer and throw cheerful vitamins, and until the last is interested only in her child, who needs to find a dad. Which, however, does not prevent her, with the tenacity of a small rhinoceros, to be interested in everything around her (it is simply impossible to watch Rachel eat chips for the first time). And yet, this is not a comedy or even a tragicomedy, no matter how frivolous the script is. The viewer will be completely absorbed by Rachel and her good purpose, quickly become worried about her and want her the best.
"No longer children" - a sensitive, light, albeit somewhat absurd drama, with an amazingly played central character and an excellent soundtrack (consisting mainly of rock and alternative), which is unlikely to leave its viewer indifferent. Fans of "Submarine" and "Little Miss Happiness" should like it twice. One of the best art houses I've been lucky enough to see in years.
A 15-year-old virgin became pregnant after listening to an audio tape with rock music. If you think this is a metaphor, you are thinking in the right direction. But be prepared for the fact that the film will not confirm or refute this assumption.
Immaculate conception is a fairly serious reason to expect a story richly decorated with theological reasoning, playing on religious contradictions, or, for example, atheistically exposing a popular myth.
Both in their own way would be interesting to see. But the creators of the film, it seems, have not completely decided how to interpret this bold idea and give, if not intelligible, then at least some answer to the question: from whom after all bore a beautiful child, claiming that sacredly observed innocence.
In the film, a fearless young Mormon flees from her ossified community to the big world (incarnated in the image of Las Vegas) in the capture of the possible father of her unborn child, who hummed the very song she heard on the “vicious” tape. And she personally sort of finds what I'm looking for, which I just can't say to myself and won't vouch for the rest of the audience.
The scenario, sprinkled with inconsistencies, mysterious hints and ambiguous allusions, led to the fact that when swinging with the expectation of almost a world record, the authors made a “throw” on the standard of the first junior category. Starting for health in a promising prologue, this movie got lost between three hemps, first planted by the director, and then he himself cut down trees.
Whether a sect or another group of distant Mormons appears before the viewer. Hermits are shown to be abstracted from human and modern civilization, and their main deviation is towards religion, proceeding from it in this large family and passes every day, and with it a full-fledged diet, which in all matters starts only from the prayer of heaven. But around the quiet and smooth, nature, plus a special education, decorated in the shell of abstinence.
Everything depicted is stuffed with some electrified atmosphere, which initially attracts attention. A strange story from a mother about a “mustang”, which is only a veiled piece of life, a moment of past love, which only at first glance seems to be something unearthly and special, but in fact is another “fairy tale” for a tightly belted life.
But something unusual is happening here with a girl named Rachel, who disobeyed the elders, succumbed to the captivity of a single desire characterizing a certain forbidden fruit, biting which, you will be convicted of a sinful act, and without delay and will be followed by imminent punishment.
This happened immediately after listening to a girl with the appearance of an angel, and even Eve herself, a cassette tape with a recording of previously unknown rock music with a repeating guitar chord and uncomplicated text. Unknown forces caught by surprise, rewarding the virgin womb with a fruit, which meant only one thing - the immaculate conception.
Rebecca Thomas seems to demonstrate in her film that even in our time, there is still a certain division of people by positions, when self-protecting girls who have followed all the instructions for the time being and for the time being, who have respected the rules, once breaking them, become special chosen ones at the fork of choice. What is it? Miracle extraterrestrial or just existing circumstances, the core of which is simply hidden from the viewer?
One way or another, but faith always helps to live, and a naive girl Rachel with her shining hair goes in search of the voice that sounded from the tape, and in her opinion was the father of an unborn child. Las Vegas is waiting, and, in fact, the heroine of actress Julia Garner falls into the same community, from which she recently left, but only with a few changed principles and views on things.
Here, strangeness collides with strangeness, and Rory Culkin’s ragged character named Clyde, lost to himself, not knowing where he will be tomorrow, is ready with all his arms to meet new acquaintances in order to gain a missed sense of home warmth. The pursuit of an easy existence and the endless search for the unreal that fills the empty gaps. And close-ups don't need lonely hearts.
It is well known about Mormons that they are special people, and live separately in the red-stone intermountain of the dusty state of Utah, adhering to a strange way bequeathed to them by their long ancestors, managing family communities with many children from one or more wives who bear the cross of fidelity to the faith and purity of Christ’s love.
Rebecca Thomas found another eccentricity for the life of these unusual people, as it turned out, confessing their adult children, recording their confessions with tapes that leave an indelible mark on the history of the house and its inhabitants, bound by an eternal vow and strict order, from which even you want, but you can not escape.
What is without sin is called a miracle. So here the fantastic scenario gives an incredible case when the righteous woman suffered, not having slept with a man, becoming a victim of shame and the object of fatherly anger, quick to decide and severe to indiscriminate. However, it is already clear to us without an investigation that the second victim of anger will fall the ambitious brother of the sister, who in an uncomfortable place was not considered by the mother who came in time.
The Sumbure scenario is ahead of events, allowing those who wish to look far ahead, rightly suspecting uncleanness in the evening story about the red mustang, which the good mother inadvertently told her girls, when the illustration of the words was a meaningful picture with a hint of depravity and someone else.
The film, of course, the director turned out to be confusing and jerky, with mystery and a little mystery, no, not about the immaculate conception, but about the roots and origins, the line of life and self-determination that falls on many meetings, which leads to the forced flight of a naive girl and her sophisticated brother, both for the truth, but each for his.
The ridiculous guess of the sister rejects the dirty libel, linking a sudden pregnancy with a secretly listened cassette of a rocker, whose voice, as she thought, puffed her in the stomach, like Mary from the Holy Spirit, but even a saint will not believe in such a conception. The girl, fleeing from a forced marriage, rushes in search of the father of a miracle, because she has no doubt that this is so.
Since the time of the Titanic, this is the first picture where the charismatic Billy Zane again caught my eye with the subtle voice of the faithful, standing on guard and not letting this faith fall. And this is the first time I've ever seen a girl I haven't seen before, because Julia Garner is looking at herself, making her listen, anticipating her future, where, no doubt, she will have many great things to do.
Infrequent guests of the screen are accompanied by the main character Lime Aiken, a charismatic boy from Lemony Snicket and today the best of the Culkin brothers - moon-faced Rory with Jesus curls to the shoulders.
Where's the pregnant girl running? The closest thing to the electrified Vegas is the center of temptation and vice: where else to look for the “holy spirit”? The best place to meet Clyde (Culkin), hiding from wealth and met an old woman - prison. Mr. Will (Aiken) has become involved in fellow travelers - the saint needs to wash off, finding a living embodiment of the Holy Spirit in order to become the successor of his earthly father.
It is difficult to talk about the depth, because the picture is entirely focused on emotions, as well as the emotional style of the director, who is engaged not in the play of hormones, but in the interaction of touching souls and the city touching them, the first people he meets and for some reason kind people who are ready to listen to and accept the outcast, and the outcast become a friend among their own.
The song from an old cassette, which is a guiding thread, leads and beckons, promising discoveries, while fifteen-year-old Rachel absorbs the light and sound surrounding her, peering into the tearful eyes of the hermit Clyde, who opened his soul, believing in the sincerity of her honest words. And poor Mr. Will, the light hits his eyes, and the city breaks its hands, turning his rotten gut with medicinal chemistry. All of them go to the choice, as well as the tape, which, without ceasing to surprise, turns to the end.
And the finale takes place in the feeling of the feelings overwhelmed by the director in an incredible aspiration for the beautiful, joyful and happy, for everyone and everyone, their own and others, which allows you to condescendingly accept the absurdity of many scenes filled with the living force of young performers who turned the female fantasy into the phenomenon of honest martyrs and genuine saints.