CRACKS DVD (2009)

SYNOPSIS: In an austere and remote all girls boarding school, the most elite clique of girls are the illustrious members of the school's diving team. Di, Lily, Poppy, Laurel, Rosie and Fuzzy are the envy of their fellow pupils who watch on as the girls compete for the attention of their glamorous teacher Miss G. Miss G in turn thrives on the attention she receives from her girls and believes it is her role to teach them the ways of the world. As team captain, Di is closest of all the girls to Miss G but her position is challenged when a beautiful Spanish girl, Fiamma arrives at the school and joins the diving team. Di, pulls rank as team captain and lays down the rules in an attempt to assert her position but Miss G is spellbound by Fiamma's beauty and maturity and becomes obsessed with her new favourite girl.

MOVIE REVIEW:

English screenwriter, photographer and director Jordan Scott's feature film debut which she co-wrote with screenwriters Caroline IP and Ben Court, is based on a novel from 1999 by South-African author Sheila Kohler. It premiered in the Special Presentations section at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival in 2009, was shot at Pinewood Studios in London, England and on location in Dublin, Ireland and is a UK-Spain-Ireland co-production which was produced by producers Julie Payne, Kwesi Dickson, Christine Vachon, Andrew Lowe and Rosalie Swedlin. It tells the story about a woman named Miss Gribben who teaches a diving team consisting of six girls at a boarding school in Stanley Island, England. The friendship and team-spirit within the team which is fronted by the captain and favourite of Miss Gribben named Di Radfield is good and the students adores their teacher, but then a new student whom is considered for the diving team arrives and early on makes a mark with her challenging behaviour, skills as a diver, experiences and intelligence. 

Distinctly and subtly directed by British filmmaker Jordan Scott, this quietly paced fictional tale which is narrated from multiple viewpoints, draws a dense and mindful portrayal of an aristocratic Roman Catholic girl from Spain with a breathing condition named Fiamma Coronna who after having been transferred to a new school upsets the sacred dynamic within a closely knit group of girls named Di, Laurel, Lilly, Rosie, Fuzzy and Poppy and becomes the apple of the eye of their revered and matriarchal teacher.

While notable for it's naturalistic and atmospheric milieu depictions, sterling cinematography by English cinematographer John Mathieson, production design by production designer Ben Scott, costume design by costume designer Allison Byrne and use of colors and light, this dialog-driven and narrative-driven story about worshiping, obsession, rivalry, education and collectivism where a teacher emphasizes desire and poetry as essential life values for her admiring students whom she has created a utopian universe for and who are as confined as she is, depicts three merging and internal studies of character and contains a timely score by composer Javier Navarrete.

The ending of "Cracks" is both moving and intriguing, in large part because of the slick editing. They cut between shots of the girls reading a note and shots of the exiled Miss "G" unpacking and staring at a photo of her team. Then the audio reveals it is Diana's atonement note, at which time the editor cuts to a shot of Diana sitting on the ferry with the book, the bottle, and their map. The film goes out on a shot of Diana's face; as she is leaving the cloistered island to take the path in life that she believes Fiamma would have taken.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

NIL

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Visual and audio aspects are serviceable in this no-frills DVD. 

MOVIE RATING:

DVD RATING :

Review by John Li