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Two teenage assassins accept what they think will be a quick-and-easy job, until an unexpected target throws them off their plan.
In “Violet & Daisy”, two teenage assassins accept what they think will be a quick-and-easy job, until an unexpected target throws them off their plan. The late James Gandolfini was, in my opinion, an actor that, with the right script and director, could deliver a wonderful performance, just look at “The Sopranos” for proof of that. But then he could turn around and make a movie like “Killing Them Softly” with Brad Pitt, a movie which was, in my opinion, contrite and boring and his performance came off as lazy. I think too may directors who have worked with him, have let him just play his Tony Soprano character until we stopped seeing James Gandolfini, fine actor and instead, we got, Tony Soprano, recycled mobster.
In this movie, he really underplays his part and I think that really stands to him, it shows just how damn good he really was and it’s such a shame that with his untimely passing, we won’t have the opportunity to see what even greater performances he could have given us. “Violet & Daisy” is a story about two young assassins named Violet (Alexis Bledel) and Daisy (Saoirse Ronan) who can casually walk into a room full of bad guys dressed up as nuns and blow them all away, without letting their lollipops fall from their mouths. While on vacation, their boss Russ (a very likable and underused Danny Trejo) offers them a job which they reluctantly take only because they’re short on money and desperately want a new dress from the Barbie Sunday fashion line.
However, once at the apartment, they wait for their target to arrive home and in the process, fall asleep on the sofa. When they awake, they realize that their mark, Michael (James Gandolfini), is sitting opposite them, comfortably, and having covered them up in a warm blanket, is sitting patiently, waiting for them to kill him. This unlikely scenario gives Violet and Daisy pause for thought. Usually, they make it a point, to never talk to their mark, opting instead to burst into the room, guns blazing so they never have a chance to feel pity or remorse for their intended target. What follows here, is a touching and at times violent tale, about life, death, remorse and the importance of oatmeal cookies. Fellow Irish actor Saoirse Ronan and Alexis Bledel as the two titular characters, give wonderful and poignant performances.
The opening of the movie is full-on violent but as the rest of the film unfolds, we get more character development with sporadic bursts of violence. Making their biggest mistake and accidentally starting a personal relationship with Michael, the two executioners gradually change their attitudes towards their chosen occupation, specifically Daisy. She has an innocent naivety to the whole business while Violet has little justification for her professional and personal actions and the ramifications her work has on other people. They become sympathetic towards Michael after he describes his alienation from his daughter and the death of his wife in a car accident, something his daughter blames him for.
But just when you think the drama has taken over and the violence has dwindled, the two girls kill four mobsters who burst into the apartment, intent on killing Michael and in the aftermath, they jump up and down on their corpses, joyously, as if they were trampolines and we get shots of blood cascading from their noses and mouths. Things that make you go hmmmmmm indeed. At times, the film deviates, opening up scenarios that really don’t go anywhere but these few aside, the movie is always compelling. There are some twists and turns which thankfully, never diverge into M. Night Shyamalan territory and characters that are unpredictable and, at times, captivating.
The story here is about two young girls who happen to find themselves in a particular profession, one they both think they like but as their story unravels, and especially after they meet Michael, they begin to look out and upwards and are able to see, it appears for the first time, that there’s more to the world than just killing. Recommended.
In stores November 19th
