On the Doll
Encyclopedia
On the Doll is a 2007
American
drama film
, and the first feature
written and directed by music video
director Thomas Mignone
.
. The film covers multiple lives of victims and victimizers, sharing the pain of how early childhood traumas can continue throughout adult lives.
) in order to settle the obligations of his friend Tara (Angela Sarafyan
), who works in a peep show for Jimmy (Paul Ben-Victor
). He meets Balery (Brittany Snow), a call-girl who wants to place an ad in Lou's paper. She seeks an accomplice to help her rob a regular client she particularly dislikes. Jaron decides to take up the offer himself. Meanwhile, Wes (Clayne Crawford
) whores out his girlfriend Chantel (Shanna Collins
) in order to make enough money to buy her an engagement ring just to shut her up about his lack of commitment. Wes gets violently upset when he discovers she's been performing lurid sex acts on her customers just to make the extra money he wants. Two intimately close high school girls Melody (Candice Accola
) and Courtney (Chloe Domont) play flirtatious games with their teacher Mr. Garrett (Eddie Jemison
) in order to improve their grades, without realizing the violent dangers their teasing could lead to.
. Its debut was at the 2007 Avignon Film Festival
, followed by the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival. In 2008 it screened at the Austin Film Festival
and then the Cinequest Film Festival
. The DVD
release includes commentary from director Thomas Mignone, behind-the-scenes featurette
s, and deleted scenes.
wrote that as Mignone's first feature, the film "strains so hard to shock that this criss-crosser set among various L.A. denizens soon passes from the contrived to the ridiculous". He offered that as the script was "contrived and sensational", and that the characters lacked depth, "what Mignone intends as explosive comes off as exploitative". He also offered that "the movie winds up an expression of victim culture as attitudinal cool", and that for "viewers who think life is one big angry vintage Korn song, that approach will have considerable appeal". He concluded that despite flaws, "Mignone has delivered a fairly tight package that draws generally good performances from thesps in largely one-dimensional roles".
Christopher Null
of Filmcritic.com wrote that "Mignone does a remarkable job at taking what starts as a mild flirtation or tiptoeing into perversity and showing how baby steps can soon lead to full-on, downhill slides". He writes that of the many stories intertwined in the film, the "movie is surprisingly at its best in the story of the two teens", who flirt with a teacher played memorably by actor Eddie Jemison
), when noting the "shocking transistion" of two girls seen worrying about their grades riding with their teacher to a porn studio to be "crudely sized up for their value to the viewing audience". He offers that while the film tries to wrap everything up tidily, it "is perhaps the wrong approach for a movie about an industry with no happy endings". He concludes that the film is memorable "more for its performances than its plot", and that "this somewhat scrappy independent doesn't fade from the mind quickly".
Marina Antunes of Quiet Earth compares the film to David Slade
's Hard Candy
but makes note of the script's drawbacks in that ideas are never fully developed. The reviewer also felt the dialog was juvenile and awkward, and that the character's back stories
and situations felt forced. Opining that the "story itself is not completely successful", Antunes offers that "Mignoe's style is an interesting mix of saturated colours and unusual visuals. There is a feeling of the impending downfall which is wonderfully communicated through the set design. Mignoe has a talent for capturing the ugliness in beauty, something which lends itself well to the story he is telling here." Remarking on Mignole's ability, Antunes summarizes "though On the Doll is a good first attempt at a full length feature, it doesn't completely work".
Gerry Putzer of DVD Talk
wrote that the film "has big ambitions but gets awfully muddled." He noted that while Brittany Snow might have been "the marquee name in the cast", her role is no larger than anyone elses. Putzer compares the film with Paul Schrader
's 1979 porn-world thriller Hardcore, in that the sex in the film is as "uniformly bizarre, degrading and joyless". He concludes that the film "deserves high marks for ambition", and that the actors do a "convincing job under first-time writer-director Thomas Mignone, whose structural adventurousness is intriguing."
David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews writes that while Mignone "generally does a nice job of infusing the proceedings with an intriguing visual style, there's little doubt that the increasingly uneven nature of Mignone's screenplay proves detrimental to the movie's overall success". He notes that "Mignone's decision to employ a sprawling structure - replete with almost a dozen recurring characters - undoubtedly ranks high on the film's list of problems". He concludes by offering that Mignone's film "definitively established itself as a misfire that nevertheless might just signal the emergence of a promising new talent".
2007 in film
This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
, and the first feature
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
written and directed by music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
director Thomas Mignone
Thomas Mignone
Thomas Mignone is an American feature film and music video director. Mignone is best known for directing music videos for hard rock and heavy metal artists such as Slipknot, Mudvayne, System Of A Down, Suicide Silence, Avenged Sevenfold, Sepultura, Danzig, Cradle of Filth, Type O Negative,...
.
Background
The film's title comes from the phrase "Show me on the doll where you were touched", often asked of young children who have been the victims of sexual abuseSexual abuse
Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...
. The film covers multiple lives of victims and victimizers, sharing the pain of how early childhood traumas can continue throughout adult lives.
Plot
Jaron (Josh Janowicz) struggles to work for sleazy publisher "Uncle" Lou (Marcus GiamattiMarcus Giamatti
Marcus Giamatti is an American actor, best known for being a regular member of the cast of the CBS drama series Judging Amy.-Background:...
) in order to settle the obligations of his friend Tara (Angela Sarafyan
Angela Sarafyan
Angela Sarafyan is an American actress. She is sometimes credited as Angela Sarafian.-Early life:Angela Sarafyan was born in Armenia and moved with her parents to the United States at the age of four.-Career:...
), who works in a peep show for Jimmy (Paul Ben-Victor
Paul Ben-Victor
Paul Ben-Victor is an American actor.Ben-Victor was born Paul Friedman, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Leah Kornfeld, a playwright, and Victor Friedman. Ben-Victor debuted on the small screen in 1987 in the made-for-TV movie Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife and on an episode of Cagney &...
). He meets Balery (Brittany Snow), a call-girl who wants to place an ad in Lou's paper. She seeks an accomplice to help her rob a regular client she particularly dislikes. Jaron decides to take up the offer himself. Meanwhile, Wes (Clayne Crawford
Clayne Crawford
Clayne Crawford is an American film actor with a few episodic television appearances. Crawford has appeared in such films as A Walk to Remember , Swimfan , A Love Song for Bobby Long and The Great Raid . He had a recurring role in the first season of Jericho as Mitchell "Mitch" Cafferty...
) whores out his girlfriend Chantel (Shanna Collins
Shanna Collins
Shanna Dophalene Collins is an American actress. She played Amber, the best friend of Dani Davis , on the first season of the ABC Family original series Wildfire. She also played Laurie Miller on the CBS series Swingtown...
) in order to make enough money to buy her an engagement ring just to shut her up about his lack of commitment. Wes gets violently upset when he discovers she's been performing lurid sex acts on her customers just to make the extra money he wants. Two intimately close high school girls Melody (Candice Accola
Candice Accola
Candice Accola is an American actress and singer, best known for her role as Caroline Forbes on The Vampire Diaries.-Life and career:...
) and Courtney (Chloe Domont) play flirtatious games with their teacher Mr. Garrett (Eddie Jemison
Eddie Jemison
Edward F. "Eddie" Jemison is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the Ocean's Eleven trilogy and the television series Hung.-Life and career:...
) in order to improve their grades, without realizing the violent dangers their teasing could lead to.
Partial cast
- Brittany Snow as Balery
- Josh Janowicz as Jaron
- Stephen Sowan as Tre
- Clayne CrawfordClayne CrawfordClayne Crawford is an American film actor with a few episodic television appearances. Crawford has appeared in such films as A Walk to Remember , Swimfan , A Love Song for Bobby Long and The Great Raid . He had a recurring role in the first season of Jericho as Mitchell "Mitch" Cafferty...
as Wes - Shanna CollinsShanna CollinsShanna Dophalene Collins is an American actress. She played Amber, the best friend of Dani Davis , on the first season of the ABC Family original series Wildfire. She also played Laurie Miller on the CBS series Swingtown...
as Chantel - James RussoJames RussoJames Vincent Russo is an American film and television actor. He has starred in over 90 films in three decades.-Early life:...
as Janitor - Paul Ben-VictorPaul Ben-VictorPaul Ben-Victor is an American actor.Ben-Victor was born Paul Friedman, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Leah Kornfeld, a playwright, and Victor Friedman. Ben-Victor debuted on the small screen in 1987 in the made-for-TV movie Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife and on an episode of Cagney &...
as Jimmy Sours - Eddie JemisonEddie JemisonEdward F. "Eddie" Jemison is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the Ocean's Eleven trilogy and the television series Hung.-Life and career:...
as Mr. Garrett - Marcus GiamattiMarcus GiamattiMarcus Giamatti is an American actor, best known for being a regular member of the cast of the CBS drama series Judging Amy.-Background:...
as Uncle Lou - Angela SarafyanAngela SarafyanAngela Sarafyan is an American actress. She is sometimes credited as Angela Sarafian.-Early life:Angela Sarafyan was born in Armenia and moved with her parents to the United States at the age of four.-Career:...
as Tara - Candice AccolaCandice AccolaCandice Accola is an American actress and singer, best known for her role as Caroline Forbes on The Vampire Diaries.-Life and career:...
as Melody - Chloe Domont as Courtney
- Ethan CohnEthan Cohn-Movie:Cohn starred in the films Cry Wolf, Rubber, The Experiment and Lady in the Water.He portrays Owen Kellogg in Atlas Shrugged , the film adaptation of Ayn Rand's novel of the same name.-Television:...
as Brian - Nolan NorthNolan NorthNolan Ramsey North is an American actor and voice actor born in New Haven, Connecticut. He has been described as "the nearest thing the games industry has to a bona fide leading man."-Biography:...
as Charlie - Theresa RussellTheresa RussellTheresa Russell is an American actress.-Biography:Russell was born Theresa Paup in San Diego, California, the daughter of Carole Platt and Jerry Russell Paup. She attended Burbank High School, but did not graduate. She married English film director Nicolas Roeg , in 1982...
as Diane - Dave BaezDave BaezDave Baez is a Hispano-American actor and model, probably best known for starring as Gabriel, in Showtime TV drama series, Dexter and as Elias in 9/Tenths. He was named one of the people in "Español's 25 Hottest Bachelors" in 2004. Baez is of Puerto Rican, French-Canadian, and Portuguese descent...
as Rick
Release
On The Doll had a limited theatrical release in the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Its debut was at the 2007 Avignon Film Festival
Avignon Film Festival
Avignon Film Festival is also known as the Rencontres Cinématographiques Franco-Américain d'Avignon. The festival used to be called the French/American Film Workshop.The festival took place in Avignon, France every year and was devoted to promoting Film...
, followed by the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival. In 2008 it screened at the Austin Film Festival
Austin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival was started in 1994 in Austin, Texas and is claimed to be "the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s unique creative contribution to the film and television industries"...
and then the Cinequest Film Festival
Cinequest Film Festival
The Cinequest Film Festival is an annual independent film festival held in San Jose, California. The festival highlights the work of new film makers....
. The DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
release includes commentary from director Thomas Mignone, behind-the-scenes featurette
Featurette
Featurette is a term used in the American film industry to designate a film whose length is approximately three quarters of a reel, or about 20–44 minutes in running time - thus midway between a short subject and a feature film; thus it is a "small feature"...
s, and deleted scenes.
Critical response
Dennis Harvey of VarietyVariety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
wrote that as Mignone's first feature, the film "strains so hard to shock that this criss-crosser set among various L.A. denizens soon passes from the contrived to the ridiculous". He offered that as the script was "contrived and sensational", and that the characters lacked depth, "what Mignone intends as explosive comes off as exploitative". He also offered that "the movie winds up an expression of victim culture as attitudinal cool", and that for "viewers who think life is one big angry vintage Korn song, that approach will have considerable appeal". He concluded that despite flaws, "Mignone has delivered a fairly tight package that draws generally good performances from thesps in largely one-dimensional roles".
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Christopher Null is a film critic, columnist and former blogger for Yahoo! Tech, editor of Drinkhacker.com, and is the founder and editor in chief of Filmcritic.com.-Publications:...
of Filmcritic.com wrote that "Mignone does a remarkable job at taking what starts as a mild flirtation or tiptoeing into perversity and showing how baby steps can soon lead to full-on, downhill slides". He writes that of the many stories intertwined in the film, the "movie is surprisingly at its best in the story of the two teens", who flirt with a teacher played memorably by actor Eddie Jemison
Eddie Jemison
Edward F. "Eddie" Jemison is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in the Ocean's Eleven trilogy and the television series Hung.-Life and career:...
), when noting the "shocking transistion" of two girls seen worrying about their grades riding with their teacher to a porn studio to be "crudely sized up for their value to the viewing audience". He offers that while the film tries to wrap everything up tidily, it "is perhaps the wrong approach for a movie about an industry with no happy endings". He concludes that the film is memorable "more for its performances than its plot", and that "this somewhat scrappy independent doesn't fade from the mind quickly".
Marina Antunes of Quiet Earth compares the film to David Slade
David Slade
David Aldrin Slade is a British film director who began his career making music videos. His work includes videos for artists such as Aphex Twin, Rob Dougan, System of a Down, Stone Temple Pilots, Tori Amos, and Muse.-Life and career:...
's Hard Candy
Hard Candy (film)
Hard Candy is a 2005 psychological thriller film focusing on the confrontation between an assumed sexual predator and a not-so-innocent 14-year-old girl....
but makes note of the script's drawbacks in that ideas are never fully developed. The reviewer also felt the dialog was juvenile and awkward, and that the character's back stories
Back-story
A back-story, background story, or backstory is the literary device of a narrative chronologically earlier than, and related to, a narrative of primary interest. Generally, it is the history of characters or other elements that underlie the situation existing at the main narrative's start...
and situations felt forced. Opining that the "story itself is not completely successful", Antunes offers that "Mignoe's style is an interesting mix of saturated colours and unusual visuals. There is a feeling of the impending downfall which is wonderfully communicated through the set design. Mignoe has a talent for capturing the ugliness in beauty, something which lends itself well to the story he is telling here." Remarking on Mignole's ability, Antunes summarizes "though On the Doll is a good first attempt at a full length feature, it doesn't completely work".
Gerry Putzer of DVD Talk
DVD Talk
DVD Talk is a website for DVD enthusiasts founded in January 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman when DVDs and DVD players were first beginning to hit the market.The site started as an online forum, an email newsletter, and a page of DVD news and reviews...
wrote that the film "has big ambitions but gets awfully muddled." He noted that while Brittany Snow might have been "the marquee name in the cast", her role is no larger than anyone elses. Putzer compares the film with Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
's 1979 porn-world thriller Hardcore, in that the sex in the film is as "uniformly bizarre, degrading and joyless". He concludes that the film "deserves high marks for ambition", and that the actors do a "convincing job under first-time writer-director Thomas Mignone, whose structural adventurousness is intriguing."
David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews writes that while Mignone "generally does a nice job of infusing the proceedings with an intriguing visual style, there's little doubt that the increasingly uneven nature of Mignone's screenplay proves detrimental to the movie's overall success". He notes that "Mignone's decision to employ a sprawling structure - replete with almost a dozen recurring characters - undoubtedly ranks high on the film's list of problems". He concludes by offering that Mignone's film "definitively established itself as a misfire that nevertheless might just signal the emergence of a promising new talent".