Crimson & Daisy

Magic Crimson presentation in colaboration with GreeneStreet Films. (Worldwide sales: CAA, La.) Produced by Geoffrey Fletcher, Bonnie Timmermann. Executive producers, John Penotti, James Skotchdopole. Co-producer, Steve Kempf. Directed, put together by Geoffrey Fletcher.Daisy Saoirse Ronan Crimson Alexis Bledel Michael James Gandolfini Iris Marianne Jean-Baptiste Russ Danny Trejo April Tatiana MaslanyFollowing his Oscar-winning script for "Precious," Geoffrey Fletcher's directorial debut handles being precious in the completely way, sadly far-removed the approach he needed adapting the novel "Push" by Azure. Last and least in the run of photos that fancy teen women as cold-blooded killings, "Crimson & Daisy" supplies a questionably sentimental spin concerning the Hit Girl gimmick seen in "Kick-Ass," casting the armed-and-dangerous stars of "Las VegasInch (Alexis Bledel) and "Hanna" (Saoirse Ronan) as some implausible assassins. This cutesy dark comedy seems destined for cult status, but sometimes also connect to less Puritanical overseas auds. Written pre-"Precious" with techniques that could've happened for with no money, "Crimson & Daisy" benefits of Fletcher's recent fame, which enables the NYU Tisch grad to shoot his skewed fable in NY getting a title cast and decent budget. Frankly, you'd never guess the two photos came from from the identical pen, so different is uneasy combination of the hitman and coming-of-age genres. Still quite recent for the whole contract killing factor, Daisy (Ronan) blazes her way using the opening scene being an old professional, praising her 18th birthday by offing an apartment full of heavily armed Mafia types. Fletcher fully supports the absurdity, delivering Daisy and her callous nearest friend Crimson (Bledel, more than twelve years her co-star's senior) into the firefight disguised as nuns, packing shotguns in pizza boxes. With realism your window, the recommendations from the imaginary world require sometime to take in, since an individual's instinct is always to keep youthful women as not even close to heavy artillery as you can. When they're not raging crooks, Crimson and Daisy play patty-cake and be women half what their ages are (their getaway vehicle can be a tricycle, which signifies probably the roles were written for additional youthful stars). Holding their guns like Hong Kong action stars, the pair kill without remorse or motive, aside from to buy the newest dresses utilizing their teenybopper idol, Barbie dolls dolls Sunday -- no less than, because of this they pay a job that preoccupies them for your relaxation in the film. After "Hanna," which combined its own surreality getting a reasonably complex portrait from the child groomed to kill, "Crimson & Daisy" feels considerably disconnected from identifiable human behavior. Then James Gandolfini gets into the look, obtaining a soul to Fletcher's wink-wink style. Even though helmer provides only one previous job to judge by, it seems safe to visualise that lots of targets either beg for lives or shoot back. Not this individual. He practically desires to be destroyed, going up to now regarding bake the ladies oatmeal snacks for trouble. Nearly all "Crimson & Daisy" happens inside the mysterious man's apartment, where the script must keep approaching with excuses to obtain the women alone so Gandolfini's character can offer them the kind of one-on-one advice that merely might save their lives. First, they exhaust bullets, which supplies an foe gang opportunity to visit while Daisy is unarmed and Crimson is off developing a supply run -Body that lands her in the heart of an improbable Mexican standoff within the neighborhood home improvement center. Later, Daisy steps out, so Crimson can relaxation. With this particular point, most auds might have selected sides inside the film's inevitable love-it-or-hate-it divide, but Fletcher doesn't give either camping the satisfaction of pinning lower the pic's tone. The laughs, which achieve their crazy peak with something the ladies call "the inside bleeding dance," progressively taper off, making room for carefully manufactured emotion. There's magic-trick quality for the film's construction, through which Fletcher throws with one hands while subtly modifying the climate while using other when individuals gain popularity the cartoon has given approach to some factor sincere, they may already be worried about the figures. "Crimson & Daisy" develops what may have been only one-set enjoy two strong-impression cameos -- Danny Trejo since the girl's boss and Marianne Jean-Baptiste just like a sniper ready to take them off once the women botch the job -- but lacks a personality menacing enough to create suspense. For your story to blossom, Crimson and Daisy must stall, but, the greater they're doing, the higher absurd it seems that anybody would trust two hit-women to carry out a hitman's job. Production values are strong, especially Vanja Cernjul's widescreen lensing, which translates numerous Fletcher's wilder first-time-filmmaker impulses into clean, classy plans.Camera (color, widescreen), Vanja Cernjul editor, Joe Klotz music, Paul Cantelon music supervisor, Susan Jacobs production designer, Patrizia Von Brandenstein art director, Fredda Slavin set decorator, Regina Graves costume designer, Jenny Gering appear (Dolby Digital), Richard W. Murphy supervisory appear editor, Robert Hein re-recording mixer, Roberto Fernandez effects, Philip Beck Junior., Robert Beck visual effects supervisor, J. John Corbett connect producers, Rachel Israel, I-fan Quirk assistant director, Robert C. Albertell casting, Bonnie Timmermann. Examined at Toronto Film Festival (Special Presentations), Sept. 15, 2011. Running time: 96 MIN. Contact Peter Debruge at peter.debruge@variety.com