Review of Ripe (1996) by Christen B — 01 May 2009

A very curious indie flick, 'Ripe' surprised me a little. Going into it I wasn't sure what to expect, but I am more than happy with the final product. It's really about two twin runaways who find themselves at a military camp of some sort. Throughout 'Ripe' we follow sisters Rosie and Violet as they discover a life with more than just the two of them in it. Both are conflicted and one is jealous. The two play out till the bitter end, a very satisfying end to an interesting picture. All the acting is good in 'Ripe', and I must admit I bought the film just to see the excellent Gordon Currie. He is without doubt my favorite indie actor and he does not disappoint in the film, but nor does the rest of the cast, including our two leads (Daisy Eagan as Rosie and Monica Keena as Violet). My one concern is that at times I began to not feel what the characters felt, but I think being of the opposite sex may be the reason behind that. There is a lot of subtext in scenes, but sometimes director Mo Ogrodnik decides to kill the subtext with little comments. There's that and the audio was a little strange.

Still, 'Ripe' is a very sophisticated film that is going to go unnoticed by many because of its indie nature. And that's alright. I don't think everybody will enjoy it, but a bunch should.