Charlie Says

Constantly jumping between two time periods, the vibrant days with the family contrasted with the muted prison life, the screenplay feels split between portraying how daily abuse molded them into subservient actors and the woman fighting for their rehabilitation. But it's in the electrifying flashbacks, with constant closeups and shots held on the characters' stares that you see in those stares their ecstasy and devotion for Manson.

Yet another movie about the Manson Family, this one focusing on the girls. Matt Smith does an excellent Manson, and I tried and couldn't find any glaring inaccuracies. However respectable the effort, there's not a lot of depth or oomph to this film. It comes, speaks truthfully, and goes without leaving a mark.

I'm not entirely sure the frame story helps the film; constantly breaking the descent into dependence on a mad Messiah to show (a tiny sliver of) the aftermath of the perpetrators, as if the viewers needed reminding that murder is Wrong. It all ends up spread a little too thinly. That said, Harron knows her psychos, and while there could have been more made of this, it's certainly a much-needed antithesis to most Manson stories.

Combining drugs with a nitwit preaching crazy stuff isn't healthy. [Full review]