Speak

This is a small movie that Kristen Stewart was in before she became famouse because of the Twilight saga.Her debut film Panic Room's charactor is closer to the image with the roll which she is in this film.She is a bit boyish but shy, not fully grown up girl who had a bad memory- sexually raped by the boy at the summer party before going to the highschool.She tries to call the police from the party, but that just leads to the cops showing up and breaking up the party and getting a lot of Kristen's friends in trouble. She was shy enough to tell the event to her parents not only because she was shy but also because of the gap between her and her parents.She decides not to talk in school and that makes her alienated her from other students.She played the roll of a girl who is fragile and even a small touch can shatter her totally.She was lucky enough to find this rusty room from the school and she makes herself compfortabe there. And also she made friends with the art teacher, and a girl who is now dating with the guy who raped her. She slowly recovers herself and finally gathers herself.Finally she made a courage to tells the secret story that what happened that night to her mother after the recovery.The story is not a great one or something imaginative. It's the manner and the way how it flows. The acting and the tone of the film that makes this movie a decent one.The director does not have a lot of experience making movies but she did a fine job making this one as if she have made hundreds before.Then again, it has nothing to do with the resume, it's how the director have in mind and how much confident about how she/he will make the movie.I know that Kristen has a lot of personal issues but in terms of acting, she was truethful. She was never tried to show herself to be great or someone cool. She just acts as if she is herself which makes her acting career keep going.This movie was her first leading roll and she was not different with her other famous movies like Twilight saga.

Whenever I see Kristen Stewart interviewed there is a hesitancy in her participation that seems almost like she is in some inner rebellion against the whole idea of the interview. There are long pauses during which some series of expressions flash across her face and in her body language and I sometimes wonder if she's in some neurologic lapse. Then, the interviewer says or asks something in expectation of some more or less predictable response and she hesitates, then begins to respond in a way that seems so off-the-mark as to seem incoherent or dazed or just not that bright - at first; but, she completes her response an I realize she's responding the the question or comment the interviewer SHOULD have posed and she's doing it with unexpected insight.She does this in her acting performances, too but without the pauses and hesitation. I never know what to expect. Her expressions flash myriad changes in split-second sequence and exquisite subtlety. I cannot take my eyes off her when she's on screen. She seems a complete space-case and simultaneously on of the greatest young American actors working today.

As another reviewer stated, I cannot stay dry eyed when viewing this movie. Melinda's story may be harder for some people to take than others, particularly if they have been victimized themselves and feel that maybe they are somehow to blame when the immediate aftermath around them is negative.There is no sugar coating here: One day Melinda (Played with incredible depth and sensitivity by Kristen Stewart.) is a fun-loving teen, and the next she can never look at anything the same way again. I was angry throughout the film because her suppposed friends should have guessed it took more than calling the cops at a party to turn her into a social outcast. In fact, her behavior could have told a very perceptive stranger what was wrong, but nobody noticed except one male student and Steve Zahn's art teacher character Mr. Freeman. Everyone else was cruel and/or indifferent, and that's before they found out what happened to her.This is the story of one year in the life of a bright young girl after a very troubling incident but, unlike other victims, she didn't keep silent about it for years until her entire life was a complete mess. It is incredibly moving and well-done. If you are having some of the same problems, please don't wait until you have a mountain of trouble ahead of you. Contact the nearest victim's support group or call RAINN toll free at 1-800-656-HOPE.

A story of a teen-aged girl (Melinda) who resorts to becoming mute, in order to keep from publicizing a horrific event that happened to her. Unfortunately, as a result of not speaking up, she not only loses her friendships, but becomes an outcast at school. Her traumatizing experience has wounded her soul.I like what the art teacher, Mr, Freeman says to his students at the beginning of the school year: " Welcome to art, the only class that will teach you to survive. This is where you can find your soul...if you dare."It is in this class, I believe, where Melinda ultimately masters survival skills; skills that will give her the confidence she needs in order to finally speak up about what really happened that one summer night.Great acting, especially by Kristen Stewart in her first leading role.

Llegó perfecta. Una peli difícil de encontrar. Interesante trama.

Atemlos gefangen zwischen dem Wunsch, zu schreien und dem, wegzulaufen. Selten hat ein Film mit solcher Macht zu mir gesprochen. Natürlich gehören die eigenen Erfahrungen dazu, wie man die Geschichte wahrnimmt. Es mag deshalb sein, dass andere dieses Werk nicht in ähnlicher Intensität erleben werden.Über Kirsten Stewarts schaupielerischen Fähigkeiten braucht man, denke ich, kein weiteres Wort verlieren, aber was sie hier in sehr jungem Alter abliefert, ist grandios und atemberaubend. Mimik, Körpersprache und atmen. Ein Minimum an Text.Durch einen Blick und ein minimales nach Luft schnappen gelingt es Stewart, mir das Herz heraus zu reissen. Ich will wegschauen (so wie die anderen es tun) aber ich kann nicht.Ein großartiger Film über Unachtsamkeit, die Unfähigkeit wahrzunehmen, fahrlässigen Umgang miteinander und über die Sprachlosigkeit des Opfers. Dazu ein großartiger Soundtrack - den ich aber wegen der zuschlagenden Bilder erst beim dritten mal gucken anfing, wahrzunehmen.Unbedingte Kaufempfehlung!Und zum Schluß: wer diesen Film nicht versteht, sollte seinen/ihren Umgang mit anderen Menschen einer kritischen Überprüfung unterziehen.Ich denke, das ist hauptsächlich, wozu der Film auffordert: siehst du den Menschen, der dir gegenüber steht oder ist er nur ein Punkt im Koordinatensystem deiner Erwartungen?Ach ja: wenn irgendwie möglich, dann den Film in Originalsprache ansehen."I call her hair woman" wird übersetzt als "Ich nenne sie Zauslkopf" ... Sie erkennen das Problem?

To me, this movie offered me SO MUCH MORE than a story about high school, or about rape. I watched this movie not knowing what I would expect, just that Melinda, the main character, was a "mute". As a person who watches films to grow and learn about myself, I *knew* I wanted to watch this: my entire life I was too self-conscious and felt too incapable to speak out to people. Even small conversations was a GREAT emotional struggle for me, full of doubt, frustration, and pain.. It got to the point that I felt like the only place I could feel safe was in my own room where I didn't have to interact with others.. And that left me lonely and damaged for most of my life... I felt like no one could connect to me.. that I didn't have anyone that could keep me warm and safe and make me feel like I *wasn't* aloneSo when I watched Speak, I was so emotionally drawn to Melinda, and I felt like a MIRROR image of her. And remember, I *DIDN'T* LITERALLY go through what she went through in this film. BUT, I experienced, almost EXACTLY, the same emotions she experienced. In fact, I paralleled her rape making her unable to speak to my parents and siblings destroying my self-confidence and making me doubt my abilities to the point that I had to hide from the world to feel safe. And my parents and siblings were not special cases. They were regular people and did not stand out at all. It's just that, like almost everyone in the world, they did not TRULY unconditionally care about other people. If I was an inconvenience for them, *I* was ridiculed and pushed down onto the ground. I lost my spirit and my liveliness at a very early age because of this..Speak made me realize all these things.. And when I reached the end, I fell into tears for 30 or so minutes...About a month or so later, after the film helped me realize WHY I was so "quiet and shy" as people would call me, I was able to begin to *slowly* open up. I still have a long way to go, but without a doubt, I know Speak completely changed my life, and that's why I bought it the MOMENT I watched it.To sum all of this up, I ****ABSOLUTELY***** recommend this film to ANYONE who a) is able to take this film seriously and take in the emotion WITHOUT comments or bias, and b) feels inadequate and self-conscious and feels unable to speak out - in other words, as people tend to label them, the "quiet and shy" types. I ask that anyone who possibly fits under this "personality type" reflect on why they are that way because, in my experience, it is not "just the way you are". People aren't just born without passion or LIFE, and a desire to LIVE. It's something that was taken away from you. And I hope someone who reads this and watches the film will be able to find a little bit of that liveliness again. Thanks for reading about my life!! And I hope at least ONE of you watch this movie and are affected by it!!!!!!!!(P.S. Excuse my bad grammar and writing haha! I wanted this review to be as real and life-like as possible!! "Look, I am capable of writing intellectually as well". Yeah.. I didn't want my review to sound like that..)

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS:- Allowing for the fact that Kristen Stewart was still a mere 14 year old when she completed this movie I'm surprised she didn't receive an award of the Highest Order for her performance in this film, Speak in which she plays a young girl in her first year of High School who ventures to a party with friends attended by dozens of young people, many older than her and finds herself being scooped-up and kissed by the boy that all the girls want to be kissed by? Being young,naive and sexually inexperienced she is taken advantage of by this savage who rapes her in a jeep in the grounds of the venue before walking away to leave the girl traumatised beyond belief,in pain both physically and mentally and unable to take in what has happened?She stumbles back inside and manages to call the Police who attend but SHE is too upset and walks off without reporting the attack BUT is dubbed a grass by her so-called 'friends' for causing the party-break-up and at school is treated like a leper. Of course the fellow pupils don't know what really happened because SHE in turn has chosen to say nothing to anyone, including her parents who are seemingly far too wrapped-up in their own lives to notice a distinct change of personality in their daughter?I don't want to give-away any more of what is a really fantastic story that had me feeling so sorry for the 'victim' and the way she was being treated by those around her even though she was bringing most of it on herself by saying nothing, but where was her evidence NOW? Director Jessica Sharzer did a good job and Cinematographer Andrij Parekh captured all the expressions in Stewarts eyes and Steve Zahns when he looks in the store room beautifully! A real treat.

L'histoire de Melinda Sordino est très touchante. Interprétée formidablement par Kristen Stewart, ce personnage nous montre la difficulté de parler à son entourage lorsque l'on est victime d'un acte horrible...Comment l'expliquer à ses proches quand ces derniers n'essayent même pas de comprendre?Ce que l'on retient de ce film est surtout l'interprétation de Kisten Stewart, une actrice à suivre!Un film hallucinant qui mérite bien plus qu'une diffusion à la télévision américaine et un petit DVD seulement disponible en import.