The 1950s and 60s churned out plenty of exploitative pulp films portraying the rise of the then-emerging teenage scurge in America. Female juvenile delinquents and criminal girl gangs were often the subjects, resulting in titillating titles like Kitten with a Whip, Girls on the Loose, Reform School Girl, and many more. While these movies were originally intended as cautionary tales, they now stand as telling reactions to the rise of feminism. Many decades later, director Laurent Cantet (The Class) will see his award-winning drama Foxfire released in theaters, and a new trailer reveals how the film pays tribute to these still relevant girl gang films and the young female experience.
Adapted from Joyce Carol Oates’s bestseller, the TIFF selection, which received its first trailer last year, follows a gang of rebellious girls who wreck havoc on their small New York town. The film boasts a cast of promising young talent, including Raven Adamson, Madeleine Bisson, and Katie Coseni, who won the San Sebastian Film Festival Best Actress Award for her performance. Cantet’s work, which he co-wrote with Robin Campillo, marks the second time Oates’s book has been translated for the big screen – the first time was in 1996, and starred a then unknown Angelina Jolie. Unlike the Jolie-led version, however, Cantet stays true to the story’s 1953 setting, a choice that adds some rich period costuming and atmosphere to a provocative piece. See trailer and synopsis below:
Synopsis:
Upstate New York, 1953, a working class neighborhood in a small town. In this violent post-war culture controlled by men, a group of headstrong teenage girls unite into a sisterhood of blood: they form the Foxfire gang, a secret female-only society, recognized by the flame tattooed on the back of its members’ shoulders.
“Foxfire” for pretty foxes, but also “Foxfire” for fire and destruction.
Legs, Maddy, Lana, Rita and Goldie cannot accept any longer to be humiliated and discriminated against for being poor, and being girls. Headed by the feisty Legs, the girls set on a trip for revenge, and try to pursue their impossible dream: living according to their own rules and laws, no matter what. But there’s a price to pay…
Foxfire opens across the UK on August 9th. No release date is set for the US.
What do you think of Foxfire‘s new trailer? Are you hoping that the film comes to the US?