Tanner Hall

Its a bit hard to buy into a coming of age film based at a high school when the girls are in their mid-twenties playing teenagers. I'm not really sure why a lot of films actually do this while the best, more realistic ones actually have girls who are actually teenagers who can act very well and bring more relevance to the story. I personally found these women in their twenties playing school girls and hamming up youthful demeanours and making foolish faces just cringeworthy. Like when they cast men to do the same thing in other movies, and there are guys playing sixteen year olds with 5 o'clock shadows permanently on their face. It's silly and just looks ridiculous.

(2011) Tanner Hall DRAMA Co-produced, written and directed by Francesca Gregorini and Tatiana von Fürstenberg, with "Tanner Hall" as the title describes is kind of like an all girls private school, starring Roomey Mara as Fern, narrating her rebellious experience while being there as a student. There's no natural flow regarding any of the characters and their situations, which makes it much harder to identify as people do not act like this in real life. I think half the things that happened to the main character, I would've been extremely angry and would physically have done something about it.

Tanner Hall is a coming of age drama about four teenage girls. In an all-girl boarding school. Each of them has some issues to deal with (Fernanda falls for Gio, the husband of her mother's best friend, Kate sexually teases a professor, Mr. Middlewood, which is supposed to be a joke until it isn't, Lucasta is questioning her sexuality and finally Victoria, a deeply traumatised individual with a completely broken, almost irreparable psyche). None of that sounds particularly original, but there was some potential and it could have become interesting. However, the characters are never developed to a level where the audience will care or root for them. It's even worse with the side characters, not to mention that some parts of the plot are either stupid (for example Mr. Middlewood going to the bathroom to help Kate) or too convenient (for example Gio taking Fernanda out whenever he feels like without anyone noticing or suspecting anything). The ending also leaves a lot to be desired. After introducing so many subplots, the movie rushes to the finishing line with many unanswered questions and no proper climax. On the other hand, Tanner Hall's biggest asset lies in how good looking it is, in no small part thanks to the beautiful landscapes.

source: Tanner Hall

"Tanner Hall" is a Romance - Drama movie in which we watch a group of teenage girls staying on a private school, Tanner Hall, and we follow their lives. Their backgrounds are different but still they have some things on common. I did not have high expectations from this movie and I was not disappointed by it. Despite its simple plot, it was interesting and very different from many other romantic movies since it consisted of some clever plot twists that made it very interesting. The interpretation of Rooney Mara who played as Fernanda was simply exceptional and I believe that she really reached her potential. Some other interpretations that have to be mentioned were Brie Larson's who played as Kate, Georgia King's who played as Victoria and Chris Kattan's who played as Mr. Middlewood. Lastly, I have to say that "Tanner Hall" is a nice movie to spend your time and I recommend you to watch it if you do not have anything else to do.

Tatiana von Furstenburg directs a multi-layered look into the complex lives of upper class boarding school teen girls. Tom Everett has a pregnant wife yet goes after Mara his student . He kisses her and buys her records. King, Mara's best friend, tries to stop her. Brie Larson temps her teacher, and he falls. His wife, Amy Sedaris, is great in the scenes trying to get him interested. Amy Ferguson likes kissing King. All is a swirl of teens trying to grow up. Love the image that begins the film of King uncaging her grandmother's bird. That is what the film is about. This film is 100 times better than Dead Poet's Society. Things happen when you are a teen that will never happen again; so these years should be filmed and examined so that this transformative age could be navigated like a boat avoiding rocks going down rapids.

This movie is about boarding school girls coming of age. Gosh what to say about this film...I guess I can't get past how beautiful Rooney was at one point in her life. It's shocking! She had the most beautiful hair and she cut it all off and dyed it black and has tiny little bangs now. I mean she can do what she wants but I can't believe she looks in the mirror now and thinks what she's got going on is a better look than what she had during the making of this movie. I'm sure if we asked her she would say she had to do that in order to break free of being typecast as the "girlfriend" and I would have to concede her point and yet...she could have made a lot of money just being a hair model. Her sister Kate had equally beautiful hair at one point too but she's cut and dyed it so many times since Brokeback Mountain that you can't tell anymore. They need to find out the gene in that family for the great hair and figure out how they could market it...that family would be so rich they'd never have to act again a day in their lives. Their great-grandkid's great-grandkids wouldn't have to worry about money...but I totally digressed there. Many reviews commented on Rooney's hair so I know I'm not alone in my thoughts on that. I had no idea Brie Larson was so "hot" at one point in her career. What happened?! Before I saw her in this movie all I ever saw from her was extremely bland boring borderline ugly rough appearance. This movie wasn't made that long ago yet just a few years later all that baby-faced freshness has been replaced by a visage that looks like its host has been smoking 3 packs a day! Wow! Looks aside she was really good in this movie. Georgia King - I never liked her looks or her acting. She's like a horse clopping her way through every scene with a face to match. What's up with her upper lip? It's like she got stung by a bunch of bees right before each scene was shot-very distracting. She's only where she is because of her Dad being an actor. Chris Kattan and Amy Sedaris?! Why?! They were glaringly out of place. Tom Everett Scott was reduced to a bit player and added nothing. Amy Ferguson was a delight. Besides being uniquely beautiful she can actually act. I hope to see her in more things because when she came onscreen I was like "Who is THAT?!" I get why she was a model but she has the "It" factor for Hollywood. You can't take your eyes off of her. Annika Peterson did a really great job with the short screen time she had. She also made me sit up and notice when she was onscreen. Why haven't I seen her before or since?! She should be acting a lot more. Shawn Pyfrom-even though he had a small part I felt he made the most of his screen time. He was really good. One last issue why did they cast such young actresses to be the parents of the boarding school girls?! Rooney Mara's Mom looked more like her sister than a Mom. That casting decision was confusing to me. I would recommend this film if only to see how beautiful Rooney was at one time. This is a sweet simple film and I loved the setting. Perfect for watching in the Fall. It'll make you long for your boarding school/college days.

"Tanner Hall" is basically "Wild Child" meets "Girl Interrupted", if you enjoyed "Cracks" you should seek out this film. It is an extremely modest production but the entire budget makes it onto the screen, the four main characters were realistically developed, and the four actresses playing them were well directed. Amy Sedaris plays a secondary character who effectively provides a necessary comic relief, thereby leaving the four main characters free of something that could have tainted their connections to the viewer. Fernanda (Rooney Mara) has the standard Winona Ryder part and the storytelling is essentially from her character's point of view, with the same voice-over narration of Ryder's character in "Girl, Interrupted". Rooney's acting has an ephemeral quality that transforms ordinary scenes into something special, perhaps best illustrated by her nonverbal reaction to discovering Victoria alone and crying in the rest room. The editor explains this through Fernanda's voice-over, but the scene has already communicated Fern's shifting attitude as she processes her unexpected connection with Victoria's vulnerability. The climatic scene in which Fernanda becomes protective of the bullying Victoria (Georgia King) did not entirely ring true - it was perhaps too extreme - Victoria's mother needed a better build-up. But I find scenes where a seemingly weaker girl becomes protective of a stronger one to be irresistible, probably become they challenge a viewer's preconceptions. And challenging viewer preconceptions is what "Tanner Hall" is all about. Like "Welcome to the Dollhouse", this is a film more about what is happening inside each viewer as they watch the film than about what is actually happening on the screen. Your reaction and the film's entertainment value will have a lot to do with your own experiences at that age or at least your sympathetic awareness of the difficulties that some of your classmates were experiencing. Meaning that if you don't connect and are not mildly blown away by the understated realism, then you and your friends simply weren't dysfunctional enough. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Fern (Rooney Mara) returns to the all-girls boarding school Tanner Hall in New England for the new school year. She is still haunted by a childhood incident when Victoria let her grandmother's bird free. Victoria (Georgia King) comes to school after years without seeing Fern. She is a lying troublemaker causing havoc for Fern and her friends. Kate (Brie Larson) is a flirt. Lucasta (Amy Ferguson) likes to draw and is reserved. The Middlewoods (Chris Kattan, Amy Sedaris) run the school and teach. Gio (Tom Everett Scott) is Fern's mother's friend's husband who takes Fern out on day trips. There is an OK dark mean-girls Lolita film somewhere here. The 4 girls do a reasonable job but the movie goes wrong real quick. The moment that Chris Kattan starts knocking down doors in the girls' shower is when the movie goes wrong. It's stupid. Quite frankly, Chris Kattan is a bad actor. He and Amy Sedaris seem intend on making a broad slapstick comedy which is completely different than what the 4 girls are doing. These two directions do not mix. Then I don't get Gio signing out Fern. What exactly does her mother or his wife think is going on? It's not like they can hide the sign outs. As for the key, wouldn't Mrs. Middlewoods figure out that Victoria made a copy? The movie seems to insist that the Middlewoods are foolish cartoon characters. Also wouldn't Fern talk to Peter after she figured out Victoria's lies? That's a much needed missing scene. Chris Kattan sunk this movie and all the later problems don't help.

Tanner Hall "Tanner Hall" directed by Francesca Gregorini, and Tatiana Von Furstenberg is one of the most dramatically intense movies of this generation. It uses extreme situations to show more about teen life. As a teenager I loved it. I also liked that "up and coming" actress Rooney Mara was in it. Even though some of the events may never happen in real life it still is extremely intriguing. It shows a different area then what I'd been used to. There were some scenes I could relate to and others I couldn't but that made it highly interesting to see life from a different perspective. For example, a quote from the movie is "Lose your way. Find yourself." In the movie, the characters are constantly evolving; becoming more mature. Truthfully, what I really enjoyed about this movie was how different it is from my life there were some similarities, but it was quite enjoyable to see how other teens act. You saw them grow up some experimented with drugs, others with boy's. It was also interesting seeing Boarding school from a students perspective because I have been to regular school all my life. One part in the movie, they sneak out to go to a fair, this reminds me of a time when I was staying at a friends house and her, and a few other people, and me snook out and went to an abandoned house. On the other hand, certain individuals (one's who do not appreciate amazing movies) might not like it because the climax doesn't happen until the end and there is a lot of character building. These "certain individuals" also might like to connect to the movie more, or to have more in common with the characters. Some of the characters may have been a little common. Honestly, it interested me that they put Rooney Mara who is now famous for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". I thought she was perfect for this role the characters personality seemed to be very similar to her own. I loved seeing her in this movie and then seeing her in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" because it was amazing to see the difference in how she looked. Overall, it was an amazing movie, especially with a 3,000,000 dollar budget. I was a little worried when it didn't come out until a year after it was finished, but I definitely enjoyed it. Now go and watch it, and prepare to be amazed!