TANNER HALL (2009)

Written & Directed By: Francesca Gregorini & Tatiana Von Frustenberg
Cinematography By: Brian Rigney Hubbard
Editor: Michelle Botticelli, Sharon Rutter & Lauren Zuckerman

Cast: Rooney Mara, Brie Larson, Amy Ferguson, Tom Everett Scott, Chris Kattan, Amy Sedaris, Tara Subkoff



Tanner Hall is a vivid peek into the private world of an all-girls boarding school. In a cozy, but run down New England, the knot of adolescent complexity is unraveled through the coming of age stories of four teen-age girls.

This is a coming of age film, Where each character gets their own storyline and their own time to shine. It’s obvious who the star of the film is. Obviously it’s Rooney Mara’s film. Her character get’s most of the screen time and is the narrator.

It is obvious where most of the stories are going and they seem to be rushed.
Trusting the audience does and will get impatient. If they don’t get on with it. So they trim the fat. It’s obvious from the introduction scene of Tom Everett Scott’s character and him picking up Rooney Mara where they are going with the story. Why would you trust your teenage daughter with you fiends husband when they just had a kid and he is going through a mid-life crisis.

Amy Sedaris and Chris Kattan are here more for comic relief. Though I found Kattan’s performance annoying until his character takes a more dramatic turn. He just seems to be there as fodder for the story rather then a genuine character.

You have seen and heard stories like those presented before in this film, Only better done. This might have been a better book then film. Though it might be a better film for teenage girls to watch. A nice introduction to independent films that speaks to them more then it ever spoke to me. As I am older and maybe a bit jaded so I can’t relate to the material really.

The actresses are all good and certainly attractive and effective. Especially Brie Larson

Only one character constantly stays interesting and wouldn’t have minded if the film revolved around her character. She is Georgina King, Whose character seems to really want attention only so that she can cause havoc on them. Get them into trouble making them hate her more so that she can feed off of that and use the hate as enough motivation to kill herself. Which would have been a good film character study in of itself.

The film has heart, but it feels like it’s artificial and running on fumes.

Wait for television.

GRADE: C-