Tart (2001)

Desperate attempts of a teenage Manhattan girl to find love and kinship, in an ever-changing world!

After her only friend is expelled from their private school in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, Cat Storm wants to get close to a boy she is attracted to and recreate herself with new friends. But her new friends are unreliable, her boyfriend is troubled, her parents are cold and indifferent, and she increasingly finds herself unloved.

This is another respectable entry into the genre of the unhappy and unloved teenager, going after a boy who turns out to be no prize, and trying to fit in with her fellow classmates, but how does it find its audience when the title misleads you into thinking its a sex-and-drugs movie, and the video cover misleads you into thinking it’s has Melanie Griffith it when she only makes two passing appearances?

I love movies that almost grasp the reality of a teens life. Though I do enjoy the occasional happy ending, as unrealistic as they are. Tart was real, the boy really screws you over and leaves you heartbroken. ‘Chick flicks’ have probably a more depressing ending than movies like Tart, because you know you will never find that perfect mate, it gives us false hope and sets us up for disappointment. While Tart is cold, hard, reality. Probably a little more harsh than most of our realities. After watching Tart, you don’t think wow that was a great movie because it leaves you with an uneasy feeling. Life isn’t rainbows and butterflies, and Tart is a great example of that, what we refuse to see, but its there. Love it or hate it.

Written and Directed by: Christina Wayne
Starring:Dominique Swain, Brad Renfro, Bijou Phillips