First of all, Foxes is one of those times where my opinion on it shifted, if ever so slightly, over the course of just two minutes - hell, just one edit - in the last five to ten minutes. At first, what happens with Cherie Currie's character Annie ultimately was disappointing for me inasmuch that the film was not following a path that was expected (or really much of a direct path at all, to the writer and Adrien Lyne's credit they make this intentionally shapeless when it comes to structure so it's squarely about these girls, their parents, their sometimes lovers and the difficulties they face living on some kind of edge), and her fate felt a bit Afterschool-Special-like. But then when it's revealed that there's a time jump and a place where I thought the girls were at is something else, my opinion changed again to just "BRILLIANT!" Is it a calculated choice with what the story jumps to for its denouemont? Maybe, but it worked for me.
Secondly, this is a very particular kind of story of high school aged drama, where it almost all takes place outside of that. Foxes doesn't judge these girls or their parents (well, that cop father is certainly scum, pardon my French), and I gather this without him getting much dialog at all), and that's a major credit to how much the filmmakers trust the audience to get it. Of course it's also of this time, when hitching a ride was the norm and "On the Radio" by Donna Summer could be used for the Main Theme of the movie (used a little too much mayhap but I got used to it), and when frankly it was before parents became very protective of their teenage children. This has an odor of late 1970's Los Angeles Free-Wheeling fun and horror, and if it has aged as far as technology or the cars or music, it hasn't when it comes to this basic thing: sometimes teenagers go... wild.
And lastly, this could have been a bit less enjoyable and the aimlessness distracting if it weren't for the performances across the board; Foster grounds this as Jeanie, and what I love about her here is that she makes her seem like she *should* be too mature or educated to hang with some of this crowd, but she also imbues her with the spirit of 'hey, I want to hang out with my friends and I really CARE for them, Annie most of all (who is, ahem, not okay... sorry I couldn't resist). Currie is also magnetic in her natural way, literally a runaway for most of it, and she is surrounded by people like Sally Kellerman as Jeanie's mom (some of the best scenes are between mother and daughter, which feel sloppy and hard like the most realistic and horribly charged arguments), Randy Quaid as the much-too-old boyfriend for 16 year old Madge (yikes), and even Laura Dern pops up for a couple of minutes which was a nice surprise.
An engrossing if flawed sleeper, best seen on an old VHS.
Secondly, this is a very particular kind of story of high school aged drama, where it almost all takes place outside of that. Foxes doesn't judge these girls or their parents (well, that cop father is certainly scum, pardon my French), and I gather this without him getting much dialog at all), and that's a major credit to how much the filmmakers trust the audience to get it. Of course it's also of this time, when hitching a ride was the norm and "On the Radio" by Donna Summer could be used for the Main Theme of the movie (used a little too much mayhap but I got used to it), and when frankly it was before parents became very protective of their teenage children. This has an odor of late 1970's Los Angeles Free-Wheeling fun and horror, and if it has aged as far as technology or the cars or music, it hasn't when it comes to this basic thing: sometimes teenagers go... wild.
And lastly, this could have been a bit less enjoyable and the aimlessness distracting if it weren't for the performances across the board; Foster grounds this as Jeanie, and what I love about her here is that she makes her seem like she *should* be too mature or educated to hang with some of this crowd, but she also imbues her with the spirit of 'hey, I want to hang out with my friends and I really CARE for them, Annie most of all (who is, ahem, not okay... sorry I couldn't resist). Currie is also magnetic in her natural way, literally a runaway for most of it, and she is surrounded by people like Sally Kellerman as Jeanie's mom (some of the best scenes are between mother and daughter, which feel sloppy and hard like the most realistic and horribly charged arguments), Randy Quaid as the much-too-old boyfriend for 16 year old Madge (yikes), and even Laura Dern pops up for a couple of minutes which was a nice surprise.
An engrossing if flawed sleeper, best seen on an old VHS.