Great Suspense and Atmosphere. This movie instantly became one of my all-time favorites and is difficult to describe without giving too much away. More than most movies I can remember, reading too many comments about it's content beforehand can detract from the viewing experience (and a great one at that!) and ruin the suspense. I will try not to give too much about the film away beforehand.
First of all, I loved the production quality, atmosphere and locale. It would be a great movie to see on Halloween night for example, at least in my opinion. It really can be watched anytime however and will be just as great. The acting was high quality, all the way around but especially with Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen and the direction and score are excellent as well.
I had a problem with the plausibility of Jodie Foster's character behaving essentially as an adult. It was a little tough for me to buy into a 13 (or newly turned 14 year old) cooking gourmet meals, serving fine wines, listening to Chopin and generally acting much older than her chronological age.
Even taking into consideration the events in her life which apparently had shaped her personality, she seemed too mature for her age. If you put that concern aside however and accept it as a given premise of the movie you can sit back and enjoy the fun of trying to figure out what's going on.
And trying to figure out what's going on really *is* fun in this movie. Figuring out what's going on with her mysterious father is enough to keep you occupied in itself (if you think you've figured out what's going on with him you will find later that you probably haven't) and that's only one aspect of this complex scenario.
I hate when movies this good are not in general circulation any longer. Brian de Palma's "Sisters" and many other excellent movies also fall into this category. I can't figure out why studios can't figure out ways to continue to make them available to the public, after all...they went to the trouble to make them in the first place.
If you do get a chance to see "Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane" however, jump at it. You aren't likely to be disappointed.
