The whole film perfectly depicts life in the 1970s; the clothes, the hair, the music, all of it just right. The score by Air flows through the movie as though it’s on that summer breeze, it’s never intrusive, it’s just right. Speaking of right, The Virgin Suicides soundtrack is one of my favorites of all time. The bands include Sloan, Hollies, Steely Dan, Boston, ELO, Styx, Carol King, Al Green, 10CC, and The Bee Gees. Music is essential to the movie. One of the best introductions ever of a character is for Trip Fontaine (Josh Hartnett) who walks down the hall at school to Heart’s “Magic Man” owning the whole goddamn place. Another key moment with music is when the girls, desperate for contact with the outside world, get a phone call from the boys. Instead of talking, the boys put on Todd Rundgren’s “Hello, It's Me” and the girls, in turn, call them back with Gilbert O’Sullivan’s “Alone Again.” It’s one of the best and most touching scenes in the film. I think we all felt the heartbreak of the scene where Mrs. Lisbon (we never know her first name) forces Lux (Kirsten Dunst) to destroy her record collection. Doing that is taking away a piece of a person’s soul. How could Lux not feel like a chunk of her was ripped from her?

All the acting in the film is fantastic. Turner, Woods, and Dunst are all standouts here. I’m not usually a fan of Josh Hartnett, but even he won me over as the asshole school heartthrob. Danny DeVito, Scott Glenn, and Michael Paré all show up in supporting roles. Giovanni Ribisi, as the narrator, does a great job guiding us through the film as one of the neighbor boys looking back and telling us the tragic story of the girls.