By Mr. Will Wong
Based on true events, Hulu Series THE GIRL FROM PLAINVILLE dramatizes the events leading to Michelle Carter’s conviction for involuntary manslaughter of boyfriend Conrad Roy. The Screenplay by Liz Hannah and Patrick Macmanus is inspired by the Esquire article of the same name by Jesse Barron. The then-18-year-old had been struggling with his mental health and commit suicide in 2014 after it was learned that Carter had encouraged him to do so.
In the lead role is the talented Elle Fanning as Carter and the eight-episode Series introduces us to her reacting to news of Roy‘s (Colton Ryan) death. She overreacts, as if to mask her guilt, and is eager to make it known that she is grieving whether it be to her own parents, or Roy‘s mother Lynn (Chloë Sevigny), whom had never met nor heard of Carter through her son. The two maintained a relationship via their phones, only having met in-person a few times. We get a glimpse of Roy, who is seeking professional help and move our way backwards as we understand Carter and Roy‘s connection and how it leads to ill-fated consequences.
Over-compensating and hyper-concerned about her perception, Fanning taps into Carter‘s desire for sympathy and need for others to know how much she loved Roy. One chilling scene in the first episode has her reciting verbatim a scene from “Glee” where Lea Michele‘s Rachel is paying tribute to Finn (Cory Monteith), deeply-haunting. The Series sets this all up perfectly for us to want to unravel the-troubling relationship between Carter and Roy and its consequences. In addition to some fine work from Fanning, Sevigny also disappears completely into Roy’s mother as she navigates her grief and her life intersecting with the young woman responsible for her son’s death.
The Series will be available in Canada on W Network and also STACKTV on Thursday, April 21, 2022 at 9 PM ET/PT. It screens at SXSW ’22 as follows:
Mar 12, 202212:00pm—12:48pm
Mar 13, 9:00am CDT – Mar 15, 9:00am CDT 9:00am—9:48am
TIFF ’21 is officially in full swing and while things are a little less hectic this year, we’re still keeping fully busy, Team Mr. Will catching as many Films as we can and fitting in as many sightings as we can!
We are thrilled to have gotten to see this year’s Opening Night Gala, the uplifting and heartfelt DEAR EVAN HANSEN. We absolutely loved it, and while we’ve never seen the original Musical it was based on, the Film by Stephen Chbosky stands on its own strongly. Floored by star Ben Platt‘s work in this and the Music by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul is incredible.
See our thoughts below and Capsule Review here.
We were also lucky enough to find the After Party for the Film, which took place at hotspot Sofia in Yorkville, where we by chance saw Platt leaving, as well as Co-Stars Amandla Stenberg, Danny Pino and Colton Ryan. I cannot wait for you to discover this Film. Bawled my eyes out!
A huge “thank you” also to official TIFF ’21 sponsor RBC for gifting us with tickets which we gave to one lucky Reader to see DEAR EVAN HANSEN at the RBC Lakeside Drive In! Mark Greeno was so lucky to get to see Ben Platt and Amandla Stenberg also in-person as they introduced the Film!
Many thanks to @RBC, official sponsor of #TIFF21! Thanks to them we were able to send @leos_lover_2000 to the RBC Lakeside Drive-In to see #DearEvanHansen! Hope you had fun, Mark! pic.twitter.com/VkGFA2ka5G
— MR. WILL WONG 📸 (@mrwillw) September 10, 2021
It was quiet for most of the day, but so thrilled we saw Justin Bateman here to present her directorial Feature debut, VIOLET, which continues to get warm reception on the Festival circuit. We saw the Film at SXSW and were overjoyed to see THE MALLORY KEATON of Family Ties, here in-person. She was so sweet and even handed me some swag, official VIOLET pens to keep.
It will be another hectic couple days cramming-in as much as we can and we’re so excited to see SPENCER tomorrow morning – this is the Princess Diana film starring Kristen Stewart which has put her in the early lead for the Best Actress race.
Stay tuned for more. Continue bookmarking and checking this rolling link as we post our updates through out the day!
Our next scheduled CP24 appearance will be Saturday morning. Don’t forget to check it out!
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
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