Good story, Not enough for a whole film

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Blistering performances.

Cracks is cinematically beautiful. There is something almost magical about it and the color palette reminds me of The Secret Garden. When I watched the trailer I expected something very different but I think I was pleasantly surprised. The trailer presented it as very mysterious and almost frightening. Netlfix marketed it as "lesbian flick". It is much more than those things. I love movies that I can really dissect and analyze and find symbolism and deeper meanings like I am in literature class discussing a book. These are the best type of movies. This is where I was first introduced to Eva Green and it's my favorite performance of her's next to her work in Penny Dreadful. She is so enigmatic as the seemingly adventurous and admirable Miss G. All the actors do a superb job at convincing us that these characters are real people and not just people get paid to spit out lines. The ending left me thinking and reflecting for hours wanting to know more. It is a story of jealousy, admiration, fragility, fear, innocence, and above all desire. I could not help but to think of Lord of the Flies while watching it and having a light bulb go off in my head as to why it seemed familiar.

A carefully made, intelligent, powerful film that makes you wonder, among other things, why director Jordan Scott (the daughter of Ridley) has not had the opportunity to make anything else since 2009. It is a film that demands your attention: just when you think you may know where it is heading, it turns the other way. At first, it appears to be the story of a non-conformist teacher inspiring her devoted students; then, it seems to be about the jealously of the teacher's favorite student when she feels she's in danger of being overshadowed by a new arrival; then it looks like the teacher admires the new arrival because she has so much in common with her; and finally, it turns into something else, something darker, leading to a tragedy that has a real impact on the viewer. Exceptional performances, appropriate musical scoring and beautiful photography add to the experience. *** out of 4.

Plenty's been written about Eva green nowadays. But she's been slumming' it of late, esp. if one goes by her performance in this little-seen/known gem, that also boasts a fine ensemble, including Juno Temple and Imogen Poots.Though this came out earlier, a case can be made that this would make a fine companion piece with 'Jagten', both of these being 2 sides of the same coin, as it were.The setting (a tad Gothic in nature, though the bright lighting in almost every scene tries to keep that presumption at bay) is a young girls' boarding school, and things are not always what they seem. Suffice to say that talking more about this might give most of the plot away, so I should stop here, and advise you not to read anything up. Very dark, not for the squeamish, this is a study in obsession and deception, and keeps one guessing right until the end, where a dash of irony makes us feel that everyone is the protagonist with nary an antagonist. In a lesser work, that might make it all unravel (negatively), but in this, it kinda suits the material on play.Not to be missed. A fine addition to Green's filmography.

The website, Afterellen.com, fronts 'Cracks' as a "lesbian" film. I'm not exactly sure what constitutes LGBT cinema. But I feel that this one is about bottled up sexual energy, not lesbian love. The girls in the school are institutionally kept ignorant of sex and the perils of the real world. What we witness is nature's victory over man as the sexual audacity of youth overtakes Miss G and Di, with Fiamma as their victim.Miss G is the villain, but not in the conventional sense. I presume she's never had a boyfriend nor a healthy sexual relationship of any kind. So she naively mistakes her infatuation with Fiamma as love, causing her repressed sexuality to leak through the cracks and end up on the wrong person. Fiamma unwillingly finds herself as a combatant against Di over Miss G's attention. At the end of the second act, Di gains the upper hand by removing Fiamma from the school altogether.However, this is a three-way antagonism since the two active role players are Miss G and Di. Miss G makes three failed attempts to earn Fiamma's devotion: by charming her, exercising power over her, and fraternizing with her. Meanwhile, Di is keen to impose the school's social strata against Fiamma, who remains ever so resilient due to her advanced maturity.The third act exercises Fiamma's only remaining option- to befriend Di. But the truce is cut short when Miss G performs her final act of desperation by raping Fiamma. This action was catalyzed by Miss G's last interaction with her; one where she lost some of the team's respect ("Since Fiamma knows what's best, let her take the reigns!").This narrative is a classic example of an established social order turned upside down with the arrival of a newcomer (think 'Mean Girls'), and the school will never be the same for them. Fiamma's death catapults Di to search for a better life outside of the establishment while Miss G finally faces reality.To a lesser extent, this is a parable of man-made structure that attempts to sculpt human behavior by building walls around children and repressing their natural curiosity. This indoctrination usually works, but has its casualties. The ending reveals that Miss G is one such casualty.