The Dead Girl (2006)

Tonight, it was The Dead Girl (2006):

A small close-knit community near Los Angeles is thrown into turmoil when the brutally desecrated body of a vibrant young girl is discovered in a field. A series of seemingly unrelated dramas in the lives of the town's residents ultimately converge and reveal answers to the murder itself. Toni Collette, James Franco, Giovanni Ribisi and Mary Beth Hurt star in this dark Independent Spirit Award-nominated mystery directed by Karen Moncrieff.

This was really good, different than I expected. When Da Man heard that it was a collection of disparate stories, he said, "You like those kind of movies, don't you?" Yeah, I do. And the stories were not connected like in Babel, which I expected. But, as Moncrieff says in an interview on the DVD, this is about the ripples of violence that affect multiple people. What is amazing to me is that Moncrieff wrote this script after she was a juror on a trial where a prostitute had been murdered. Witnesses included her mother, some johns, and other prostitutes including one that was her lover. The script was a way of dealing with some of the emotions that came up during the trial.

This movie had a lot of named actors in it. I'll see anything with Toni Collette. And Marcia Gay Harden plays a pivotal role. Piper Laurie is typecast as a freaky mother. It was dark, and I liked it. Four out of five stars.