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FIRST LOVE, LAST RITES

What You Need To Know:

In FIRST LOVE, LAST RITES, Joey is a recent high school graduate on vacation in the Louisiana bayou. He meets and falls in lust with Sissel. Joey tries to keep his affair with Sissel going while acting out her father's dreams of making a killing in the fishing trade. The father, Henry, played slightly over the top by Robert John Burke, is a dreamer and a schemer whose ideas don't amount to much. Joey loves Sissel for reasons that the audience may not comprehend, because she is laconic and whines a lot.

The director of this movie, Jesse Peretz, comes from a music video background, so this movie is filled with fun and lyrical music, but the music cannot make up for the lack of solid storytelling in FIRST LOVE, LAST RITES. The movie meanders in a way that isn't entertaining or thematically interesting. The script contains forced dialogue, little character development and graphic sexual scenes between Joey and Sissel. Because it is hard to understand why they are together other than the fact that they are young and hot-blooded, it as completely gratuitous to show us details of their trysts

Content:

(R, LL, VVV, SSS, NNN) Romantic worldview; 14 obscenities & 4 profanities; a rat is graphically smashed to pieces; scenes of depicted graphic sex; and, full male & upper female nudity.

More Detail:

FIRST LOVE, LAST RITES is a small drama about a boy’s first love set in a sweaty bayou in Louisiana. Adapted from a short story by Ian McEwan, much of the beauty of the story is not translated onto the screen.

Played with just the right mixture of angst and surprise by Giovanni Ribisi, who plays an American soldier in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, Joey is a recent high school graduate on vacation in the bayou. He meets Sissel, superficially played by Natasha Gregson Wagner, the daughter of Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner. Joey tries to keep his affair with Sissel going while acting out her father’s dreams of making a killing in the fishing trade. The father, Henry, played slightly over the top by Robert John Burke, is a dreamer and a schemer whose ideas don’t amount to much. Joey loves Sissel for reasons that the audience may not comprehend, because she is laconic and whines a lot.

The first-time director of this movie, Jesse Peretz, comes from a music video background, so this movie is filled with fun and lyrical music. However, the music cannot make up for the lack of solid storytelling in FIRST LOVE, LAST RITES. The movie meanders in a way that isn’t entertaining or thematically interesting. The script contains forced dialogue and little character development.

Besides the slow narrative and grating characters, the movie contains graphic sexual scenes between Joey and Sissel. Because it is hard to understand why they are together other than the fact that they are young and hot-blooded, it is completely gratuitous to show us details of their trysts. The movie also contains some explicit nudity and a moderate level of foul language.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.