"I Killed My BFF" (a.k.a., "Do Unto Others") has an intensity worthy of Nathaniel Hathorne's classic "The Scarlet Letter." Indeed, one of the characters, Scarlet, was named by her mother Rae from her favorite novel.
The film was successful as a character-driven drama apparent in the conflict of the characters of Lily and Rae. From the outset, their friendship was defined as a pair of polar opposites. Lily was the daughter of a rigidly stern, unyielding preacher; Rae was the undisciplined hedonist nearly incapable of raising her teenage daughter.
After Rae and Lily bond, they begin to split off, suggesting a Manichaean conflict of good versus evil. But based on their actions, the dualism became ambiguous with both Rae and Lily suspecting the other of doing the work of the Devil. The character affecting the lives of both Lily and Rae is Pastor Adler, whose wife committed suicide and his son apparently followed in her wake. The drama that unfolds raises the question of which character will hit rock bottom first, Rae or Lily?
The Bright Fire Center will be a new church learning facility dedicated to the memory of the pastor's wife and son. It is during the dedication that the film's strange climactic scene occurs. The god-fearing folk of the community bear witness to the effects of a zealotry that hearkens back to the puritanical world of Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter."
The true legacy of the Bright Fire Center will not be one of salvation, but one of a warped vision of life of characters who have lost their way. The film takes great pains in demonstrating the dangers of extremism in any form, which was also the theme of "The Scarlet Letter."
The film was successful as a character-driven drama apparent in the conflict of the characters of Lily and Rae. From the outset, their friendship was defined as a pair of polar opposites. Lily was the daughter of a rigidly stern, unyielding preacher; Rae was the undisciplined hedonist nearly incapable of raising her teenage daughter.
After Rae and Lily bond, they begin to split off, suggesting a Manichaean conflict of good versus evil. But based on their actions, the dualism became ambiguous with both Rae and Lily suspecting the other of doing the work of the Devil. The character affecting the lives of both Lily and Rae is Pastor Adler, whose wife committed suicide and his son apparently followed in her wake. The drama that unfolds raises the question of which character will hit rock bottom first, Rae or Lily?
The Bright Fire Center will be a new church learning facility dedicated to the memory of the pastor's wife and son. It is during the dedication that the film's strange climactic scene occurs. The god-fearing folk of the community bear witness to the effects of a zealotry that hearkens back to the puritanical world of Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter."
The true legacy of the Bright Fire Center will not be one of salvation, but one of a warped vision of life of characters who have lost their way. The film takes great pains in demonstrating the dangers of extremism in any form, which was also the theme of "The Scarlet Letter."