Camilla Belle

As I keep a close eye, ahem, on up and coming talent in the film business, I've noticed an interesting young actress with the musical name of Camilla Belle. She was terrific playing Daniel Day-Lewis' daughter in The Ballad of Jack and Rose. She has a very distinctive, haunting beauty that sets her apart from other actresses in her age range. Her first starring role was in the remake of the thriller When a Stranger Calls, which I took a look at last night.

Now, there was absolutely no reason for this film to exist other than profit, but hey, that's the American and the Hollywood way. While competently directed and edited, the film is full of cliches like the false scare--twice by the same cat! Belle is the teenager in jeopardy, a babysitter who is getting calls and is eventually told by the police--"The calls are coming from inside the house!"

While I worked at a movie theater I learned the formula for success: pack the teenagers in a Friday night, and to hell with what happens later. Every Friday night the kids would congregate at the multiplex, and the movie they saw was secondary, as it was a chance to socialize, text message, and generally create mischief. It was the thrillers or horror movies that drew them in, and these things were usually cheaply made and probably made their money back in the first weekend. After that, they lasted another week or two and then blew away into the dust.

Now, back to Miss Belle. I can certainly understand that she chose a cheesy remake for her first starring role. She got to run around a lot, and have a perpetually scared look on her face. But I'm a bit troubled by her next film, which looks like another teen-in-jeopardy flick called The Quiet. It's easy for us to criticize performers for the roles they take, as we have no idea what the circumstances are (such as why Nicolas Cage, fresh off an Oscar win, went on a run of bad action pictures). And the life of an indy-picture queen has its pitfalls, especially if you want that Malibu mansion, but I do hope Camilla Belle does return to make more substantial films, because to do otherwise would be a waste of her talent.