Speak is a 2004 American coming-of-age teen drama film written and directed by Jessica Sharzer in her feature directorial debut, based on the 1999 novel of the same name by Laurie Halse Anderson.
However, her reason for doing so was because she was raped at the party, by popular senior student Andy Evans, but her trauma prevented her from reporting her assault over the telephone or to the police when they arrived.
In the struggle, Melinda overpowers him, blinding him with turpentine and holding a shard of glass from a broken mirror to his neck, threatening to kill him.
They are found by Melinda's distant friend Nicole, as well as other girls from her field hockey team, and the altercation removes any doubt about what happened at the house party.
[3] Flooding during an especially heavy summer rain caused filming to be temporarily postponed and during that time author Laurie Halse Anderson visited the set with her daughter.
[4] Marilyn Moss of The Hollywood Reporter gave an overwhelmingly positive write-up, describing the film as, "well-made and extremely touching."
"[5] On his YouTube channel, critic Chris Stuckmann gave the film a retrospective positive review, praising Stewart and Zahn's performances, the cinematography, and direction.
[7] Although Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times opined the film "comes nowhere near capturing the wise, subtle tone of the book it's based on", "[it] is still an effective treatment of a difficult subject, thanks almost entirely to the performance of Kristen Stewart as the young victim.
"[8] Christopher Null of ContactMusic.com gave the film a rating of three out of five stars, saying it "is decent, even pretty good at times, but ultimately this material feels so familiar that we see every turn in the story telegraphed from miles away.
"[9] Dennis Harvey of Variety called the production values "OK," but said, "Eventual coming-to-terms (plus the culprit’s public humiliation) would’ve been much more potent with less caricatured adult characters and more nuanced direction.