Geoffrey Fletcher’s jump from writing the Oscar-winning “Precious” to penning and directing “Violet & Daisy” is hardly a logical one. How someone goes from something so raw and emotionally moving to a film so austere and oblique is a career move I doubt I would be bold enough to make. Though I’d prefer that Fletcher stick to his much-lauded strengths, I am all for artists diversifying and taking risks.
His “Violet & Daisy” is certainly a very interesting film from a stylistic standpoint, blending together everything from French New Wave technique to an almost Tarantino-esque sense of stilted reality. The story, meanwhile, is fairly simple, mostly involving the two titular assassins (played by Saoirse Ronan and Alexis Bledel) trying to decide whether or not to whack Tony Soprano himself (James Gandolfini’s Michael). Consider it the film art version of any great action movie conversational stand-off.
But while the style drew me in, it also took me out of the movie. Fletcher’s characters speak very ear-catching dialogue and head into compelling situations. Yet the sort of detachment that comes with the aesthetic led me to feel a cold distance from the action. That was likely the intent, but I felt that it also downplayed the importance of Fletcher’s script. The drama doesn’t hit home, and “Violet & Daisy” really can’t connect when it matters most.
It’s still a more or less entertaining and interesting watch, though. I just don’t think I would ever want to watch it again. And I’d only recommend it to someone else if they were a particular kind of viewer in a particular kind of mood. But I also don’t tend to embrace movies in the mold of “Violet & Daisy,” so perhaps it’s best that I was nonplussed by it. B- / 
