Dear Wendy

Dear Wendy is a 2005 crime film directed by Thomas Vinterberg and written by Lars von Trier. It stars Jamie Bell, Bill Pullman, Michael Angarano, Mark Webber, Danso Gordon, Novella Nelson and Alison Pill. It was an international co-production between Denmark, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, filmed on-location in Copenhagen. The film had its world premiere at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Vinterberg won the Silver St. George for Best Director at the 27th Moscow International Film Festival. Plot In the small West Virginia mining town of Electric Park, a self-proclaimed teenage pacifist named Dick buys what he thinks is a toy gun. When he learns from a co-worker that it is not a replica, but a functioning antique gun, the two form a friendship based around recreational target shooting and studying firearms history. Other disaffected teens join them, and they begin to call themselves "the Dandies". Dick becomes more and more attached to his gun, naming it "Wendy" and writing it love letters. The Dandies adopt an affected, anachronistic style of dressing and speaking, for example replacing the word "killing" with "loving". They treat their antique firearms as elaborate props, giving them names and backstories, playing games with them, and target shooting in an abandoned mining shaft that they decorate and call the Temple. They carry their guns at all times, but make a point of never showing off their guns in public. Dick's childhood nanny Clarabelle introduces him to her troubled grandson Sebastian, an African-American youth from out of town who is on probation for a weapons-related crime. The town's sheriff, Sheriff Krugby, appoints Dick as an informal probation officer for Sebastian, believing that Dick is a good role model. Dick allows Sebastian to break probation and asks him to join the Dandies, but only if he follows their idiosyncratic rules. One day, Sebastian gives the group a suspicious box full of guns, and soon breaks a club rule by firing another member's gun. The group's sole female member, Susan, becomes interested in Sebastian. Dick becomes upset by the changes Sebastian's presence has triggered.