Pineapples


Watching the documentary series on the JonBenét murder, the mention of the unaccountable bowl of pineapple brought The Virgin Suicides movie to mind. At the post-suicide attempt party held in the Lisbon's basement --thrown on Father's Day, I think-- Paul Baldino, intimating his attraction to breasts, tells Mrs. Lisbon he loves pineapple (whatever your interpretation is of what he intimated, the right answer doesn't stray from sexual innuendo).

That scene is a brief departure from the book. Previous to it, both storylines involving Paul Baldino are essentially the same. Paul is the Mafioso's kid who claims to have found Cecilia with her wrists slit, unconscious in the tub. He'd been gaining access to his neighbors' basements through storm grills for months, telling the other kids about his exploits. The third person plural narrative goes so far as to say he made the phone call for the ambulance, and that he was questioned by the police for at least an hour (it's clear the narrative was only as omniscient as its contributors, subject to and capable of hearsay).

The Virgin Suicides movie script may have been written during the media coverage of the JonBenét murder, and even if filming began at the tail end of its dying afterglow, it may have not been lost on the creative element that Cecilia and JonBenét lived in affluent neighborhoods, and that an intruder may have broken into their homes through the basement. Not to mention that Hanna Hall is from Colorado.

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