The session: "Spring! When a Young Man's Thoughts Turn to Russ Meyer"
This month we pay tribute to director Russ Meyer
As always, there may be spoilers here. And the trailer may be NSFW and/or NSFL.
Week 1: Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!)
Directed by Russ Meyer
My Impressions Going In:
I'd long known of this film's existence. But other than knowing it's a cult classic that I just gotta see, I knew very little about it.
Three strippers take off into the dessert to let off steam. They don't have any serious plans until they learn of a hidden cache of cash.
Reaction and Other Folderol:
I went into this session with high hopes. I was aware of Faster Pussycat as some kind of iconic countercultural cult film. And given my tastes and interests, it's actually kind of surprising that I had never seen this before.
Boy, was I disappointed. The plot was weak, and the story telling was uneven. And none of the characters were likeable. But what bugged me the most was the way all the characters were overacting. This was especially true of Tura Satana, who starred as Varla; she seemed to end each line with a rising tone, which seemd like it was supposed to sound emphatic -- but just sounded hacky. Keith explained that that was purposeful -- a directorial choice on Meyer's part. Why he made that choice I'll never know. But in a sense, that kind of makes sense. A lot of the movie felt like it was a series of film school experiments. If Meyer was playing with a variety of styles, it makes sense that he would experiment with his characters' emotions. The problem, though, is that it made the movie harder to watch.
On the plus side, the ending was great. With its red herrings and teasers, It had me on the edge. Sadly, though, that just couldn't save it.
Ratings
Me: 5
Bob-O: 8.6
Christina: 9.1
Dave: 8.5
Ethan: 6
Joe: 10
Sharon: 8
No comments:
Post a Comment