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The Video Phile
OCTOBER 6, 1997:
**** Crash
(1996, written and directed by David Cronenberg) -- In the
preface to Crash, his 1973 novel on which this movie is
based, J.G. Ballard writes, "Voyeurism, self-disgust, the
infantile basis of our dreams and longings -- these diseases of
the psyche have now culminated in the most terrifying
casualty of the century: the death of affect." Which just
goes to show that while it might seem that director David
Cronenberg is on a quest to film the unfilmable -- his 1991
adaptation of Naked Lunch is another example -- he knows
exactly what he's doing. The controversy that has surrounded Crash
since it was shown at Cannes last year has been in part due to
its slow, near-plotless pace, and part to do with its perceived
gratuitousness. Ballard's observation about the "death of
affect" goes a long way toward explaining the necessity of
the former. If the characters in Crash seem flat, it's
because they are, in a sense, dead; in particular, their senses
have been deadened by modernity such that only technological
horror -- the car crash -- can break through their boredom. When
James Ballard (James Spader) collides into Dr. Helen Remington
(Holly Hunter), the two -- along with Ballard's wife, Catherine
(Deborah Kara Unger) -- find themselves caught up in a sort of
cult-of-the-crash that includes the grossly scarred Gabrielle
(Rosanna Arquette) and is led by Vaughan (Elias Koreas). The cult
watches crash-test films as pornography and goes to great lengths
to recreate infamous celebrity car crashes. The scenario is not
without humor -- dark as it might be (Vaughan drives a 1963
Lincoln convertible like the one JFK was assassinated in) -- but
the bulk of the film is dedicated to minute exploration of the
fetishism of death and destruction. The characters indifferently
couple in and near ruined automobiles against a background of an
imminent future that is as bland and pale as it is unfulfilling.
It's the sexual content that earned the
film an NC-17 rating and charges of gratuitousness. If the
movie's conceptual premise -- namely, that the car crash is, in
modern times, an object of morbid and primal fascination -- was
implausible, the latter charge might hold up. However, that fact
that pilgrims are turning out in droves to the site of Princess
Diana's crash suggests that the premise of Crash is much
more than plausible. If anything, the imminent future of
Ballard's 1973 novel has arrived. -- Jim Hanas
*** Party
Girl (1994, directed by Daisy Von Scherler Mayer) --
Substitute the fantasy life of the rich and over-privileged youth
of Beverly Hills in Clueless for that of ultra-cool New
York hipsters, and you have a fairly good idea of what you're in
for with Party Girl.
Parker Posey stars as a club-going,
fashion-obsessed, lost child of the '90s. A perfect stereotype of
a Generation X-er, Posey refuses to get a real job and frequently
finds herself in trouble. With good intentions and no direction,
Posey is happy to spend her days dancing and primping, throwing
parties and tantrums.
After being arrested for throwing an
illegal fund-raiser (she needs to pay her rent), Posey is thrown
in jail and must be bailed out by her only relative, her aunt. To
pay her back, Posey works with her aunt in a New York public
library as a clerk, a prospect Posey is less than thrilled about,
to say the least.
*****
****
***
**
*
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Elected
officials smoking pot
East High School
The Bluffwalk
Incorporation
The Oilers in Memphis |
Gradually, Posey learns the ins and outs
of the Dewey Decimal system and the card catalog, but is
continuously frustrated because the world won't take this
raver-turned-career-girl seriously. After a small accident in the
library (Posey and her falafel-peddling boyfriend leave the
library windows open during a rainstorm), she is fired and must
find a new job. Only then does she realize how well suited she is
for library work, (her blue jeans are in a very specific order
between the vintage and thrift-shop sections of her closet) and
how much she wants to become a real librarian. "I will not
be a waitress," she wails desperately.
Posey's club friends, who include
cross-dressing dancers and glitter-covered deejays, team up and
convince Posey's aunt to not only give her her job back, but to
support her decision to earn a degree in library science.
Although the plot is fairly predictable,
the strength of Posey's character is not. Just as in her roles in
Waiting for Guffman and Dazed and Confused, Posey
has mastered the art of comedic timing and a subtlety of facial
expression that Jim Carrey could take a cue from. She is a
singer, a dancer, a comedienne, and an actress all at once.
Posey's ability to make any character
larger than life saves this film from falling into the B-movie
category. Worth watching for the soundtrack and Posey's creative
ensembles, if nothing else. -- Mary Helen Randall
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