Bad Lieutenant

Title: Bad Lieutenant

Director: Abel Ferrara

Released: 1992

Starring: Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Paul Calderon, Leonard L. Thomas, Robin Burrows, Frankie Thorn, Victoria Bastel

Plot: An unnamed police Lieutenant (Keitel) is tasked with investigating the rape of a nun as he tries to battle his own demons as his drug and gambling addictions threaten to consume him.  

Review: Back in the late 90’s when I was first seriously getting into film, beyond the surface level enjoyment I already got from my movie watching, Channel 4 here in the UK used to show Extreme cinema; a genre pretty much dead these days with society on a whole becoming harder to shock it would seem. Back then these films were truly seen as pushing boundaries of taste and would be shown as part of their late night schedule on a Friday night. It was from these seasons of films that I was exposed to films such as Greg Araki’s “The Doom Generation” and necrophilia romance “Kissed” which shocked me almost as much as they held a strange fascination for me, knowing that I was watching something which certainly fell outside of the cinematic mainstream, especially with their frequently graphic depicatations of sex, drugs, nudity and any number of taboo subjects. It would also be through these late night movie watching sessions that I would first see this film, which while I might not have followed it fully back then, still proved to be a memorable experience while kick-starting a lifelong fascination with the films of Abel Ferrara whom I mention in my review of “The King of New York” is my director of choice when I feel like watching something truly grimy and once again here it’s what he truly delivers.

As always with Ferrara it is a suitably grimy vision of New York that he once again gives us here, especially with the Lieutenant frequently seeming to take us on a guided tour of its most seediest parts as he hangs out with drug dealers and trades drugs he steals from evidence, while at the same time adding to his own habit. It’s a habit which when combined with his frequent drinking, often finds him in some more than questionable situations as he frequents with prostitutes often in some form of stupor which also gives us one of the more memorable scenes from the film as a naked Keitel staggers around a room wailing into the night as he looks barely capable of functioning in any form. The other talked about scene sees him pulling over a couple of young girls and forcing them to perform for him as he masturbates and curses beside their car.

As well as these two vices and the constant pursuit of them, the Lieutenant also finds himself in a rapidly increasing spiral of gambling debts, as he continues to back the Dodgers as they face off against the Mets over a series of games, while Baseball player Darryl Strawberry seems to be the only hint at any human connection that he has with anyone with the sporadic interactions he has with his family either erupting in volatile outbursts or general neglect as he often appears to be distant even when surrounded by his family. This self-imposed isolation only increasing over the course of the film as he gambles himself into further debts, while his addictions run wild, ultimately coming to ahead as he suffers a breakdown in a church, memorably grovelling and howling for forgiveness to a vision of a post crucified Jesus.

Unquestionably this is not an easy film to view, but despite the frequently graphic nature and crude tone the film takes, Ferrara clearly isn’t aiming to just shock his audience but instead punch them square in the face as he blurs the lines of gritty reality with frequently grotesque imagery. At the same time it is a powerhouse combination that we get from the potent combination of Ferrara’s direction and a bold and fearless performance by Keitel who despite committing numerous hideous and depraved acts still remains grimly watchable.

Similar in many ways to “Taxi Driver” the film views humanity at its darkest, perhaps making it all the more fitting that a nun is chosen as the victim of rape, as here even a symbol of purity and light is not beyond being soiled. At the same time the nun’s refusal to participate in the investigation of her attackers, furthers Ferrara’s own reoccurring ideals of finding forgiveness and compassion even when surrounded by a society fuelled on violence and hatred.

Unquestionably though thi is not the sort of film which is watched for enjoyment in the traditional sense, but this is still a griping if bleak experience and one truly carried by Keitel, whose performance Nicolas Cage would attempt to replicate with perhaps more overacted results in the unrelated, let alone Ferrara despised “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans”. However if you’re looking for a companion piece to “Taxi Driver” it’s safe to say that this film delivers the goods and more.

American Mary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title: American Mary

Director: Soska Sisters
Released: 2012

Staring: Katharine Isabelle, Antonio Cupo, Tristan Risk, David Lovgren, Paula Lindberg, Clay St. Thomas, John Emmet Tracy, Twan Holiday, Paul Anthony

Plot: Mary (Isabelle), a medical student and aspiring surgeon finds herself increasingly more in debt and disenchanted with the surgical world she once aspired to be part of. However when a chance encounter provides her with an alternative use for her surgical skills as she now enters into the world of underground surgeries and body modification.
 

Review: Since the release of their 2009 debut “Dead Hooker In A Trunk” I have been keen to see how the Soska Sisters (Jen and Sylvia) would follow it up, especially with its unrestrained neo-grindhouse style certainly making it a hard film to follow up especially when it had such a frenzied energy to it. Still there was something clearly there which marked the Soska sisters out to myself as a talent worth watching and here it would seem that it was a hunch which paid off, as they return with a film which while less frenzied and more glossy looking than their debut only further marks them out as names worth watching, even more so when you consider how over populated the horror genre has become in recent years, with pretenders and questionable talent that it is actually refreshing to see that there are still genuinely original talents still working in the genre, something which is only driven home here.

Opening with Mary suturing a turkey,  a transfixed look of fascination on her face as she practises her surgical skills, while in the classroom room proving herself as the unquestioning protégé of her mentor Dr. Grant (Lovgren), whose own ethics are questionable to say the least, as he sends Mary to advise a patients family that they have suffered a heart attack, before sending her back out moments later to inform them that he is actually dead. This is of course before he revels his true colours during a date rape party held by several of the senior doctors at the hospital, in which they prey on the young female student doctors who have been unwittingly invited. This creepily haunting scene however is not about cheap shocks, but rather the catalyst for Marys journey to the dark side, as soon thanks to shady club owner Billy (Cupo) and stripper and Betty Boop lookalike Beatress she soon finds a whole new use for her surgical skills.

 

It is on this new path that we are soon introduced to a different kind of clientele whom Mary now chooses to operate on, as she ditches medical school for the underground surgical trade, with her clientele certainly coming with their own specialised requests from living doll Ruby who is keen to complete her doll transformation through to a pair of twins (played by the Soska sisters themselves) who want to swap arms with each other. Despite the increasingly bizarre demands of her clients, she never views any of them with distain of any kind of judgement, instead only seeing them as being the next challenge for her surgical skills and while she is initially thrown wide eyed and apprehensive into this underground world of body modification she soon quickly adjusts to what she sees and the requests of her clients so that eventually nothing fazes her, while the sole time she any repulsion is when a guy walks into her surgery and requests something as simple as a piercing.

Shot in mainly dark shades with a healthy dose of black humour in the right places, this film is very much in the same dark landscape which Clive Barker frequently lurks, yet the Soska sisters are seemingly just at home in this same setting which perfectly suits the tone of the film, especially as Mary becomes increasingly more involved in this underground world and her initial reservations melting away as she turns herself into a creature of gothic beauty. Needless to say despite being influenced this is still very much in the Soska’s vision much like so many of their other influences that are subtly referenced throughout.

Isabelle is perfectly cast in the role of Mary, who she seems to be channelling her inner Zooey Deschanel to play, which for myself only made her all the more appealing, while Isabelle who had already established her horror credentials with “Ginger Snaps” and “Ginger Snaps” unleashed (to name but two) is easily at home here, especially during the occasionally gooey surgical scenes, while once she fully evolves into her underground surgeon persona, she is like a shark both beautiful to watch as she operates in high heels and suspenders, yet equally deadly as those who cross here soon discover, especially when she truly revels just how black her dark side really is. For the most part this is a one woman show, while Isabelle handles effortlessly, while at the same time she receives equally strong support from the rest of the cast who all come with their own memorable moments from the cooing and permanently perky Beatress right through to her bear-like assistant / bodyguard Lance (Holiday) who while largely mute and played like a disposable background character  for the majority of the film, pulls out of a blinding surprise monologue in one of the many surprise moments within the film.

While the setup might be off putting to the more squeamish the Soska’s have actually resisted the urge to throw the film into full blown splatter, for while there is some surgical gore it largely kept to a minimum while during a particularly heavy moment, the camera actually pans away, as if disgusted by what is happening on screen. While this might seem like all tease and no pay off, it is actually the opposite as never do you feel like you have been cheated out of seeing anything, while one of Mary’s pet projects brought back memories of Takashi Miike’s “Audition” though how intentional this nod was is hard to tell, especially when the Soska are working with such an original voice, even more so when they avoid the usual pitfalls of setting a film within the body modification community, by not mining it for easy shocks or turning it into the usual willy waving contest of being more fucked up than everyone else, as usually tends to be the case as even a casual glance through a copy of “Bizarre Magazine” will only further highlight.

While “Dead Hooker In A Trunk” might have been an exciting debut, this film truly marks the Soska sisters out as a talent to watch, especially when they bring such an original voice to the horror genre as they prove once more here, with this delightfully dark and twisted tale of personal beauty and surgical perfection.