Maman White Trash

As I write this title, the DVD sleeve for MAMAN LAST CALL comes to my mind. And then, I remember that "last call" refers to the character's biological clock and her desire to procreate, which reminds me of the dud that was HORLOGE BIOLOGIQUE. This is how my mind works. There you go !

I still cannot believe, to this day, that I have wasted 1h30 of my life watching this piece of junk. I should have taken the warning given by QUÉBEC-MONTRÉAL seriously : Riccardo Trogi is really not my cup of tea.

*

Upon learning that Asia Argento was going to direct her first feature, a few years ago, I remember being very excitable. I followed the news, the movie got out, and the first guy to have THE SCARLET DIVA on DVD was my old friend BK, from the south shore. He shared it with us cinemaniacs*, perhaps a little less willingly than we thought at the time, and I got to see it. Boy, was I disappointed. The movie was OK and we got to see more than our share of Asia's multiple tattoos, but it felt as if our expectations had been set way too high.

That's why I wasn't too eager to get my hands on THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS, a movie from 2004 that played the FCMM (or whatever the fuck its constantly morphing acronym is - let's just say Chamberland's festival) the year it was released. I didn't know shit about J.T. Leroy - and I still don't, even if that's about to change - and I only heard echoes of how "trashy" and disturbing it was. Not being a guy that's easily disturbed, I just rolled my eyes and thought : "Whatever !".



And finally, after almost two years of unexplainable silence, THE HEART... was released domestically on DVD some weeks ago. Controversial flicks always benefit from the same treatment : remember how long you had to wait to see Vincent Gallo's THE BROWN BUNNY ? And how fuckin' inconcievably eager we still are to see, I don't know when, Larry Clark's KEN PARK ?

I rented the fucker, of course.

It all starts rather weirdly, as a little kid named Jeremiah is taken away from his foster family and taken back to his mother's (Asia herself) crappy appartment in a white trash neighboorhood of Anytown, USA. He will quickly learn that the existence he's lead before will slowly fade away, washed out by his biological mother's deeply twisted fuckup of a life. She takes him on a roadtrip where everything will become an adventure, where with every new city comes a new guy to fuck, and any job is good enough so that they both survive.



The kid really goes through a lot, and some may even wonder how this film could be made. Remember folks : this is fiction. If actions are suggested onscreen and not acted out, censors have nothing to say.

The movie is deeply entertaining, moving at a vertiginous pace, and always diving further down in an abysm of decadence. There's an all-stars cast at work here : besides Asia, we can watch Peter Fonda, Michael Pitt, Winona Ryder, Marylin Manson, and even Ornella Muti as Asia's mother, for fuck's sake !

And amazed that we are by the level of intensity that goes onscreen, and the faces that carry the story, we end up with not much learned in the end. This is a nice example of a beautifully shot movie telling a story of heartbreak and abuse, revolting and hilarious at the same time, that we end up forgetting after a while. It is extreme, in a way, but extreme in a "politically correct" way. We don't see much of what occurs and the tone is neutral, no emphasis being put on the boy's torment other than a purely visual, almost poetical one.

And the proof is that, even though we get to see Asia in all kinds of unflattering poses, there is never, ever, anybody naked. At some point, she's doing a striptease in a club, and the police break in just as she takes off her top, hiding her breasts with her hands.



Asia's performance may be "fearless", as the DVD sleeve claims, but she usually isn't that shy. So it's not an eroto-addict's complaint that you're reading now, ladies & folks, but rather the foolish ranting of some guy who just discovered why the movie isn't as sordid as it could have been. When the visuals are less audacious than the movie's plot, that's what you get.

*I have to specify, here, that at the time we were the most joyful bunch of movie geeks. We were hangin' on the Club des Monstres message board, constantly "trading" VHS tapes - and then DVD-R's - and meeting up to discuss our most recent celluloid crushes. And you know what ? We still do. Perhaps a little less frequently, though. It is during those years that I have accumulated this impressive collection of VHS tapes, the very same hunted-down flicks that I am so desperately trying to get rid of these days.

*

There's an incredibly big hole right now in Montreal's electro scene, and I'm wondering who dug it.

Not that it shows, but people go out less. Are they out of breath ? Walking around with an empty wallet ? Tired of hearing the same beats everywhere they go ? Weighted down by the insanely humid weather ?

Whatever the reason, partygoers are taking a break, and promoters too, it would seem. Interesting things to do, electro-wise, on Friday & Saturday ? Nope. Do I care ? Nope. Because I think that, honestly, I need a break too.