Runtime: 81 minutes
Directed by: Abel Ferrara
Starring: Zoe Lund, Albert Sinkys, Editta Sherman, Darlene Stuto, Helen McGara
From: Navaron Films
A movie I finally saw... because someone on a messageboard thought I lived in New York City. That admission was a surprise; it's a place I post at every day and multiple times in the past I've mentioned living in Florida. He actually realized I wasn't an NYC resident when I talked about the oddity of living in a city of less than 40,000 people that has two microbreweries (both of which made competent swill). It's no biggie that he made this error; one explanation is me mentioning on multiple occasions how I dig films set in the “bad” NYC before it was cleaned up in the 90's. Plus, this error finally inspired me to check out something that should have been watched long ago, considering I've checked out a decent number of similar motion pictures, especially the William Lustig Maniac. Heck, I've seen Abel Ferrara's Fear City, which is REALLY skuzzy.
While not as extreme as that, Ms .45 is still a sleazy, trashy gritty tale. A mute woman is sexually assaulted twice on the same day, and the first ten minutes of this film. She kills the second guy in self defense, snaps and uses his .45 caliber gun to kill all the awful men she encounters... not only is every guy an SOB who does multiple things that are now called “problematic” (leering comments, catcalls, groping/touching, and other gross moments), she starts actively hunting out these people as she is obviously haunted/damaged by the whole experience, never receiving a respite from those horrible memories.
It was a bold decision to have a lead character be a mute; as there is on internal monologue either, it requires nonverbal acting and how the other characters treat her to tell the story. Thankfully, Zoe Lund was so captivating and magnetic-not to mention sympathetic due to her handicap-that even though her behavior becomes more and more questionable, it helps carry the movie when the rest of the performances aren't always up to snuff. What a nightmarish world that NYC was portrayed here; it is an awful world-filled with her seamstress co-works that just don't understand, along w/ an annoying neighbor and even more annoying dog-where you can understand why our lead Thana snaps and does what I can only presume (as a cis heterosexual man myself) is behavior that many women WISH they could do.
Also, what a finale at a Halloween party. Besides being able to have some laughs during an otherwise serious motion picture, the costumes include someone as Mr. Met & there's a band playing a simplistic yet still catchy disco tune. Why the movie shows someone playing a trumpet when the sound you actually hear is that of a saxophone I don't quite get, but... it was an interesting soundtrack, at times haunting and others featuring atonal sounds that manage to be appropriate for an exploitation tale that is not as simple or basic as those tended to be. What a shame then that Ms. Lund (who was only 17 when this was filmed) had a BAD drug habit and her life ended in the late 90's due to her vices. She should have done far more in the film world than what we got. On that depressing note...
No comments:
Post a Comment