Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Polyester

Polyester (1981)

Runtime: 86 minutes

Directed by: John Waters

Starring: Divine, Edith Massey, David Samson, Tab Hunter, Mary Garlington, Ken King

From: New Line Cinema

Unfortunately, not experienced with any Odorama cards. Truth be told, the only John Waters movie I had ever experienced before last night was Serial Mom, almost 30 years ago. That seemed weird to me as an unaware teenager. Through the passage of time, I’ve learned that his more mainstream pictures would be my style than something like Pink Flamingos that was seemingly designed to be offensive above every other concern. Polyester as a glue-sniffing version of a Douglas Sirk melodrama (complete w/ colorful aesthetic) was more my style. The Odorama gimmick that was used in cinemas as a William Castle-esque gimmick was delightful, especially with what was most of those scents.

Well, the movie was quite gauche, over the top in all aspects. Divine played Francine, a woman in Baltimore w/ a stellar sense of smell who lived in a colorful house in a nice suburban neighborhood… but she is surrounded by an onslaught of nastiness. Her husband is an abusive slob who proudly owns an X-rated theater, her mother is a gross leach who constantly belittles her, the daughter is “loose” and the son uses angel dust while having a foot fetish! Francine is really put through the wringer, which for me became a bit much at times. So was everybody’s acting style set to “maximum.”

That duly noted, this was still a pretty good time and provided a decent amount of laughs. It of course was perverse, full of salacious and shocking material. Yet, it wasn’t to the degree of disgust, driving me away. The antediluvian aesthetic and cinematography did mirror the Sirk melodramas of the 50’s. The score/soundtrack was also retro and what a mix of talent involved: members of Blondie, Michael Kamen (one of his first scores), Tab Hunter sings one of the songs and so does… BILL MURRAY?!

Hunter was fun in his role-which was smaller than expected given his placement in the credits. In the menagerie of Waters regulars, Edith Massey (as Francine’s only friend, Cuddles) had to be the most fascinating; she certainly looked the most fascinating with her short, stout stature and her missing teeth. However, Divine was the most divine with their performance; it was easy to support her despite her admitted alcoholism and occasional obliviousness. While I didn’t love it as much as many seem to, Polyester was still something offbeat I was glad to have finally experienced.

 

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