Maldoror-2

This entry in the long, strange directorial career of Fassbinder protege Ulli Lommel tells of the on-again, off-again romance of French TV interviewer Nada (Carole Bouquet) and upcoming rock singer Billy (Richard Hell) with a minimum (not quite nada) of things actually happening. Billy and Nada split up and re-form as often as Albert Brooks and Kathryn Harrold in MODERN ROMANCE, although that was supposed to be a comedy. Nada in the meantime takes up with a journalist played by Lommel himself, who, in scene after scene, tries to land an interview with Andy Warhol and gets turned down. Then Andy finally agrees-- score one for the virtue of persistence. Billy's own side-romance is with Lizzy, a punk filmmaker played by Lommel's wife Suzanna Love.

Hell has spoken of how self-conscious he felt acting in this film, and he does have a deer-in-the-headlights look in more than a couple scenes. Billy's songs and band (the Voidoids) are those of Hell himself, and we hear the same few Voidoids songs over and over. Even the greatest pieces of music require a break every once in awhile, but not for Lommel.

BLANK GENERATION (not to be confused with the earlier documentary THE BLANK GENERATION, which covered the same New York punk scene as this work of fiction) apparently was written and shot on the fly, giving it a slapdash aesthetic that parallels that of the New York No Wave underground film scene of the time. The real interest, like that of the documentary, is its glimpse of New York at the time of the inception of its history-making punk rock scene, centered at the famous CBGB bar in the run-down East Village of Manhattan. We get to see not only the interior and the entrance of the bar, but what was next to and across the street from it at the time as well!

But sadly, that's all BLANK GENERATION has going for it-- the cultural-history aspect. Lommel's horror films of this time-- THE BOOGEY MAN, THE DEVONSVILLE TERROR-- were fun in and of themselves, but if you're not a fan of Hell and early punk rock, there's little reason to watch this one.

THE WATERMELON is a small-budgeted comedy-drama full of characters who range from flaky to downright insane. Our hero, Achilles, is stewing at home in clouds of pot smoke following a nasty divorce. His estranged stepfather dies and leaves him a trailer that his step-sister had painted like a watermelon. The presence of the colorful trailer next to his house draws a succession of oddballs into his life, most consequentially a homeless woman fleeing her own bad relationship, and the step-sister returning to reclaim her handiwork.

The only produced screenplay by the late San Diego-based experimental fiction writer Michael Hemmingson, THE WATERMELON keeps the viewer involved, waiting to see what strange things the strange personalities will do next. (Hemmingson claims in the DVD commentary that some of the characters and even some of the events were directly inspired by real life.) The use of ancient Greek names for the dramatis personae was apparently just for the hell of it; there's not much in the way of mythical resonances in the story. The generally unknown (to most of us) performers bring a blank-slate quality to the film, and they're good enough one wonders why there aren't seen more frequently in film and television nowadays.(Hemmingson's credited cameo as "Waiter" apparently is on the cutting-room floor.)

The comedy is of the sort that provokes constant smiles rather than continual guffawing-- not quite Bill Forsyth-level, but almost. If you have a taste for that sort of humor, track this one down and check it out.

THE FIRST MAN spends much time spinning its wheels, with a plot vaguely hinted at occasionally: humanoid extraterrestrials have crashed to Earth, and government agents are hunting some down while keeping another in a lab to study. Apparently the lab specimen is so handsome that he has irresistible power over human females (in real life, it's usually the human males who misplace their rationality when an attractive member of the opposite sex walks in.)

A lot of the time we viewers are just hanging around with the characters; in the lab, roaming around Los Angeles, at the breakfast table, and, in a climactic sequence, at a Halloween party. The civilian characters include a just pre-stardom Heather Graham as a newlywed; in one scene she tells a joke that would get her "canceled" these days. Other recognizable faces (given the film's microbudget look, perhaps all of the money went to hiring them) include Roxana Zal and Lesley Ann Warren.

The arty, oblique fashion in which the minimal story gets adumbrated (with blackouts in between scenes a la STRANGER THAN PARADISE) leads me to wonder if the art-film approach was planned from the beginning, or eventually adopted as an expedient due to the lack of budget for special effects. Thematically, writer/director Danny Kuchuck obviously has the old Philip K. Dick theme of "How can one tell what is really human?" (as in "Impostor" and DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?) in mind, but does nothing with the idea.

Bottom line: I can see why this was just included as a Blu-Ray extra (on the Vinegar Syndrome BLUE VENGEANCE disc) and not given its own release. On the plus side, suburban LA looks pretty.