tritisan

After Blue (Dirty Paradise) has been described as the best lesbian acid Western ever made. This is unquestionably true.

Most folks expect films to make sense and follow certain conventions. This one does not. It defies most categories---expect maybe "art house".

Watch it after consuming your substance of choice before entering this realm.

Watch it while making love to someone you may or may not love.

DON'T THINK ABOUT IT. Just relax and let the miasma wash over you.

And most of all, keep asking yourself, "Have I killed Kate Bush yet?"

Being trapped and afraid for my life would be the only reason I would ever watch a flick like this piece of stank. And as a matter of fact, a bus trip in Thailand recently provided the perfect opportunity. Even though it was dubbed in Thai, with no subtitles, I could quickly tell that this was going to be a very special kind of torture. I tried to stare out the window at the rather dull landscape between Bangkok and Rayong, but my eyes kept wandering back to the travesty playing out on the screen a few seats ahead.

One thing that really impressed me was the filmmaker's (ahem) efficient use of "action" shots that basically involved driving back and forth over the same stretch of road and randomly driving black SUVs off the shoulder for no apparent reason. Intercut this with the "mother" and "daughter" (who couldn't be more than 5 years apart in age) sighing and looking somewhat worried. Then splice in stock footage of NASA building. Then a close up on the lead "actor" who honestly really only could afford one single expression (it must have been written into his contract): intensely trying to remember something. Repeat. Oh, and spice things up now and then with some CGI that would have looked great in the '80s.

There you have it.

I had the great good pleasure of experiencing the full force of Black Dynamite at a midnight showing (at the Castro...one of The Last Great Movie Palaces). I had high expectations going in (based on the YouTube trailer). They were met, exceeded, and blown the F away. I don't remember betting a gut busted so hard in ages.

BD is an absolutely perfect movie. It somehow manages to be a parody and the thing that it is parodying at the same time. You are watching this alternate universe (a fantasy of the 70s, filtered through the lens of Blaxploitation) and the characters are REAL and they believe in the fantasy. But you are also constantly reminded that you are watching a FILM, an intentionally bad one at that. All the things professional filmmakers try to avoid, they do on purpose: Boom mike hitting actor's head, obvious continuity errors, reusing the same shot to save money (exploding car flying off cliff), replacing a stunt actor in mid-sequence... The effect is delightful and hilarious.

Kudos to the crew and actors for really "getting it" and going for it. (I think the only movie I've seen recently where the actors were having so much fun was Tropic Thunder.)

Oh, and the soundtrack; Man, I need to get me some of dat.