Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore

A sex-positive feminist punk-rock coming-of-age story. Way lo-fi and very charming. The performances are uneven at times but the script is really funny and rings very true. It's the most unsentimental and realistic portrayal of sexual awakening that I've ever seen. Like a low-budget "Slums of Beverly Hills," only far better.

Finally, an honest portrayal of a slice of life. Something that won't ever come out of Hollywood.

Mary Jane is one of those low budget movies that we are all supposed to love because it's a low budget movie, but that just doesn't fly. This is a film with almost no redeeming qualities. The camera work is bad, the lighting is bad, and most of the actors couldn't act their way out of a paper bag. It even lacks the one thing that sets most indie films apart and costs nothing, a good script. I have no doubts as to why this film is having a hard time getting distributed, and it has nothing to do with the film's controversial content. The fact of the matter is this movie is just plain bad.

While I agree the screenwriting isn't the greatest, for the period in which it was released, it has very progressive views. Very open-minded for the mid 90's, and sadly, even today. It showed same sex relationships, single parenthood, female sexuality, sexual harassment and more without judgment or stereotypical characters in a time where that was taboo and unthinkable.

So I knew nothing of this film or its director Sarah Jacobson coming into this viewing at MoMA, but thought I'd check it out. Many of the criticisms leveled against the film are true. The script is weak, as are most of the technical aspects of it. The characters mostly represent archetypes and much of the dialogue is eye-rolling. However, to this films credit I actually worked in a movie theater and also moved to NYC in my twenties and I distinctly remember people just like these characters in the film also saying equally fatalistic, clueless, nonsensical things. To that I must give some credit where it is due, which leads me to think that it is the direction that lets the film down? Not sure about that but I will say that for as much bad as this film contains I'm happy that I decided to check it out, and while it's clearly not for everyone, it just might be worth it for those still curious.