Her Smell

I kind of liked this movie. The realistic footage and acting were compelling. But ultimately there is just not enough interesting material to sustain such a long movie. What was the director/producer thinking? The same story, the same vibe, the same message, etc. could have easily been told as a 1:30 or 1:40 moved -- a good 40 minuted of filler less. At some point I just got bored, which is a shame as there was a good movie (still nothing amazing, but a 6.5 I want to say) in here somewhere. In the end it rates as just average.

A psychedelic description of a decadent female punk singer. Alcohol, drugs, oversized egos, squabbles as childish as insignificant ... and tutti quanti! Talent? We are still looking for it. With an omnipresent and disturbing music, the atmosphere is excessively dark, punk and degenerate. An absolute nightmare!

Small confidence: I preferred leaving the air-conditioned movie theater and joining the suffocating heat wave rather than endure this irritating film, even if Elisabeth Moss is absolutley astonishing. If I like to listen to this or that album, the more-or-less-private life of the artists disinterest me to the highest point. Therefore, in my humble opinion, this movie is a complete nuisance and almost pointless.

I saw one Internet review of "Her Smell" that said the real movie begins at 1:20, and I found that to be absolutely correct. The question is whether or not you can make it that far without giving up on the repulsive mess that is this movie for the first hour and twenty minutes.

That's an awful long time to ask us to spend with a character as abhorrent as the one created by Elisabeth Moss, a troubled rock star who you want to see get run over by a truck within the first five minutes of the movie. Seriously, "troubled" does not even begin to describe the creation concocted by Moss and her director. She's pitched at such an insane level that you wonder how she manages to cross a street by herself, let alone function as the lead singer of a band. The film is one sustained note of frenzy that practically dares you to stick with it, as if it doesn't really want to be watched in the first place. I did stick with it because I was promised that it turned into something different, which it does. It's quieter, and there's more character development. There are moments in the latter half of the movie where I found myself moderately engaged. But overall the payoff was not worth the assault of the film's first half.

There is one moment in the film that made me unequivocally glad I stuck with it, and that is when Moss sings a sweet version of "Heaven" to her daughter while sitting at a piano. But it would be stretching it to say the film is worth sitting through for that. Just watch that scene on YouTube and forget the rest.

Grade: C-

As much I like Moss, I just did not believe her here; she came off as a spoiled, crazed child with no discernible talent, and I could not buy all the sweet, civilized, polite punk rockers in thrall.

I think the problem with this film is less with miscasting and more with the script, or lack thereof, as this could have been an incisive depiction of a musical genius, but instead is just a series of clips tied together without any real music, characters or plot.

This movie could be compelling if you could hear the dialogue. Not sure why the background sound is louder than the dialog, but it essentially makes it hard to follow. In one scene you hear the leaking water more than anything else. I wanted to like this movie more.