22 Feb The Machine Girl (2008)
Borrowing
There’s something disturbing about American filmmakers going to other cultures to borrow porn tropes. ‘Kill Bill‘ just never seemed right, like a traditional Jewish grandmother making Tacos for her goyim daughter-in-law‘s brownie troop because she thought that’s what it was all about.
Today, when we watch influential French new wave films, we laugh when we see that much of what they thought movies were about was poses of actors that had become cultural tokens. We see how shallow that vocabulary is for all its power. That is why, if I want to experience pure trash for whatever reason, it needs to be genuine trash. That’s what this is. It is empty and offensively trivial but at least it is pure, genuine.
That gives us as viewers something to build a story upon, because it exists and is popular. Kids, panties, coy girls turned terrifying ninjas. Injury always as explosive demonstration. Parents as swirling misdirected forces. You can get something from this because it is situated in its source. Seeing a fecund Rose McGowan with a machine gun leg killing those looking up her crotch, is fundamentally different from the frail, barely pubescent sister with the machine gun arm.
Posted in 2011
Ted’s Evaluation — 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
No Comments