Cecil
B. DeMented
Rated R
Cinema
21
616 NW
21st Ave., 223-4515
Opens Friday,
Aug. 18
Call for
showtimes.
The name Cecil
B. DeMented was a moniker given to John Waters in a magazine
article.
Veteran Waters
actresses Ricki Lake, Mink Stole and Patricia Hearst all
have supporting roles in Cecil B. DeMented.
All of John Waters'
films have been shot in and around Baltimore.
It wouldn't surprise me if most people thought Cecil
B. DeMented, the latest film from undisputed King of
Camp John Waters, was a bunch of dog doo-doo. Freaks who
claim to be fans of the Baltimore filmmaker can be broken
into two distinct groups. There are the Hairspray Hipsters--those
who discovered Waters during the more mainstream phase of
his career, when he was turning out films like Hairspray,
Cry Baby and Serial Mom. These folks have
no clue that this is the same director who once gave a dog
an enema so a drag queen could eat the poop on film. And
then there are the Trashophiles, die-hard fans who love
him for the outrageously raunchy films that make up the
earlier part of his filmography--Female Trouble,
Pink Flamingos, Desperate Living.
Cecil B. DeMented represents the unholy marriage
of both phases of Waters' career. The result is a subversively
unsettling film riddled with contempt, violence and, coming
from Waters, a surprising lack of humor. It's like John
Waters' own cinematic compost, with a little something for
both camps of his fans but perhaps not enough to satisfy
either. This is the first Waters film that seems destined
to be either completely embraced or wholly rejected by both
factions of fans; it's a new stage in his evolution as a
filmmaker.
Stephen Dorff is the title character, a megalomaniacal
cross between Charles Manson, David Koresh and most NYU
film students. A self-proclaimed "prophet against profit,"
Cecil is an obsessive underground filmmaker who feels that
the art of filmmaking has been corrupted by business and
a lack of concern for quality. Bound and determined to strike
back at the system and bad cinema, Cecil and the Sprocket
Holes--a band of kamikaze guerrilla filmmakers--stage a
daring abduction of Honey Whitlock (Melanie Griffith), an
A-list Hollywood starlet. Cecil's plan is simple: use Honey
as the star of his no-budget film, Raving Beauty,
whether she likes it or not.
Although the film is laced with much of the insanity that
passes for Waters' sense of humor, it is comparatively less
funny than his other recent films. One could argue that
any film that is a thinly veiled retelling of Patty Hearst's
abduction by the SLA, and that actually co-stars Hearst,
is comedic genius--the work of a real-life Cecil B. DeMented
with an appreciation for tastelessness. And the opening
title sequence, a montage of boarded-up dilapidated movie
theaters juxtaposed with multiplexes showing films like
Vertigo: The Remake, is the not-so-subtle type of
satire Waters has perfected. But unfortunately DeMented
is also violent and filled with so much apparent hostility
that most people will miss the jokes and the larger story
being told.
Waters is not only poking fun at the Hollywood system;
he's also sticking it to the pretentious underground filmmakers
who have followed the trail he helped blaze. Many of the
cinematic references, like the names of such maverick directors
as Kenneth Anger, Rainer Fassbinder and Sam Peckinpah tattooed
on Cecil and his gang, will be lost on anyone who is not
a hardcore film geek.
As Honey Whitlock--who, like Patty Hearst, becomes brainwashed
by her abductors and ends up as their sister-in-arms--Griffith
turns in an excellent self-parodying performance. Dorff's
over-the-top performance, however, doesn't quite hit the
mark; he lacks the charisma needed to make Cecil convincing.
Dorff would have done well to study filmmaker Sam Peckinpah
or cult leader Jim Jones, both insane geniuses in their
own rights.
Waters' past work has set a standard of expectation for
Cecil B. DeMented that could potentially keep his
fans from appreciating the film. Fuck 'em if they can't
take the joke. Cecil B. DeMented is a wonderfully
depraved film that may leave many of his fans perplexed
and challenged, but should simultaneously win over a whole
new generation of audiences looking for inspiration and
salvation from the crap that's projected onto theater screens.
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