by Miné Salkin | Feb 4, 2009 | film stripped
This Tuesday, Kevin Smith‘s latest film Zack and Miri Make a Porno will come to DVD.
It’s a film about lifelong platonic friends who are broke, disillusioned with their dead-end jobs, and cohabitate in financial squalor. Much like the global financial crisis they need to come up with a “stimulus package” and thus decide to film a pornographic movie so they can have their heat, hot water and electricity again.
Instead, they find the greatest electricity of all as they fall madly in love during the production.
It begins by showing the camaraderie of best friends—Zack Brown (Seth Rogen) and Miriam Linky (Elizabeth Banks) are roommates who are just starting their day in frosty Pittsburgh. Miri’s in the kitchen making coffee when camera pans out for us to see a mass of unpaid bills, dirty dishes and the sad crumbs of deep-seated depression.
The pair gets their great idea at their ten-year high school reunion from porn star celebrity, who boasts that the gay porn industry brings him nearly $100,000 USD a year for the production and distribution of his films.
While Zack and Miri may be able to drag themselves out of their financial skids, the profitability of the porn industry is not what it initially claimed to be. A year ago, Newsweek wrote that the size and value of the business was always unclear, which isn’t surprising for an industry that depends on enlarging its appearance. In 2001, Forbes reported that the “Business of Smut” was valued at $2.6 billion to $3.9 billion annually, which isn’t even close to the Forrester Research that estimated $10 billion.
Zack and Miri discover lust first, love second
The film touches on this a little bit, and has all of the traditionally crude jabs and jokes that porn incites. It even stars former Penthouse model Traci Lords, whose audition involves blowing soap bubbles out of her vagina. “It’s a little something I picked up doing bachelor parties,” she says chewing bright pink bubble gum.
Overall, the film shows how the illusion of pornography hides other meanings. In the financial world, it has the semblance of being more profitable than it actually is, but that is because porn is far more mainstream than people think it is. For Zack and Miri, the illusion of making a pornographic film together brings out deeper feelings for each other that they were previously unaware of.
Miri: So… what about me? How do I look?
Zack: I mean, you look beautiful – you always look… so beautiful, so I guess it’s not a big deal. But you… you look amazing.
Miri: [grabbing his hand lovingly, then quickly beginning to swing it back and forth] Okay! Let’s go make a porno!
For those who don’t know, Smith has a substantial roster of subversive films. His 1997 flick Chasing Amy starred Joey Lauren Adams, a comic book illustrator whom Ben Affleck falls madly in love with, only to learn that she is a lesbian.
His style has been likened to Judd Apatow’s, the director who brought similar off-beat, crude comedies such as The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Superbad.
While Zack and Miri largely depended on perverted humour and awkwardly graphic sex scenes, it was surprisingly heartwarming.
by Miné Salkin | Jan 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
Vancouver city council received many anti-Olympic sentiments from the Olympic Resistance Network (ORN) at a meeting this morning at City Hall, finalizing in revisions to Appendix A which prohibited non-regulated signage.
The criticism came largely from the debates regarding the proposed by-law changes concerning the restrictions on signs, and financial issues stemming from the construction of the Olympic Village.
Many questions were put forth to the council, who were asked if proper cost-benefit analysis of the 2010 games had been actualized, in addition to the issue of Charter amendments regarding the by-law signage.
Censorship Is…
Two days ago, the council had a meeting and produced a report that approved of the proposed Vancouver Charter amendments regarding the signage by-law. The report stipulated that “new powers” be produced to remove graffiti, street vendor signs, and other kinds of street advertising that is not regulated by VANOC or other Vancouver Olympic-oriented committees.
ORN spokesperson Chris Shaw denounced this amendment as the “illegal signage” of the by-laws, and a challenge to civil liberties.
The by-law prohibits all non-regulated signage
Amidst a list of controversial items were “Regulation of street performing and entertaining,” and “Removal of graffiti from property,” which infringe on individual liberties such as painting murals on one’s property, or the craft of street performance.
Both of these items were removed from the appendix this morning.
Another change that was contested was that there was no clear articulation of who would enforce these changes, such as the practice of removing “illegal signage” from public and private property. Director of the Olympic and Paralympic Operations Paul Henderson stated that these definitions were deliberately left “vague.”
“Identifying the issue is the language of the province, and that language will be specifically defined by the province,” said Henderson.
Where’s the money?
Earlier this month, city councilors passed a motion asking the provincial government to change the charter so that the city could borrow more money to complete the construction of the village.
Fortress Investment Inc. and Millennium Development have suffered cost overruns, and the current real estate market decline has not allowed them to continue funding the construction of the 1,100 housing units. The city of Vancouver has been paying to keep up with the construction, but their funds are expected to run out sometime in February.
Mullins talks to city council
Councillor Ellen Woods asked what would happen if the village wasn’t completed on time.
Ken Bayne, General Manager of Business Planning and Services, replied that it would be a $30 million penalty and a loss of affordable housing.
Anti-Olympics activist Garth Mullins insisted that “not enough notice” has been given to Vancouverites over the terms of housing at Whistler Village, and that the entire 2010 operation’s interests are tied to VANOC rather than the public.
The ORN stresses a one-third strategy to Olympic housing: a third affordable housing, a third low-end housing, and a third at market value.
“When the Olympics are over, I don’t want Vancouver to be left with a bunch of yuppie condos,” Mullins said.
Councilor David Cadman had a similar reaction to the dual vagueness and financial uncertainty of the Olympic project. “Are we going to have by-laws enforced by corporate interests?” he asked council.
by Miné Salkin | Jan 19, 2009 | film stripped
“It’s true! Vagina dentata! Vagina dentata! Vagina dentata!”
Someone on the bus the other day was talking very loudly about a film where the main character had teeth in her vagina. Intrigued, I later discovered on an IMDB search that he was referencing Mitchell Lichtenstein‘s (son of Pop-Artist Roy) 2007 film Teeth. After watching the disturbing movie, it had an interesting effect of combing classic mythology with the modern woman becoming empowered by self-acceptance.
It blurs the lines between the power of female revenge, the idea of women as objects of violence, retribution, and the age-old phenomenon of gynophobia. Toting the tag line that “Every rose has its thorns,” Lichtenstein shows how women can be very scary things indeed.
The story is centered around Dawn O’Keefe (Jess Weixler), who is going through the normal growing pains of adolescence. Like her name represents the promise of a new day, Dawn remains abstinent despite the increasingly inappropriate sexual encounters she is subjected to by her stepbrother, stepfather, and the brutally intrusive gynecologist. Caught somewhere between a horror and a comedy, the hybrid genre adds a surrealistic tone to the realities of rape in America, and modern misogyny.
Sex changes everything
According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), 60% of sexual assaults in America are not reported to the police. Maybe movies like this will deflate that horrifying statistic, or at least give sexually abused women the power they need to speak out.
The bildungsroman of the film is when Dawn realizes that she has power over the men in her life because she is the potential object for violence. Enshrouded by the veil of “the other” she is able to retaliate because men just don’t understand her, and are too ignorant to ask. Not only that, but she has incisors in her vagina that grind mechanically, involuntarily, at any time that she is penetrated.
As Hélène Cixous wrote in the Laugh of the Medusa (1976), it is the riveting story of two horrifying myths: the Medusa and the abyss. The woman and her mystery. Instead of trying to understand it, men fear it. “The phallologocentric sublation is with us, and it’s militant, regenerating the same old patterns, ” which in this case, is the dogma of castration.
“The toothed vagina appears in the mythology of many and diverse cultures all over the world. In these myths, the story is always the same. The hero must do battle with the woman. The toothed creature can break her power,” Dawn explains.
So it seems like the best thing for a man to do is to try to get to know a girl first. If it’s fear of the unknown, the incalculable, or the general mysterious aura of a woman, it’s a good idea to say “please.”
by Miné Salkin | Jan 15, 2009 | albums
Hailing from Nunavut, Lucie Idlout’s album is full of sweet contradiction. She’s one of those singers who can pull off the most soulful lines while sounding rougher than a train wreck – a sort of midnight Whisky rasp that sounds uniquely feminine too. After a while, this album sounds a lot like late Alice in Chains, because both Idlout and Layne Staley have the voice of a 300-pound trucker despite their deceivingly slender builds.
idlout could beat you to a bloody pulp if she wanted to
When she croons “Drunk last night/ and got into a fight” in the track “My Shine,” it brings to mind a pretty girl with soft hair who’s just much tougher that she appears. Laid with predominantly heavy, distortion-rich guitars, Idlout manages to maintain harmonic integrity despite the harshness of her instrumental entourage.
The album peaks at “Belly Down,” where Idlout tells a commonplace, but compelling story of alienation. Wailing out lines like “She once was a beauty queen/ in a small town world/ she shattered all her dreams/ hanging out with big city girls,” our character becomes a junkie in a gritty industrial grotto.
While Idlout has the technical skill and a fantastic voice, her lyrical integrity leaves much to be desired. Drinking and fighting certainly has its merits, but even in the world of rock and roll those aren’t always enough.
by Miné Salkin | Jan 13, 2009 | film stripped
From the evil, the downtrodden, to the genuinely heart warming, here is a list of five very memorable female acts:
5. Marla Singer, Fight Club (1999). David Fincher casts Helena Bonham-Carter to play the love interest of both Tyler Durden and his alter-ego, jointly played by Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. In a world where Tyler’s insomnia leads him through a self-induced hell, the film shows the spiritual progression from a mundane existence to the rejection of the material life in favour of anarchism. Marla the greasy, filthy, chain-smoking and Xanax-popping woman is the single most stable character in this Fincher reality. I tip my hat to you, madame.
“Marla… the little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it, but you can’t.”
Marla Singer: a dirty girl
4. Aileen Wuorno, Monster (2003). Patti Jenkins’ compelling film about the true story of a Daytona prostitute who became a serial killer. Played by Charlize Theron, this woman seeks revenge against the entirety of the male sex after being brutally raped and beaten. There’s a reason why Theron won the Academy Award for Best Actress in the leading role – the South African actress packed on nearly 40 lbs for the role, and underwent an unrecognizable physical transformation to better fit the part.
3. Morvern Callar, Morvern Callar (2002). Samantha Morton plays the role of Morvern, the cool existentialist whose boyfriend commits suicide on Christmas Eve. She then goes on a vacation with her friend without telling anyone, and the two of them go on an LSD bender and have casual sex with strangers. When her money runs low, Morvern publishes her dead boyfriend’s novel and disappears on a solo voyage. She never sheds a tear, but enjoys the silence of her introspection. Everyone wishes they could be these coping skills. (more…)
