08-19-2020, 10:42 AM
The movie opens with the message: "THIS FILM SHOULD BE PLAYED LOUD."
Sound advice.
Artist Reno Miller (played by Jimmy Laine [actually Abel Ferrara himself]) struggles to complete a large oil painting, hampered by mounting bills and threats of eviction, and not at all helped by two mooching female roommates. Things come to a head when The Roosters, a No Wave band, moves in next door and begins practicing day and night.
Reno starts hallucinating about a blood-spattered alter ego armed with an electric drill (with power pack [these seem to have just been coming to market]), and soon the derelicts in the area start dying horrible deaths.
This is a noisy, jerky mess of a movie, generally considered Ferrara's first. Still, it has a raw power about it, especially in the middle when all the parts start working. The Roosters really worked for me, which is surprising, because they're a fake band. Still, they captured the look and feel, and noise, of No Wave. Not that I'm an expert on that short-lived movement. In fact, I didn't know it was a thing until looking it up afterward. Intriguingly, the lead guitarist/singer of this fake band is actually an artist and did the oil paintings attributed to Reno.
Anyway, this borders on a guilty pleasure for me.
Ferrara directed Bad Lieutenant (with Keitel). He's also done other notables: Ms. 45, King of New York, Dangerous Game, New Rose Hotel, Body Snatchers. And Pasolini, which I recently saw. Still, Abel Ferrara gets confused in my mind with Italian director Marco Ferreri, who has an impressive ouvre in his own right (Dillinger Is Dead, La Grande Bouffe, Don't Touch the White Woman!, Tales of Ordinary Madness, etc.).
I'm thinking that Ferrara and Ferrreri should be collapsed into a single director. The question is what to call him. After a lot of careful thought, I've settled on the best possible compromise.
Melville.
Sound advice.
Artist Reno Miller (played by Jimmy Laine [actually Abel Ferrara himself]) struggles to complete a large oil painting, hampered by mounting bills and threats of eviction, and not at all helped by two mooching female roommates. Things come to a head when The Roosters, a No Wave band, moves in next door and begins practicing day and night.
Reno starts hallucinating about a blood-spattered alter ego armed with an electric drill (with power pack [these seem to have just been coming to market]), and soon the derelicts in the area start dying horrible deaths.
This is a noisy, jerky mess of a movie, generally considered Ferrara's first. Still, it has a raw power about it, especially in the middle when all the parts start working. The Roosters really worked for me, which is surprising, because they're a fake band. Still, they captured the look and feel, and noise, of No Wave. Not that I'm an expert on that short-lived movement. In fact, I didn't know it was a thing until looking it up afterward. Intriguingly, the lead guitarist/singer of this fake band is actually an artist and did the oil paintings attributed to Reno.
Anyway, this borders on a guilty pleasure for me.
Ferrara directed Bad Lieutenant (with Keitel). He's also done other notables: Ms. 45, King of New York, Dangerous Game, New Rose Hotel, Body Snatchers. And Pasolini, which I recently saw. Still, Abel Ferrara gets confused in my mind with Italian director Marco Ferreri, who has an impressive ouvre in his own right (Dillinger Is Dead, La Grande Bouffe, Don't Touch the White Woman!, Tales of Ordinary Madness, etc.).
I'm thinking that Ferrara and Ferrreri should be collapsed into a single director. The question is what to call him. After a lot of careful thought, I've settled on the best possible compromise.
Melville.