Happiness
Starring: Dylan Baker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lara Flynn Boyle
Directed by: Todd Solondz
A good friend once told me to pick this one up, promising that I would never forget it. Like a fool, I procrastinated and didn’t see this until this past year. What a mistake! Like Requiem for a Dream, Happiness is both extremely well-made and fully deranged. It centers around the lives of three sisters, Joy, Helen, and Trish, who all lead apparently healthy lives. However, beneath the surface lies the dark truth-Joy is single, depressed, and pitied by her family; Helen is jaded by the beautiful men and critical acclaim that successful writing has brought her; and Trish’s squeaky clean suburban family hides a sinister secret. However, it’s the men in these women’s lives that really steal the show. Dylan Baker is riveting as Trish’s husband Bill, a man trying to counsel his adolescent son about sex while he struggles with his own burgeoning desires. Philip Seymour Hoffman is equally great as the insecure Allen, who radiates social ineptitude whenever he’s present. There are so many great scenes in this movie that will either make you squirm with discomfort or nearly bring you to tears.
by Matt Simonton
Requiem for a Dream
Starring: Jared Leto, Marlon Wayans, Jennifer Connelly
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Ever get tired of those chirpy “Just say no” ads? Well, here’s a movie that explores the darker side of addiction, depicting in grim detail the lives of four young people who didn’t say “no.” Director Aronofsky, the young upstart famous for his critically-acclaimed debut Pi, delivers one of the most graphic and intense movies ever made. The story follows four Coney Island residents-Harry Goldfarb (Leto), his girlfriend Marion (Connelly), their best friend Tyrone (Wayans), and Harry’s widowed mother Sara (an excellent Ellen Burstyn). Each succumbs to some form of addiction, whether it’s the heroin of Harry and his friends, or the daytime TV of his lonely mother. Besides making one of the most potent anti-drug statements ever, Requiem is also well-crafted and intelligent. The cinematography is seductive and vivid, and the acting is outstanding. As for the destruction of innocence, nothing can prepare you for the final sequence, a gut-wrenching montage of images that show the harrowing consequences of unchecked addiction. Be sure to get the “Unrated” version for full effect.
Pink Flamingos
Starring: Divine, other uncredited and remarkably revolting people
Directed by: John Waters
My aforementioned friend and I used to hit up the “Cult Following” section of the video store every weekend. This was one of the first movies we came across, and good golly is it nasty. Director Waters, he of the pencil-thin mustache who directed more “normal” movies such as Cry Baby, Hairspray, and Serial Mom, is at his absolute raunchiest here. Where else can you see a 200+ pound, trailer park-living, feces-devouring transvestite battling it out with his/her neighbors for the title of “Filthiest Person in the World?” That is the gist of the plot, and what ensues is one gross-out moment after another. Look! The rival couple inseminate captive females in order to breed babies for lesbian couples! Watch in horror as mother/father Divine and son indulge in perverse acts! Just be plain creeped out! The most disturbing thing about this film, though, is the fact that Waters thought all this stuff up just for the sake of being obscene. One starts to wonder, “Who the hell are these people?” and “Who on earth let them make this movie?” To be truthful, I don’t remember understanding these finer points too well, but I do know that I was either totally transfixed by the filth on my screen or I was forced to look away in disgust.
The Little Mermaid
Starring: The voices of Jodi Benson, Christopher Daniel Barnes
Directed by: Ron Clements and John Musker
So what if this is a Disney movie? Everyone knows this is the most perverse children’s movie ever! Who can forget that conspicuous tower on the front cover? Or that scene where the priest summons up more than just the Holy Spirit? Disney became infamous for slipping sexual innuendoes into their sugarcoated animated classics (see the “sex in the dust” scene from The Lion King and the “all good teenagers take off their clothes” line from Aladdin), and The Little Mermaid takes the cake. Loving parents beware! Like me, your children could come away from this unassuming film scarred for life by perverse images.