Oh man. I rented this Friday night, thinking I had gotten my mitts on Supervixens. Next time, I'll look better, let me tell you that. Okay, so Russ Meyer tries to tell the story of an island ruled by some blonde psycho-nympho-bitch with sadistic tendencies. Helping her keep the local brothers down and enslaved are
some irish drunk and some faggy french black guy and his troops. Some dude who's brother disappeared on the island decides to investigate undercover while a young slave tries to get his fellow brothers to rise against the tyranny of the white man (in this case, woman). Fight the power, stick it to the man, bro. So there's your story. Just like in Faster Pussycat... DIE! DIE! you get the feeling that Russ Meyer is trying to get some sort of social commentary across, sadly, the overall quality of the movie pretty much nullifies any impact the movie could've had. Again, the copy I had gotten my hands on was a tired old VHS which had obviously seen too much use, resulting in awful audio/video quality. No matter if the characters were speaking french or english, most of the time I just couldn't make out exactly what they were saying. It was still a fun and silly ride, but if it had gotten it's objectives straight, it would've been much better. Being There tells the story of Chance, a man who has spent what seems like his entire life inside an old man's house, where all of was doing was taking care of the garden, listening to the radio (eventually TV) and satisfying his vital needs, resulting in a man who's socially inept and who never developed an adult mind. When the old man who owned the house dies, Chance is forced to take his belongings (a remote control, an umbrella and some tailored clothes who previously were the property of the old man) and himself in the outside world for the first time of his life (in perhaps what is the movie's best sequence). After being hit by a rich woman's limousine, he agrees to be taken to the woman's mansion, where he is to be treated by her husband's private doctor. From that point forward, Chance, who is mistakingly called Chancey Gardener by everyone, will climb the ladder of society due to his blank personality and his knowledge of gardening, which is misinterpreted by the dying husband, the president, the media and eventually the whole nation as profound observations of the economy. Being There is, at heart, a subtle satire, and this is when it works best. When Chance, aptly played by Peter Sellers, throws his random, near-moronic answers to complex economical questions, you can't help but laugh as the supposedly intelligent characters try to elude his empty opinions and reinterpret them to match the way they think themselves. The innocence displayed by Chance is also sometimes the cause of our amusement, such as his utterance of his most repeated lines "I understand" (as he is clearly oblivious as to what is discussed) and "I like to watch" and other vague statements. Most of the movie's strongest comedic moment are caused by the reaction of his environment to his innocent nature. Because Chance is a blank man because of his very limited or nonexistant knowledge of just about anything outside of gardening, he is a mirror most characters surrounding him will use to project their own ideals and desires. The banquet sequence, during which Chance interacts with a plethora of characters, is one of the most obvious of these. At the end of the night, he is perceived as someone who speaks 8 languages and who's also a neuro-surgeon (or something similar). Not to mention what some will make of his sexuality, which is in reality, completely void. The movie also boasts some powerful and well-made imagery and the score, which is for the most part underplayed, is still an integral part of the movie, which otherwise relies heavily on dialogues and performances. A particularly suggestive image is shown during the last scene, when Chance is displayed as a Christ figure, overbearing with symbolism. Overall, I'd say that Being There is a very good movie that comes very close to being a truly great movie. It's a bit hard to believe that anyone would take Chance seriously i.e. during the banquet scene, Chance is left alone with a russian couple, which, due to coincidence, believe him to speak russian. The scene cuts and later we see people talking about Chance, saying that he can speaks eight languages, which seems to be quite a stretch. The whole movie feels this way, and the constant disbelief it generates prevents it from creating a realistic universe, in which the objectives of the movie would have been far more enjoyable. I am still very pleased with it though, and will likely check out Hal Ashby's other movies as soon as possible. The problem with Scanners is that it's almost the complete opposite of The Brood. All the good ideas that could've come out of the initial premise (gory telepathy) are somewhat lost in unnecessary plot and character development and special effects which feel like they're in the movie simply because the project had somewhat of a proper budget. Beside the introduction of Michael Ironside's character and the final duel, there isn't much worth watching for anyone expecting Cronenberg's usual display of his favorite theme, the relation between flesh and mind. In fact, the best way to describe this movie is by calling it Cronenberg-Lite or Finally, a Cronenberg flick for the whole family. Well, sort of. Still, as his, the story is watchable, the acting is good enough and, as I said, there are two scenes that are absolutely worth watching.
September 27, 2004
