Hey folks, Harry here... If you've ever wondered who gave a FUCK, Annette Kellerman's your woman! Our perky peppy drop dead gorgeous she-spy was dipping a toe and even a camel toe into the festival on day one seeing FUCK, PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION and THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED. She rules. Let her rule you!
Hey everyone! It's Annette Kellerman here again with my annual batch of
SXSW Film Festival reviews. The fest got off to a great start for me with
a feature documentary called FUCK.
FUCK
I SO love that my first review for this year's festival is for a film called
FUCK. Fuck is my favorite expletive. Actually, doesn't it seem as though
the word fits any pretense in which it is uttered? It can be a interjection
(fuck!), a verb (go fuck yourself), an adjective (fucking idiot). I mean,
with some creatively placed prefixes and suffixes, fuck can be used to create
entire sentences...I'm sure the talkbackers will have no problem taking
it from here. In the film FUCK, director Steve Anderson attempts to address
the history, age old questions, and taboos surrounding everyone's favorite
naughty word. In classic documentary style, Anderson combines film and
TV (HBO) clips with talking head celebrity interviews--however, in a spin
on the traditional format, "chapters" are divided by hilarious animation
from Bill Plympton, talking heads include everyone from Ron Jeremy to Pat
Boone, and everyone is saying fuck over and over again. (okay, not Pat
Boone, but you get the idea) It's great!
Starting with "man on the street" type interviews, the film begins with
the history of the word, and its seems everyone has their own version of
its origin. Fornicating Under Consent of the King, For Unlawful Carnal
Knowledge, and just about any other acronym you can imagine is mentioned.
Though the true origin of the word is questionable, the entertainment is
in the speculation.
As the film progresses, the celebrity interviews juxtaposed with film clips
featuring the F bomb actually inform as they amuse. Who knew that NWA's
"Fuck The Police" was the first work of art to ever incite FBI interest
and a subsequent "dissaproval" letter. If only they had footage of Eazy-E
reading that letter! I also learned that MASH was the first major motion
picture to utilize the word in the line, "Your fucking head is coming right
off!" (I knew Altman earned that honorary Oscar!) Did you know that fuck
has been said 861 times on Deadwood so far?
Aside from fun facts, the film also touches on the presidential use of the
expletive in several quotes and recordings of JFK, Nixon, and even our current
commander in chief who offered one of my newest favorite phrases, "If you're
gonna fuck me, you gotta kiss me first." The doc eventually turns to the
real issues at hand- censorship by the FCC and MPAA and how it affects our
right to free speech.
Overall, FUCK was a great documentary- fun and informative without taking
itself too seriously. If you get the chance, you should definitely fucking
check it out!
Next on my list tonight was
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION
Brought to us by the acclaimed director who gave us the first F bomb in
film (you know I couldn't resist). Now, I'm not really a fan of the radio
show at all. I consider myself somewhat of an NPR geek, and I can tolerate
loads of snore-worthy public programming, but something about Garrison Keillor's
voice just turns me into a zombie. Nevertheless, I was curious to see Altman
bring the show to life on the big screen. It's still A Prairie Home Companion
only with Altman-esque behind the scenes banter and mishaps. To me the
best parts of the film were the ones that seemed most improvised. Lily
Tomlin and Meryl Streep completely own in that department. Out of the "skits"
performed onstage, John C. Reilly and Woody Harrellson totally steal the
show with their song "Bad Jokes."
All in all, I just wasn't overjoyed with the film, and Garrison Keillor's
voice is only slightly less boring when synched with his visage. If you're
a fan of the radio series, you'll probably love the film. Or if you are
a die hard Altman fan, it will still appeal to you in that rambling, no
plot sort of way. But if you're going to see it to check out Lindsay Lohan
in her first attempt at a movie with actual cred, you'd be better off renting
Mean Girls again.
My last film for tonight was
THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED
Directed by Kirby Dick, this feature documentary literally investigates
(the director actually hires a PI) members of the MPAA voting board while
posing important questions about the validity and neccessity of such a seemingly
arbitrary system for its ratings. I know that Harry and Quint are gonna
go off on this one, so I'm going to spare my soapbox rant, but it you've
ever wondered about the MPAA and its criteria for rating films, this doc
is an absoute must see. It made an excellent double feature with FUCK-
I got to see puppet sex from TEAM AMERICA twice, and I also got to see two
great Kevin Smith rants. (does he wear the same jersey for every interview?)
So that's my first night at SXSW! Expect more from me in the coming days.
Annette
