Hey folks, Harry here... Flesh Gordon is a long time AICN spy - from back in the day... the golden years of 97,98, 99... before we sold out and became shills for the movies we'd love anyways. The boy popped out of retirement to see a couple of movies of his primary interest. BONDAGE and THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE. In the real world... Flesh would seem like a mild mannered suburbanite, but inside his domicile... all those hanging plants off hooks hide a darker lifestyle... Flesh's lifestyle. Here he is to illuminate for you...
Flesh Gordon here. I had the pleasure of attending a fine double feature at the Alamo Downtown as part of the ongoing SXSW Film Festival. My first film was BONDAGE. The second was THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE. Coincidentally, these are two movies that deal with characters being tied up…one literally, and one who just pretends in front of the camera. I really enjoyed them both.
I took a chance and went to see BONDAGE, a movie about a troubled teen being punished the hard way for his misdemeanors. This is normally a narrative concept that I would not have been drawn to, but the feature starred Michael Angarano, a young actor whose work I have recently enjoyed in both THE LORDS OF DOG TOWN and SKY HIGH. Angarano plays Charlie, a disturbed teen that enters the Orange County juvenile detention system after a night of vandalism. I am not usually a big fan of “prison movies”, but I sympathized with the character of Charlie. As a suburban white boy myself, I could easily identify with how ill-equipped I would be if surrounded by individuals who’d committed far greater crimes or uncaring prison administrators. Angarano’s authentic performance made me care about Charlie traversing the pitfalls of life on the inside.
Through intermittent flashbacks, we see that Charlie never really had a chance to begin with. He was adopted by two people who should have never been allowed to become parents. Illeana Douglas is great as the high-strung clueless mother. I know that the film sounds pretty downbeat, but there are humorous moments that carry you through. Michael Angarano is an actor I suspect has a great career in front of him. The gamble that I took when I chose to see this film paid off.
THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE is a terrific film, a biopic that I enjoyed every bit as much as RAY and WALK THE LINE, perhaps even more. All three are stories about people from the South being hit hard by life, but then going on to achieve some level of greatness. Bettie Page’s story is one not as familiar to most of us as either that of Ray Charles or Johnny Cash, but it is a fascinating portrait of a young woman finding an untraditional way of making it in the world of the 50’s that already had traditional roles picked out for women.
First of all, Gretchen Mol is fantastic. Up until now, I was lukewarm about her career, but she really put a memorable character up on the screen. She is beautiful and totally believable as a sex symbol, but the most amazing thing about Mol’s Bettie is that she is so well played, being both simultaneously naive and worldly. This duality of her nature propels the narrative of the film. When she decides to become a model for photo magazines, her attraction to the glitz and glamour is understandable. When she starts to pose nude, and in scenes of bondage, her genuine innocence and optimism make you believe that she could live with this questionable choice. The fact that she participated in the porn industry, let alone the fetish aspect of it, resonates even in today’s world where people are still quick to judge and condemn.
I think that the mixture of innocence and sex appeal were ingredients that made the real Bettie Page so popular. I know this for a fact because in the late eighties I used to work in a comic store that would special order collections of Bettie Page photos for numerous customers. I asked them why, decades later, she was still the woman of some men’s dreams. They would tell me that Bettie Page was the best at being the naughty-but-nice girl next door. The still pictures of Mol in the movie made me believe this to be true.
The supporting cast of the film is also quite good, with a particularly fun role being filled by Lili Taylor. In addition to great acting, THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE is one of the best looking films I have seen in a while. The look of black and white film stock is beautiful, like ED WOOD beautiful. The simulated Technicolor of whenever Bettie is in Miami is luscious. Director Mary Harron also keeps the film moving. We don’t have to wait long to see how the tragedy of her past influences Bettie’s controversial choices. See this film when it comes out in April.
The Sex Ray Is On Again!
Flesh out!
