The Notorious Betty Page – Pretty Betty Without The Sleaze

Article first published as Movie Review The Notorious Betty Page – Pretty Betty Without The Sleaze on Blogcritics.

The Notorious Betty Page is one of those movies that really has all the potential in the world for gratuitous nudity and all around lasciviousness. It would be so easy to go that route that it’s all the more surprising that it doesn’t. We follow the iconic Betty Page (Gretchen Mol) through her adolescence and early marriage in cliff-note style and it’s clear that we are dealing with a young lady who is in possession of a substantial intelligence as well as beauty. She is also surprisingly naïve, despite the hints at child abuse and spousal abuse and the tastefully showed gang rape she is subjected to when she first tries to make it on her own.

Betty wants a career as a model/actress, but finds that there is a more lucrative way of making a living posing in “special clothing” and all the trappings of sado-masochism and fetish ware. At the time having an interest in leather corsets and boots that go all the way to there, was not considered fashionably chic, the way it is today. It was considered aberrant and deviant sexual behaviour to such a degree that it was illegal.

Betty is offered the job by Irving (Chris Bauer) and Paula Klaw (Lili Taylor) and she poses for a good many pictures and even some shorter films that feature fetish ware and various scenes that include spanking and bondage. What strikes me as interesting about this particular movie is that all this is portrayed as dressing up in good fun, kind of light-hearted and not particularly sinister. Things only get sinister when Betty is called to testify at a 1955 hearing investigating the negative effects of pornography on the youth of America. She never actually makes it in to the courtroom, but that certainly means the innocence is gone.

Betty tries to get regular acting jobs as well, but she is too well-known, hence the notorious part, and finds herself drifting in Miami where she ambles in to a church and is saved. That part s a little peculiar, but then, real life often is. Betty puts her modelling days behind her and goes on to work as a Christian missionary, and yes, there’s a joke in there somewhere.

Some of the sensibility of the movie most likely has to do with the fact that it has a female writer/director, as well as a female producer. Most of it, except the scenes that take place in Miami, is shot in black-and-white, which really does something to capture the 1950s feel. Gretchen Mol is a very pretty Betty, and a good look alike, too. One of the things said about Betty Page was that she somehow seemed more dressed when naked and that she always seemed very comfortable when in front of the camera, and that is certainly not an easy feat to pull off. There is something about this kind of attitude to nudity that de-sexualises it, no matter how explicit the scene, ironically.

1950s pornography is surrounded by some kind of nostalgia, clearly, and there’s more than one classic pinup girl pose here that just seems quaint. This Betty Page is very much portrayed as smart, sensitive and playful, very much a real person, which is, again, surprising. There are many instances where things honestly could have gotten much grimmer for Betty, which is not to say that she doesn’t occasionally get herself into trouble. To my mind there is still a very carefully calculated objectivity to the overall feel of the movie which shows that this is not done for sensationalism, but it is not offering any conclusions either.

At the end of the day I am not sure if we are left with a drama, a kind of documentary, a piece of social commentary, a cautionary tale or none of the above. And I am strangely okay with that.

The Notorious Betty Page (2005) directed by Mary Harron stars Gretchen Mol (Betty Page), Chris Bauer (Irving Klaw), Lili Taylor (Paula Klaw), Jared Harris (John Willie), Sarah Paulson (Bunny Yeager), David Strathairn (Estes Kefauver), Norman Reedus (Billy Neal), Cara Seymour (Maxie).

Blue Car – Poetry and Stark Reality

Article first published as Movie Review: Blue Car – Poetry and Stark Reality on Blogcritics.

Blue Car (2002) could easily have been nothing more than a cheesy after school special. The beautiful, but troubled, Megan (Agnes Bruckner) is trying to deal with her parents divorce, her absent mother, Diane (Margaret Colin), handing over the responsibility for her distressed little sister, Lily (Regan Arnold), and all the trials and tribulations of being a teenager. The home life is less than pleasant, and there’s a clear lack of a father figure in Megan’s life. Her mother is clearly bitter about the divorce, and as so often seems to be the case, the children wind up casualties in on the harsh battlefield of the divorce.

Megan’s English teacher, Mr. Auster (David Strathairn) takes an interest in Megan, and specifically in her budding poetic talent. She takes to the attention with all the shy awkwardness of a teenager without a sure mooring. It’s one of those things where you as a viewer, find yourself thinking about the very precarious balance of early adolescence. Mr. Auster actually comes across as a pretty good guy for a while, a father figure by proxy, someone who pays attention to young Megan and listens to her, and offers support and a ride home when she’s missed the bus. Nothing is ever that simple, though.

The adults in this particular narrative all fail Megan. Megan’s mother isn’t negligent, but she is demanding and trying to get by while dealing with her own emotions about the divorce and trying to get a better job to make more money to support her two daughters. Lily, the youngest, is not dealing very well with what is happening, but she seems too young to really be as troubled as she is. Lily cuts herself with scissors, ties herself up when she goes to sleep and finally stops eating, all of this inspired by some hunger strike she has read about. Lily wastes away until she winds up in the hospital and finally jumps out of a window thinking she is an angel so her wings should carry her. This leave Megan with not only the turbulence caused by the divorce, but also the crippling guilt of thinking she could have done something to prevent it.

Through all this, Mr Auster is the only one providing any kind of emotional support for Megan. That is, until the subtle line between admiration and platonic inspiration turns sexual. Megan wins a local poetry contest and is offered the opportunity to compete nationally and she goes, despite her mother being so dead set against the idea that she throws Megan out. Megan has no money to even buy a ticket and she goes to her friend from school who’s brother is just out of prison. The brother quickly spots an innocent he can use in Megan, which he summarily does, enlisting Megan’s help in stealing drugs at a local pharmacy.

After having tricked Megan into stealing, the brother then summarily rips off his entire family and disappears, emptying Megan’s wallet of what little content it actually has.

Despite all this Megan manages to make to Florida, where the contest is held, and she sleeps on the beach waiting for the day of the contest. On the morning of the big event she runs into Mr Auster, his wife (Frances Fisher) and son on the beach. The viewer gets a succinct glimpse into the Auster family dynamic and it’s clearly not all the way healthy.

As if all this wasn’t enough, Mr Auster then proceeds to seduce Megan, bringing her to a cheap motel and taking her to bed. She never says no, despite him asking her several times if she’s okay, but it’s fairly obvious to the viewer that this is not how things were supposed to go.

The thing about this particular story is that Megan is very much a victim of her circumstance and she makes an alarming amount of bad decisions, but she does it in that volatile state of young adolescence where consequence seem hard to predict. You can read Mr Auster as a predator if you like, but there are enough layers in this that you can also see him as a character with murky motives that may-or-may-not be all that clear to himself.

If this had been handled differently, if the actors had not been as skilled as they are at finding the nuisances, it would have amounted to nothing more than lurid cheap thrills and yet another movie about a troubled youth gone astray. Of course it’s annoying that every movie about a young woman coming of age has to have this veneer of victimization, but in a way that seems inevitable. I think Megan holds her own pretty well all things considered. She’s not completely without resources and that makes all the difference.

I recommend this because it isn’t as simple as it first seems and because of the really excellent depth of character portrayed by all actors in this. There’s meat there and not just poetry and that makes it worth watching.

Blue Car (2002) directed by Karen Moncrieff stars Agnes Bruckner (Megan Denning), David Strathairn (Mr. Auster), Magaret Colin (Diane), Frances Fisher (Delia), A.J. Buckley (Pat), Regan Arnold (Lily), Sarah Buehler (Georgia), Dustin Sterling (Rob), Wayne Armstrong (Don) and Michael Joseph Thomas Ward (Dad).

My Blueberry Nights by Wong Kar Wai

Directed by Wong Kar Wai (2007).
Stars Jude Law as Jeremy, Norah Jones as Elizabeth, David Strathairn as Officer Arnie Copeland, Rachel Weisz as Sue Lynne Copeland, Natalie Portman as Leslie the hardcore poker player.

I sometimes forget why I chose a movie. I mean, I am not much for romantic movies in general so I sat through the first couple of minutes of this with my head tilted and my face scrunched up ever so slightly. I thought I could see it all … the tragically predictable way it would play out. I was wrong.

Elizabeth’s boyfriend cheats on her and she takes refuge at a café run by Jeremy. I thought to myself “oh, no”. You know why. Girl meets boy. I won’t even bother running through the rest of the cliché that goes with that.

Thing is just when you think you know what you’re in for this movie does a sharp turn and goes off in another direction. Elizabeth leaves town. She heads out and finds work at a bar at night and a diner during the day. She meets Officer Arnie, a troubled soul who is in the middle of a bad divorce. His wife Sue Lynn has left him.

Again the story in itself is such a cliché that I think I’ve heard that particular country and western song a few too many times.

The reason why all this works has to do with pacing and distance and cinematography. Wong Kar Wai’s style puts you in mind of soft, improvisational jazz. It drifts around certain themes, comes back to them, goes at them from a couple of different angles, but always with the same basic emotional chords as a foundation.

The story with Arnie and Sue Lynn ends badly. There really is no other way for it to end.

Elizabeth moves on and winds up in Nevada where she works as a waitress in a casino. She runs in to Leslie, a professional poker player, who tricks Elisabeth into taking a road trip with her. Leslie has a strange relationship with her father, and this particular segment of the story is mostly about that.

The way the story is dealt with is mostly Elisabeth as a spectator getting involved in peoples lives by somehow landing smack in the middle of them. She grows up in the process, changing and acquiring the distance she needs to be able to go back to New York and meet up with Jeremy again.

It’s all a terrible cliché. It is. But the way it’s handled is beautiful and so well shot, so well acted, that you see beyond that. Sometimes things are a cliché because they are universal, because they do happen and because they are somehow part of the great narratives.

That’s what you get out of this if you go along for the ride. That, and a really great soundtrack.

Mule