John Water's Cecil B. Demented Stays True to the Underground
Dateline: 08/14/00
It's been more than twenty-five years since the release of John Water's cult classic Pink Flamingos (1972). The film broke almost every rule of filmmaking and good taste, culminating with the infamously revolting final scene: Divine, a three hundred pound transvestite, eating a handful of fresh dog shit. Since then, without doubt, Waters has mellowed. As Waters freely admits -- and perhaps with regret -- "People have not vomited in my films for quite some time."
Waters'
new film Cecil B. Demented
(2000) stars Melanie Griffith as an A-list Hollywood actress Honey Whitlock
kidnapped by a guerilla filmmaker and his band of renegade cinema terrorists
and forced to star in an underground film. The story is set in Water's hometown
Baltimore. The cast includes Mink Stole, Ricki Lake and Patricia Hearst, regular
players in Waters' informal repertory company. If not going for outright shock
value, Water's comedies still take on the system. Water's last film, the hilarious
Pecker (1998), mocked the pretensions of the New York art scene. With
Cecil B. Demented, Waters takes on Hollywood. And it's not hard to realize
that the title character Demented (played by indie actor Stephen Dorff) is based
on the 54-year-old writer-director. Demented is willing to face death to finish
his movie.
The film is filled with Waters' trademark freaks and outcasts. Demented's devoted cinema terrorists include a former porn star, a Satan-worshiping makeup artist, a pill-popping Method actor. Along with Demented, these outspoken characters are allowed to dramatize all of Waters' own frustrations with the film industry. "They attack verbally almost everything that gets on my nerves," says Waters in an interview with IndieWIRE.
The reviews coming in for Cecil B. Demented range from exuberant to the truly awful. Don't listen to them; go see for yourself. What other film more deserves your patronage?
Next: Waters: "The Pope Of Trash"
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