Fringe Film Fun

This past week found Karibe and I taking a couple of different filmmaking events. On Monday, we took in the latest tour of the Gadabout Traveling Film Festival at the Tin Ceiling. Gadabout is organized and presented by Eric Ayotte. He travels the world with his own unique brand of DIY short films, music, and art presented an eclectic group he has met and befriended over the years. This was our third encounter with the Gadabout, though the first two were at the Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center. The quality of films were across the spectrum, but there were several great documentaries, Jack Daniels' commercials with new voiceovers, and a few pieces from founder Ayotte's 31 films in 31 days campaign. Giddy with excitement over next year's tour, I made contact with Ayotte the next day through Myspace and proposed staging Gadabout in conjunction with the St. Louis International Film Festival in 2009. Ayotte was equally excited and hopes to be able to collaborate next year as well.

On Friday, we took in a screening of "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!" at the Way Out Club. This film is very gratuitous for the time of production, but definitely pales in comparison to some of director Russ Meyer's later exploitation films. Meyer is the predecessor to such boob-crazed or exploitation directors as Andy Sidaris and Lloyd Kaufman. Pussycat presents a weird and frenetic critique of America circa the 1950s. It presents a backlash against suburbia and the expectations of both men and women. It questions the standards of sex while at the same time celebrating the female figure. It's a great stash of innuendo, quips, and quotes - most notably "Oh, you're cute... like a velvet glove cast in iron." The film is notable because it pushes the envelope, obviously through the very revealing outfits and suggestive camera work, but also because of it's characters' anti-stereotypical roles. It may be generally consumed now as fodder equivalent to that of Miss Buffalo Chip, but the ladies depicted in the film are as likely to give a guy a fist of full tit as they are to give a face full of fist.