scr. adam dupre
st. edward furlong, giuseppe andrews, james de bello, sam huntingdon
US, 1999, 80mins
I wish there were as many post-apocalyptic films coming out of Italy as there are teen movies coming out of the U.S., then I would be happy and mentally overloaded by my two favourite genres. I do have a complaint about so many of the U.S. films though, why are they set in the past? I tire of all this retrospective rubbish. The seventies and eighties have enough teen films of their own, but it seems too many current filmmakers want to relive their youth through film. Why base a film around a Kiss concert when you could just as effectively set it around a Marilyn Manson concert? Both are shock rock. In the seventies they had disco while in the nineties we have techno, it's all the same, nothing changes. Can the writers not relate to the youth of today? Do they have to try and appeal to the older movie patrons and try to bring back their memories? It all seems a little slack to me.What happens in this film? Four high school boys (a bunch of losers like the people you and I unfortunately went to school with) obsessed with Kiss drive to Detroit for a Kiss concert. It doesn't take long for the humour to hit and we are immediately into familiar territory. At least the main characters aren't pretty boys. Another thing I tire of is a cast of beautiful people, my teen years weren't spent surrounded by perfectly preened, immaculate examples of the adolescent human form, some were, some weren't and at least this film reflects that reality.
The film starts with the boys' band (Mystery) playing a Kiss song in the bedroom. We know from the start these boys are close and they are serious about Kiss. The opening credits feature images from the seventies and the filmmakers go to great lengths to let us know it is 1978. The only annoying part of this film is the intrusive soundtrack. The story is constantly put on hold to play some seventies track. I like more story and less music clip action in my films. The approach in this film reminds me of Baywatch, where every episode is padded out with music. This happens in The Simpsons too, where the length of the opening credits is determined by how much story there is that night.
The film details a day (and night) of desperation in these adolescents' life. Nothing is more important than obtaining tickets to see Kiss, and the misadventures of these boys involve mothers against satanic music, Elvis lookalikes, priests on hallucinogenics, road rage, disco dancers, strippers, sex in the church, fights, grand theft auto and the most glorious scene of vomiting I have seen in a long time. It is a nicely consistent film that keeps the pace and the jokes going throughout and the film texture and colourization does give it that seventies feel. The film even has moments of drama which the director handles with flair and at times the events seem quite surreal. These two elements make Detroit Rock City a little different from other comedies on release at present. Of course the boys come to some self realizations and there are some moments of warmness, but it does not bog down into a moralistic quagmire like so many other films (eg American Pie which ran out of steam long before the end).
We went to a late session and there were only two other groups of people there in a large cinema, so it was quite quiet and pleasant without the inane laughter of morons. I remember going to a cinema once and there was only two of us, that was quite surreal, we felt like Charlton Heston in the Omega Man. Three us in my group had giant Frozen Cokes and decided to see who could suck down the most before brain freeze set in. Brain freeze is an interesting phenomena which science is yet to fully understand. The most plausible explanation I have heard is that the coldness contracts the arteries and veins in your head and the resulting pressure as the blood tries to flow through these narrower channels to the brain causes brain freeze.
Why are Kiss cool? I fail to see the appeal in them. Their pretence of Satanism is certainly a good idea, guaranteed to annoy the close minded and provoke a response by the Christian right. But big boots and makeup is not enough to make a band interesting or entertaining. Luckily liking Kiss is not necessary to enjoy this film. With the exception of their music continually appearing you only see them at the end when they perform a song. The film features appearance by hardcore legend Ron Jeremy and softcore star Shannon Tweed in appropriate roles. I have now seen two worthy comedies in a row, Detroit Rock City and Drop Dead Gorgeous, and that makes me happy.
sebastian niemand
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