‘Dirty Girl’ is a fairly mundane coming of age cum road trip flick tat on
paper has the right combination of talent on both sides of the camera that the
movie should have worked or at least come across as an interesting little film.
As occurs on a fairly common basis even a chef with the best of ingredients can
have an off day and serve up cuisine below expectations. Think of it as an anti
synergism where the whole is less than the sum of its parts. The filmmaker is
new but has potential and the leading lady is well versed in quirky roles that
under other circumstances would have been perfect for this specific character.
The main problem that occurred here is the movie fails to bring to the audience
anything new. The majority of what occurs here has been seen many times before,
typically in better fashion. Consider the flick grossed less than $60,000 even
with the undisclosed Indy range budget the distributor cannot justify this movie
in any realistic way. The familiarity is in the mixture of road trip and coming
of age movie structured along the lines of a buddy comedy. Those of us old
enough to remember the classics will inevitably set the bar with the gold
standard of road trip movies featuring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Suffice it to
say ‘Dirty Girl’ will never be placed in any enduring list.
It should be noted that several times during my initial viewing of the film I
felt it was on the verge of pulling itself up. Unfortunately, it would try too
hard and wind up sabotaging its own chances. The movie does have a few moments
that glimmer ever so briefly but you have to dig deeply to find them. In an odd
way the imperfections almost work in favor telling the story. This is, after
all, a movie concerned with a pair of misfits, mismatched in every way. During
the course of the movie they manage to connect poignantly with each other so
that their insecurities appear to bolster each other. As the flick is concerned
with inherently flawed and emotionally damaged people it would actually be a
disservice to the integrity of the characters to present this tale in anything
but an imperfect framework. The faults contained here almost seem to be woven
into the presentation reflecting the internal disarray of the characters. The
film is not the waste that some have made it out to be but you have to be able
to commit to wanting to understand it in order to best enjoy it. This is not a
light hearted comedy that you can casually watch. It will require focus and
effort to understand the characters. This is both the film’s greatest strength
and biggest weakness. In some ways it reminded me of an old favorite Indy; Hal
Hartley’s ‘Trust’. Like that film ‘Dirty Girl’ depicts two broken people somehow
coming together to complete each other. Hartley was just more proficient at
getting this across than the filmmaker here, Abe Sylvia. This is his first
feature film and while not completely makes me anxious to follow his career.
Base on what I could see here Mr. Sylvia is a talent waiting to flourish. His
steps here may have faltered to some degree but they are firmly on the right
path. By the second viewing a gained a different perspective and felt I could
begin to glean the filmmaker’s intentions. While the overall impact of the film
came across pedestrian there were glimpses of a buried treasure lying just
beneath the surface. Sylvia embodies the necessity of independent film by
creating the studios would never support but necessary for his stylistic growth
as an artist.
Danielle (Juno Temple) is a student in Norman High School, an Oklahoma
community that is decidedly not a happy person. This manifested in the typical
teen angst acting out disrupting the school and promiscuous behavior. Danielle
is contentious, constantly arguing with her mother Sue-Ann (Milla Jovovich).
This already turbulent situation is exasperated when Mom becomes engaged to a
Mormon, Ray (William H. Macy). Right from the start this is an unusual piece of
casting but I can see the director’s wisdom in going for it. Jovovich has built
her career playing sleek, sexy super agile heroes so it is great to see her get
a chance to grow as an actress into an emotionally centered role. To play
opposite her no one could ask for a better opposite than Macy who continues to
give fantastic performances. This odd juxtaposition on the adult front lays the
foundation for the primary contrast of the film. Danielle becomes friend with
Clarke (Jeremy Dozier), the epitome of the term closet case. He is shy, socially
awkward and sexually confused and inexperience. This does set up something that
admittedly is overused in movies, social opposites. What Sylvia does next is
toss them into the perennial cinematic crucible of transformation, the road
trip. Here is where the narrative softens and something novel could have helped.
Most of the situations are telegraphed to the audience. It will take additional
viewing to catch some of the nuances at play here and regrettably the opening
moments lack a ‘hook’ moment to let the audience know something worthwhile is
about to unfold. I am certain that his subsequent works will better develop the
initial scenes to rectify this condition. Once again a case may be made that the
mundane substrata of the story belies a greater universal nature of the
situation that the audience can relate too, Ms Temple is rapidly become a
favorite for me has she works to own the ‘bad girl’ personae. Give ‘Wild Child’
a look to see what I mean. She projects a fragile core hiding beneath a tough
façade that sells this role. Dozier nails his character playing off Temple’s
lead very effectively.
Stylistically Sylvia is visually interesting in the way he uses he camera
advantageously. He is developing a keen eye for the details of the sets using
them to help resonate with the emotional thrust of the story. if only the
elements could gel better this could have been a film that could win over the
festival circuit. Take advantage of it on DVD since it does require a couple of
viewings to catch the meaning but ultimately it is worth it. Just go into it
with an open mind and willingness to se humanity in the missteps.