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| American Mary Movie Poster |
One of the strippers Beatress (played by Tristan Risk) visits Mary and lets her in on the fact that she has had many reconstruction surgeries in a disillusioned attempt to look like 30’s glam cartoon Betty Boop. Things start to get bizarre as Beatress offers Mary huge bucks to surgically modify her friend Ruby Realdoll who wants some simple skin removal. Ruby asks Mary why she thinks dolls are not seen as sexual objects, clearly indicating that Ruby wants to look like a doll.You wouldn’t be blamed if your initial thoughts are, “oh this lady wants some breast implants and some botox on her lips”… ya right! Welcome to TAD my friends – the lady actually wants her nipples removed and her vagina stitched shut – how’s that for disturbing. The operation itself does not get too grotesque and is even accompanied by light elevator music to lighten the mood for what could clearly have been one of the most uncomfortable scenes in cinematic history.
The movie then proceeds to a bizarre sex party involving surgeons who drug, rape and video tape women. Poor Mary wanders into the wrong party. One of the most powerful scenes is the morning after when Mary is riding the elevator down from the party – the camera focuses on her eyes and she is clearly dead inside as evidenced by her blank stare. From that point on Mary begins her payback is a bitch routine to the perpetrator as well as the rest of the world. She transforms to a major body mod surgeon in the underground scene who have named her “Bloody Mary”. The ride begins as Mary shoots through the ranks of underground surgery whose clients include some of the wackiest fucked up people ever shown on film
My initial assumption was that this movie would be a horror film or “torture porn” but it was neither. It was a deliciously beautiful movie that takes a very heavy and disturbing bunch of topics (rape, revenge, body modification, underground surgery), and presents them in a manner where the viewer never feels to queasy or shows scenes that are bloody just for the sake of throwing blood around. The cinematography and music were absolutely top notch as were performances by all the actors involved with a particularly strong showing from Isabelle who was numb to anything in her existence for the last 75% of the film.
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| Directors Sylvia Soska and Jen Soska are the “Twisted Twins” |
Tonight’s showing was the Canadian Premiere and the two directors Sylvia Soska and Jen Soska were in attendance for the post screening Q&A. The Vancouverite twins seem to have quite a cult following and are surely looking at a very bright career ahead of them. Their over the top energy clearly showed a love of their craft and a legitimate good spirit. They also did announce that Anchor Bay has picked up distribution rights to the movie in Canada, so you can see this epic thriller on DVD soon!
Verdict: 4 out of 5. This movie borders on the thriller and the horror genres, at times being a bit of each. American Mary oozes originality while clashing cinematic beauty and morbid humanity.
