Mia Goth and It West were a little unpolished but had the upper hand within the Arthouse horror genre thanks to their movie releases in 2022 titled “X” which was quite an interesting film accompanied by its prequel “Pearl”.
“X” and “Pearl” are both accused of repeated violent scenes but these films are vastly different. “X” was a twisted love letter to slasher films of the 1970s, whereas “Pearl,” which is a prequel, is the duo’s bizarre rendition of a Technicolor film by Douglas Shirk. Both were rich in form and style, blessed with narrative energy, unremittingly twisted, Goth doing it with her multi paneled performances at the core.
However, the narrative fails considerably in “MaXXXine” which is the third segment of the narrative. West, as a screenwriter and director managed to focus on the time of expensive wooing in an era where sexiness is not much of a need. His version of Hollywood is anything but glamorous, operating between underwater swaying neon ceilings and dull stage sets even in the day, while Tyler Bates’ synthesized score plays in the background.
There is however the presence of a serial killer known as The Night Stalker within this narrative who is presently on the run killing many while they live in dread that they could potentially be victims. There are meanwhile arguments from the right claiming that the entertainment industry within America is invoking the youth to follow satanic practices.
(Beginning with newsreels with images of protesters, including Dee Snider, it advanced to the focal point of the narrative The 2 Live Crew case and its impacts on the music industry.)
Maxine Minx from Goth last appeared in 1979, escaping the confines of an X-rated film set. It’s now 1985 and the self-assured woman has come to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune. She has done porn shoots and worked in peep shows for the time being, but knows there is a larger purpose to her life.
The film’s opening has her auditioning for a real film, the horror film, “The Puritan II,” and one can presume that she is indeed correct. Accompanying cinematographer Eliot Rocket, West again captures Maxine, shrouded in the valley haze, in a single take as she boldly approaches a soundstage dressed in black, tight jeans.
By the end of this trilogy, it has been learned that she does have whatever X factor there is to have, and that there is what the whole of MaXXXine becomes painful to see as the story progresses. At the center of the tale is the premise that a number of young females that are connected to Maxine are being killed in a very gruesome manner.
Of course, she’s not the murderer, but even so, Detective Monaghan and Detective Canaveral of the LAPD are pursuing her in search of her assistance. She is, however, also a New Orleans detective lady because a creepy was behind her in the eons ago. played by Kevin bacon smoking aviators with a kind of Foghorn Leghorn accent.
More, the different kinds of stress that this combination imposes on Maxine makes her emerge as a rascal character, something that is not her (and more importantly, not goth’s) forte. Ironically, the very element that made the character so mesmerizing, both in this particular context and in the gorgeously unrealistic sphere of the movie industry, was her cocksureness, the feeling that she is capable of everything and her readiness to do just that any minute for the thrill of it. MaXXXine takes away that ingenuity from her and she turns into a passive spectator.
In fact, this can be seen particularly enhanced in her several performances where she is in the presence of Elizabeth Dubicki who plays the director of the movie “The Puritan II’ as she takes Maxine around the Warner Bros. site in a golf car, saying things like ‘I want to make a B-movie but with A ideas’ going on a monologue about the art of film making. It could be West’s aim too. In addressing the wringing of hands regarding pop culture being an evil that pervades all in sight, he offers very little in terms of novelty or originality.
Goth remains a singular screen presence especially in constant shifting of scenes where action upon other characters were continuous but in reality, only little engagement were made by characters to enhance the importance of the storyline.
The tension and the drive have seemingly disappeared in “MaXXXine” as the film comes to a close, which may not be its strong point. The question that looms at the end of the first film is this: what is the killer’s motive and why was it necessary to hide his identity? Furthermore, who is the killer?
In a similar vein, West has Hollywood visually constructed as a swamp with a lot of digging for mess among the different scenes and pays homage to countless characters including this character resembles Buster Keaton, a glimpse of the ‘Psycho’ house, or ‘St Elmo’s Fire’ plastered on the now broken Vine Theatre popular billboard.
(Although one of the auxiliary songs in the movie, with the catchy hook, John Parr’s theme song was at the backdrop of one of the movie’s shocking scenes). It’s a rather disturbing style of music that’s appropriate for the situation: the renditions of the manic screeching guitars of oz. top, the synthesized tones of new order or the more sophisticated band Frankie goes to Hollywood).
Perhaps, the absence of substance in examining tawdry 80s culture is deliberate that the insight was all deep, filled with frozen horned hair and very wide shoulder pads. But effing her, a movie star like Mia Goth rightfully thinks otherwise.
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