September 10–17, 1998
movie shorts
You want to like Troy Beyer's first feature. It was shot in 18 days on a $300,000 budget (financed in part by Beyer's previous gig, writing B.A.P.S.). It feels like everyone was down for the project (the three principals shared an apartment during the shoot, in order to bond and cut expenses). And it's being advertised as frank talk about sex by women. This discussion is framed as a film within a film, actually a video-documentary directed and shot by the gorgeous, nurturing and vaguely unfulfilled Jazz (Troy Beyer), assisted by her two gorgeous, differently unfulfilled roommates Michelle (Paget Brewster) and Lena (Randi Ingerman). While these interview segments are often amusing, affecting a spontaneous feel and tackling ostensibly racy subjects (does size matter? what thrills you about a cucumber?), they are, unfortunately, stronger than the trite framing plot, which places the carefully multi-culti protagonists in predictably troubled relationships with men and expensive, navel-baring costumes (at times these outfits looked a bit too much like Charlie's Angels updates). Too often, the film devolves into cliché city: distressed women scrub their apartments, lesbians catfight, women who can't have children feel inadequate, good men teach basketball to inner city kids, bad men talk about their bands and smoke pot. Still, there are things to like in the film: Kelly Evans' camera work is often clever, the interviews are fun, and Beyer (previously seen in The Five Heartbeats, Altman's The Gingerbread Man, and Prince's Sexy MF video) is a charismatic performer. So here's hoping that you can look forward to liking her next film.