DVD Review
A GIRL – The DVD Review
Nigel Wingrove, founder of Salvation Films and the UK Redemption Video label, was the first person to give serious video releases of films by oft-banned Euro-horror filmmakers such as Jess Franco and Jean Rollin. He also produced some magnificently blasphemous nunsploitation. He is still the only filmmaker to have a film banned in Britain purely on the grounds of blasphemy. Always one to stretch the boundaries of filmmaking as well as good taste, Wingrove then founded The Satanic Sluts, a cadre of goth chicks who were photographed, filmed, and did live performance art that was so atrocious they were banned from many British clubs. The whole thing blew up when Russell Brand, who was having a fling with one of the Sluts, found out she was the granddaughter of Andrew Sachs, a very famous and beloved British character actor. Brand made a prank phone call to Sachs for his radio show and exposed his granddaughter as one of the Satanic Sluts in a public humiliation scandal the likes of which have not been seen in America.
Well, the Satanic Sluts Version 2.0 is back, but this time Wingrove has shifted to production duties while Simon Black has moved to the directing chair. This new batch of Sluts features a pretty, diminutive, raven-haired and body-pierced Hannah Short. While I never saw any of the original set of films, my understanding is they were simply a collection of glossy striptease, gyrations, and softcore sex aimed at a youthful audience who enjoyed alternative women. But this second edition of Satanic Sluts ups the ante. A Girl, as the summary on the DVD case states, features Short in “a number of disturbing and erotically charged scenes…to challenge and arouse the viewer in equal measure.”
Short stars—and, aside from a brief scene with a neighbor, is the only person in the film—as Pearl, a recluse who leads an outwardly normal life (though no one would think she is normal wearing the outfits she wears throughout the film) but struggles with depression, loneliness, her own sexuality, and especially a voice on the radio who she thinks is Jesus. The film runs as a series of surreal and oft-times incoherent vignettes as radio Jesus tussles with Pearl’s mind, sometimes when she is awake and sometimes in her dreams. Pearl’s reaction to these religious ramblings is pretty strong and features very graphic nudity as well as the use of a raw chicken in what would certainly fall into the “disturbing” category rather than the “erotically-charged” category—or, at least I hope so….
At 75 minutes, the film feels longer. Many scenes are interminable, including the opening scene as Pearl sits in a chair and watches her laundry spin in the dryer. Another long scene is one in which Pearl’s neighbor comes by for a chat and the two sit facing each other and have what I found to be a meaningless conversation. It doesn’t help that the (minimal) dialogue is difficult to hear and there are no subtitle offerings, so I’m sure I missed some of the message that could have helped me derive some additional meaning from the film. It’s important to note other critics on the web have praised the film for these same scenes. And, of course, everyone has different tastes, but I found very little of Short’s nude antics erotically charged. Disturbing, yes. Boring, unfortunately, yes.
Ultimately, the verdict may still be out on this latest Satanic Slut offering. I wasn’t terribly impressed, though others have been, by the film. But if you enjoy surreal films and are open-minded enough to want to try an alternative to the latest Hollywood drivel and don’t mind a few truly disturbing images, I would encourage you to try A Girl.
Kino Lorber has just released the film on DVD. It can be purchased directly through Kino Lorber at kinolorber.com or through Amazon.
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