oscar@utcsrgv.UUCP (Oscar M. Nierstrasz) (08/12/83)
Exposed (Toback, James; USA; 1983; 99m) [**]
I saw this film a few weeks ago at a revue cinema, and I
can't help myself from commenting on it.
As a "serious" film, this is a real stinker; as pure camp
it's a work of genius -- 4-star material! What I can't figure
out is how much was intentionally funny and how much was sheer
stupidity.
I will try to create an impression without giving the film
away: Nastassia Kinski is a disillusioned undergrad at a univer-
sity in one of those states with the wide open spaces (I have a
mind like a seive -- I can't remember which one). She's been
fooling around with her prof who suddenly starts to drive her
crazy. The man is an obvious idiot, judging from his speech and
behaviour, so we are not surprised when she leaves him (why was
she mixed up with him in the first place?). The scene in which
she disowns him sets the pace for the entire movie: it's a film
filled with ludicrous caricatures -- pathetic, absurd, silly peo-
ple -- but people who are somehow *believable* (?!). You can im-
agine *meeting* jerks like this.
Kinski vanishes into a midwestern (?) snowstorm with her
suitcase and her ghetto-blaster (!). The sequence in which she
informs her parents (wealthy farmer-barons) of her intentions to
quit school is embarrassing, but all the more ludricrous because
it is presented totally seriously. Toback comes off as a con-
fused Ingmar Bergman in a badly-shot mother/daughter scene.
Kinski goes to the over-sized MacIntosh to become a star.
Which she does with astonishing ease and rapidity. A world-
famous model overnight. She meets the inscrutable violinist (!)
Rudolph Nureyev (!!) who pops in and out of view like a schizoid
Claude Rains. Nureyev is both inspired and awful in this role --
his lines are fatuous beyond belief, but he manages to pull the
part off by sheer charm. He seems to smirk his way through the
movie (all the way to the bank, I presume).
From there to *terrorism* in Paris(!!!). Harvey Keitel as a
terrorist??? I like Harvey Keitel (he was brilliant in "Bad Tim-
ing") but here he is the *worst*. A combination of incredible
miscasting and plain sub-moron scripting make his the silliest
character in the entire film. His attempts at justifying his
acts of terrorism would give a grade five class cause to titter.
A few minutes into this movie I thought Toback was pulling
our collective leg. I laughed *with him*, I thought. As the
movie got progressively more absurd, I began to have doubts. (So
did the rest of the audience: it took them a while to decide that
this was *funny*, and not just dumb.) Someone here is out to
lunch, I decided.
This film truly has to be seen to be believed. The ending
(about which I shall divulge nothing) is an utterly pointless and
unbelievable climax to an utterly pointless and unbelievable
movie. Go see this some rainy day when your higher brain func-
tions have shut down and you need some mindless entertainment to
give your smugness-coefficient a boost.
Make us some more fun movies, James Toback!
Oscar Nierstrasz @ CSRG