Sadie Benning Program 2
Now Playing: Some more Benning films
After the eye-opening confessions on display in the first program last weekend, it was something of a letdown to see this week's short films, which are much more kitschy. As Benning appears to have matured as a filmmaker (these are much more technically impressive than her earlier works), she began to couch her films in style, which didn't quite work for me. The appeal of Benning's work is largely because of its intimacy, the fact that the act of using a camera to serve as your confessor was an act of simple boldness on Benning's part. The increased kitsch factor in particular mars THE JUDY SPOTS (1995), a series of television spots featuring a puppet named Judy. While these deal with various teenage issues ("Judy Hates Her Job," etc.), the sometimes macabre sets and camera angles distance the viewer from the issue at hand- one wonders how Benning might have tackled these topics head-on. The other short films in the series, GIRL POWER (1992) and GERMAN SONG (1992), hardly even made an impression on me at all. The evening's best work was Benning's longest film to that point, FLAT IS BEAUTIFUL (1998). The film is performed by actors who wear paper masks, and although I was taken aback by this at first (expecting another wink-wink-fest like THE JUDY SPOTS) somehow the film drew me in. Much of this is no doubt because of the naturalistic performance by the lead actress, 12-year-old Sammy Steel, who even with a mask on still makes Taylor completely believable as she begins to explore her budding sexuality. The film's most poignant scene, for me anyway, was her conversation with Quiggy, her mother's gay boarder, when she tells him that she likes girls. Rather than turning Quiggy into some kind of mensch, I liked how Benning made him more uncertain of how to respond to her admission (that she corners him while he's in the bathtub no doubt contributes to this response). FLAT IS BEAUTIFUL salvaged the night for me, although I'm still waiting for her to do something as powerful as her early stuff.