June 26, 2021

Feeling a little out of sorts today. Listless. Like there's not enough going on. It's the third out of four days of my class's virtual writing retreat. We have plenty of time for each writing exercise, which means I can use the time to do other stuff like washing the dishes. The looming task is to clean the shower, which is disgusting. 

My husband's down in San Diego visiting his sister and a few of our friends. They're having fun without me. Boo hoo hoo hoo. I could read a science fiction short story. That would be nice. 

I'm backlogged on the Mlog. That's really why I got on. Here we go! 

Mlog Time! 

DESPERATE LIVING

1977

Directed by: John Waters

Written by: John Waters

Watched: 6/23/21 

Peggy Gravel and her maid Griselda accidentally kill Peggy’s husband and have to go on the run. They get pulled over by a cop who makes them give him their underwear (which he puts on) and then kiss him on the open mouth. He lets them go, but tells them the only way they’ll elude the cops is to go to Mortville. The women flee. Mortville is a shanty town full of mostly lesbians and outside the law. Queen Carlotta rules the town with deep disdain and keeps people in line with her army of leather men. The Queen’s daughter defies her and runs away to be with her nudist lover who picks up trash around Mortville. Peggy, an asshole, turns the princess in to the leathermen. As a thanks, the Queen appoints Peggy as an advisor and tasks her with making a rabis serum with which they can infect the population. The townsfolk rebel, however, and the team of lesbians overthrow the queen and roast her and eat her as a feast. 

This was the second movie in the double bill at the New Beverly Cinema, but I want to talk about it first, in part, because I almost threw up. I had taken a drink of my water and then thought about one of the many outrageously disgusting things that had happened. I didn’t swallow correctly, and started coughing/choking/feeling ready to hurl. Then someone barfed on screen, which didn’t help. But I managed to finally get the water down. I was stunned at this movie – even with the primer of Female Trouble before it. I liked the fantasy land, the new town that’s dirt poor with loud clothes and terrible suffering like backwards day. I felt shocked, disgusted, and awed at plot points like: the Queen had her leathermen gang rape her daughter and then inject her with rabies. Also, pretty much every line of dialogue in this movie is shouted. It looks like it cost ~$2, but I’m still shocked that it got made. I’m shocked that it exists. I had thought myself to be fairly urbane before I saw this movie, a person who’s seen a lot and isn’t going to be surprised by the content of a movie. I was wrong! 

Rating: ★★★