Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop  MS. 45 – I've probably reviewed this at least once before, but what the hey, it's a firm favourite of mine and I haven't been feeling all that inspired by the new stuff I've seen of late. I think I prefer 'Ms. 45' to any of Abel Ferrara's other films, which is odd in a way because this one seems like his least personal. Actually, thinking about it, 'Fear City' or 'Cat Chaser' or 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' perhaps fit that description better, as 'Ms. 45' truly does have its nose in the gutter, and, although there may not be all that much hand wringing about the nature of good and evil (mostly evil, as per his other flicks), the lead character does at least dress up as a nun at one point. For those unfamiliar, 'Ms 45' charts the transformation of mute factory girl Thana into murderous vigilante after she's raped twice in one day. That's kind of about it – there really isn't all that much to this movie beyond a steady stream of shootings, wranglings with obnoxious colleagues and horrible guys, comedy moments with the cute dog downstairs, and slightly mad set pieces like the climactic Halloween party bloodbath. It's linear, downbeat and harsh, just the way you need something set in early eighties New York to play like (particularly, I guess, if you never had to live that street-level reality). The scummyness and seediness of downtown Manhatten are given an exemplary airing here, and of course this tallies well with that bleak early VHS horror and exploitation vibe. Exploitation this may be, but Ferrara brings a chilly, detached art-house sensibility to the proceedings, and what it lacks in any kind of meaningful psychology it makes up for in style, grit and spit, not to mention deft steals from a host of other films, from 'Repulsion' to 'The Warriors'. I clock the flaws these days more than I used to – those asides with the irritating pooch and the meddling neighbour grate on me now a bit – but who could argue with haunting little vignettes like the one where Thana, in nun gear and suspenders, jokes around with a gun in the mirror as reverb drenched gunshots play on the soundtrack in her head... or for that matter, the final shot, where she pauses before shooting a transvestite in slo-mo whilst her workmate closes in behind her, knife held out at crotch level – how Ferrara. Put simply, 'Ms 45' isn't the director's best work, but it's a classic of its era and kind, and it's way better then 'Death Wish'. |