All hail the insanity of Sacha Baron Cohen! The other night I finally watched "Bruno," Cohen's feature-length shocku-mockumentary based on one of the three characters he developed for "The Ali G" show years back. It was way more shocking, offensive and hardcore than I expected. Honestly, I didn't think it was still possible this late in the day for a film to make my jaw drop to the floor like that. I don't know if I can legitimately claim that I enjoyed watching the film - well, parts of it, definitely, but watching it is a fairly ulcer-inducing business, since it keeps you on edge and biting your nails with one painfully awkward episode after another. It gives you plenty of moments of laughter and hilarity, and you need them to release the tension of watching Cohen incite an African American audience of one of those tabloidy daytime talk shows to near violence by parading his adopted black baby in a miniature S/M outfit, or turn an interview with Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul into a harrowingly botched gay come-on. I don't know if I've ever seen an artist place his or her self in so much real physical danger as Cohen does in this film. By the end you're amazed he didn't suffer serious injury, so good - and so fearless - is he at pissing off his interview subjects to the point where they want to beat him senseless. I don't see how Cohen could possibly be straight after making a film like this! This is not the sort of movie you want to take home to Mom. I'm sure it must have been unrated. Maybe the single most surprising moment is the extreme close-up of Cohen as he rocks out with his (shaved!) cock out and shakes it all about for the camera. Talk about pulling out the stops! I can understand the generally ambivalent reaction of the gay press to the film (is he friend or foe? Helping or hurting our cause?), but I personally have to respect someone willing to go full-throttle to make their film, no holds barred. Cohen is the opposite of someone who "preaches to the choir." He tackles the most hostile audiences time after time, and in doing so creates at least one moment of odd beauty amidst the warped hilarity. I'm thinking of the scene where he and his male admirer make out, grope one another and begin making love in the middle of a wrestling ring surmounted by a steel cage, outside of which churns a positively apoplectic audience of the sort of semi-animal, violently aggravated redneck thugs who consider watching two men beat the shit out of each other in a steel cage match the greatest possible entertainment. There is a slow motion shot in which Cohen and his man toy roll about and embrace on the floor of the ring, as hurled water bottles, chairs, every other object in reach showers down on them: a weird moment of peace inside a seething cyclone of hatred and fury projected at them by the enraged audience, who can't believer their rabid eyes. "Bruno" even offends me - and I consider myself pretty hard to offend - but I'm glad it was made. I just won't be watching it with Mom any time soon.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Bruno
All hail the insanity of Sacha Baron Cohen! The other night I finally watched "Bruno," Cohen's feature-length shocku-mockumentary based on one of the three characters he developed for "The Ali G" show years back. It was way more shocking, offensive and hardcore than I expected. Honestly, I didn't think it was still possible this late in the day for a film to make my jaw drop to the floor like that. I don't know if I can legitimately claim that I enjoyed watching the film - well, parts of it, definitely, but watching it is a fairly ulcer-inducing business, since it keeps you on edge and biting your nails with one painfully awkward episode after another. It gives you plenty of moments of laughter and hilarity, and you need them to release the tension of watching Cohen incite an African American audience of one of those tabloidy daytime talk shows to near violence by parading his adopted black baby in a miniature S/M outfit, or turn an interview with Libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul into a harrowingly botched gay come-on. I don't know if I've ever seen an artist place his or her self in so much real physical danger as Cohen does in this film. By the end you're amazed he didn't suffer serious injury, so good - and so fearless - is he at pissing off his interview subjects to the point where they want to beat him senseless. I don't see how Cohen could possibly be straight after making a film like this! This is not the sort of movie you want to take home to Mom. I'm sure it must have been unrated. Maybe the single most surprising moment is the extreme close-up of Cohen as he rocks out with his (shaved!) cock out and shakes it all about for the camera. Talk about pulling out the stops! I can understand the generally ambivalent reaction of the gay press to the film (is he friend or foe? Helping or hurting our cause?), but I personally have to respect someone willing to go full-throttle to make their film, no holds barred. Cohen is the opposite of someone who "preaches to the choir." He tackles the most hostile audiences time after time, and in doing so creates at least one moment of odd beauty amidst the warped hilarity. I'm thinking of the scene where he and his male admirer make out, grope one another and begin making love in the middle of a wrestling ring surmounted by a steel cage, outside of which churns a positively apoplectic audience of the sort of semi-animal, violently aggravated redneck thugs who consider watching two men beat the shit out of each other in a steel cage match the greatest possible entertainment. There is a slow motion shot in which Cohen and his man toy roll about and embrace on the floor of the ring, as hurled water bottles, chairs, every other object in reach showers down on them: a weird moment of peace inside a seething cyclone of hatred and fury projected at them by the enraged audience, who can't believer their rabid eyes. "Bruno" even offends me - and I consider myself pretty hard to offend - but I'm glad it was made. I just won't be watching it with Mom any time soon.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment