| RATING: | 80% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
Bleak-but-honest portrayal of the fragility of White sexual relationships - and the resulting popularity of adultery as a solace - given the emotionally-repressed, insular and superficial nature of that culture.
This accurate depiction of the anger inherent in White male sexuality also shows White women as accessories in their own sexist and sexual oppression & repression. The pornographic elements reveal what White men really think about White women such that one wonders why more White women don’t sleep with male People of Color. The answer is that they believe that this is the only life available to them and so do not know any better.
Although somewhat depressing (& the screenwriter has nothing else to offer as a substitute for the moral crisis of most of the characters - as if it were, somehow, normal), the quality of the acting is second-to-none - and the characterization astute. The usual Robert Altman distanced bemusement with the characters of his films is well to the fore here - as is a meandering plot that sucks you in to the many absurd situations on offer. Perhaps the title refers to the shortcuts Whites take to get to where they think they are going?
Here, Whites are also shown attempting to inoculate themselves from reality by airborne spraying of an entire city in the hope that the outside world, they disdain, will somehow be kept at bay; taking short cuts.
Ultimately, the very nature of White culture leads to the inability to satisfy basic emotional needs; hence, the high mortality rate of the relationships on show and the undercurrent of immemorial anger and hatred of women that inevitably ensues.
An earthquake symbolises the repressed rage finally boiling over as characters’ true feelings erupt.
No comments:
Post a Comment