Saturday, February 24, 2007
PRE-TEENY BOPPER
Today's Best NYTimes' Best 1176 Film was Louis Malle's
with Brooke Shields as a 12 year old prostitute, then bride and Keith Carradine as her bf and husband.
Susan Sarandon is Brooke's mom.
They live in a turn of the century whorehouse in Storyville (NOLA).
This film will push your moral buttons. No doubt. It stretched my 'progressive' tolerance as well as my ability to sit still as a 12 year old girl gets naked and does the dirty. Well, there are no sex scenes per se but everything but.
This film could not be made today. The 70's were a different time entirely. In a good way.
It easily surpasses the cringe levels of Lolita and Baby Doll.
The story unfolds against the background of the bordello life and is really quite good in that respect.
It is not an easy film to watch but it is very satisfying. The 'life' is rendered beautifully and the whole film smells of the bayou and magnolia blossom.
There are long stretches that are also sort of boring.
He needs the spice to keep the interest up. So to speak.
Good art has always supported good pornography to keep the cops off the porno producer's back.
Louis Malle was no pornographer but he did like to push the boundaries.
To give some perspective here, at least to the age thing, I can attest that my grandmother was a mother at 15 years of age so I presume that there was sex involved.
This was also at the turn of the century. My dad was the last child and I came along when he was 27 so we span the times.
But, I digress.
The point is that 'youth' is less the issue than the prostitution. I counted six rather explicit assignations with the clientele.
Ouch!
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5. I don't think that I could watch it again although I am glad that I did see it.
If I were to meet Brooke Shields this afternoon I would blush.
Labels: best films, child pornography
