Features

Her Smell

Alex Ross Perry
USA, GR 2018
135 min
V'18

Becky Something ist die Frontfrau der Girl-Band Something She. Dreimal zeigt Alex Ross Perry sie in HER SMELL in Backstage-Szenen vor einem Gig: Aus der Energie früherer Tage ist ein selbstzerstörerisches Chaos geworden, das schließlich an einen kritischen Punkt führt, und zu jenem dritten Kapitel, das an die ewigen Fragen der Popkultur rührt: Kann man sich selbst überleben? Gibt es einen nüchternen Rausch? Elizabeth Moss bestimmt den Film mit einer Performance, die so etwas wie das schauspielerische Äquivalent zu härtestem Punk darstellt: schonungslos gegenüber jeglichem Image, mit Karacho in die Abgründe der Subjektivität. (Bert Rebhandl)

 

If ever there was a riot grrrl, she has to live up to the mayhem of bandleader Becky Something in Alex Ross Perry’s HER SMELL. Three times we see her in preparation for a gig: the minutes before the step onto the stage, surrounded by band members, friends and family, and management (not always easy to distinguish from friends and family, and, increasingly, from foes and family). Becky is a mess. She was once an idol, and her band “Something She” apparently had its moment in popular culture. But even in the counter culture there are obligations, responsibilities, and contracts. Becky did not live up to neither. The first two parts of HER SMELL lead into the heart of darkness, the third part leads into a typical Alex Ross Perry setting (potentially bucolic) and asks questions about a comeback from hell. In several ways HER SMELL is a combination of tours de force: Elisabeth Moss, who also coproduced the movie, makes the brinks of self-destruction seem as wide as Becky’s permanent high is deep; and with the help of DP Sean Price Williams’s fluid work and an eery soundscape like straight from Becky’s inner turmoil Alex Ross Perry makes for a strong movie about the nightmares at the core of pop idolism. (Bert Rebhandl)

Credits
  • Elisabeth Moss - Becky Something
  • Agyness Deyn - Marielle Hell
  • Cara Delevingne - Cassie
  • Dan Stevens - Danny
  • Amber Heard - Zelda E. Zekiel
  • Eric Stoltz - Howard Goodman
  • Alex Ross Perry
  • Sean Price Williams
  • Robert Greene
  • Anika Pyle
  • Alicia Bognanno
  • Amanda Ford
Bow and Arrow Entertainment, Faliro House Productions

Voltage Pictures

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