FORMAT: BLU-RAY
John Waters’ Pink Flamingos is a movie that is almost impossible to review. It’s kind of unclassifiable unless you’re talking to someone who’s already seen it. You either dig it or you don’t. Even more than fifty years after its release, it still manages to be perverse, funny, and shocking. I can’t quite exactly call it a “good” movie. It’s more of a force of nature; something that must be experienced rather than “seen”.
The plot has the Marbles, Raymond and Connie (David Lochary and Mink Stole) competing with Divine (himself) for the title of “Filthiest Person Alive”. Naturally, all the back and forth between the two competitors leads to murder. Finally, to cement her title, Divine resorts to eating dog shit.
I got a perverse thrill knowing this Midnight Movie cult flick has not only been released on Blu-Ray by the Criterion Collection, but also has been preserved as part of the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Do you think Waters and his cohorts ever envisioned that happening back in the ‘70s when they were running around the backwoods of Baltimore filming this? I think not.
Pink Flamingos isn’t exactly a “film”, per se. Instead, it functions more as a transgressive piece of rebel art. Yes, it has a narrative, but it seems sort of juvenile, which helps to set up the craziness in the last half-hour. (Yes, I’m referring to the dog shit eating.) Although by this point, it probably seems tame to today’s generation raised on the internet, or anyone who’s Googled Two Girls One Cup.
Sure, there are things I love about the movie. First and foremost, Divine. He’s definitely a star. He probably didn’t need to eat dog shit to be a legend, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt. I also love Edith the Egg Lady, who gives a terrific performance.
No matter how many times I’ve seen it, I do start to tap out by the time the “Singing Asshole” scene comes around. To me, the dog shit scene seems kind of quaint in comparison. It’s in the last half-hour where the film kind of goes off the rails and becomes part cinematic carnival geek show, part gore movie, and part fetish video.
This is one case where a star rating system doesn’t really apply. You’re either the kind of person who would watch it or you aren’t. My review isn’t going to sway you one way or another. I don’t even know if anyone can call it “good” in a conventional sense, but it is an important milestone, not only in terms of Midnight Movies, but in cinema in general. I mean, if it’s good enough for the Library of Congress, it’s good enough for me.
Oh, and the Blu-Ray comes with a replica of the Pink “Phlegm-ingos” barf bag, which is fucking cool.
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