Let women make schlock too, like men, says critic
Whether you are a straight man or a “horny teenage lesbian”, a late-night movie being screened at this year’s Durban International Film Festival might appeal to you.
But be warned, Below Her Mouth has been slated by international critics as being sex over substance.
The Canadian film with an all-woman cast and production crew is co-produced by Durban-based company Videovision. It describes itself as an erotic romantic drama. It premiered at the 2016 Toronto Film Festival and has, in one instance, been described as “late-night fare that will be enjoyed by just as many horny men as horny teenage lesbians”.
Guy Lodge of weekly entertainment trade magazine Variety called Below Her Mouth a “sexually frank but narratively flimsy girlmeets-girl romance that never gets under its gorgeous characters’ amply exposed skin”.
Katie Walsh of the LA Times said the movie “is more X-rated, late-night cable skin flick than trenchant exploration of female sexuality”.
The story deals with the affair between fashion editor Jasmine (Natalie Krill) and roofer Dallas (Erika Linder) that begins when Jasmine’s fiancé is out of town.
Linder has modelled female and male fashion for Tom Ford and Louis Vuitton.
Below Her Mouth is included in the festival’s focus on women-led films. About 400 movies were submitted for selection, all directed, produced and/or written by women.
This includes Serpent, which opened the festival on Thursday. It is written and directed by Capetonian Amanda Evans.
Liyana has a female child protagonist, is co-produced and directed by Amanda Kopp and has Thandi Newton as executive producer.
Festival manager Chipo Zhou hopes to set a standard for including women-led films.
“It’s important that women tell their own stories,” she said. “We have had these stories
It’s important that women tell their own stories. We have had these stories told before but from male voices. We want to tell our own stories Chipo Zhou Durban International Film Festival manager
told before but from male voices. We want to tell our own stories.”
Zhou said Below Her Mouth was not soft porn, but Peter Machen, a critic and a former manager of the festival, said the general consensus was that it was “flimsy, lightweight porn, with the only real point of interest being its all-woman crew”. But he said women should not be held to a higher standard.
“There are tens of thousands of poorly made, exploitative films produced and directed by men, and women should similarly have the freedom to make such schlock. It’s very dangerous to impose our morality on filmmakers.
“The film industry is so profoundly dominated by men that the desire to celebrate the mere existence of any film that is headed by a female team is completely understandable. Personally, I do think that such celebration is due, given the massive gender deficits evident in the industry.”
The film festival runs at venues in and around Durban until July 23.