HoW to taLK to girLs at Parties
Punk-Drunk Love
released OUT NOW! 2018 | 15 | Blu-ray/dVd/download Director John Cameron Mitchell Cast elle Fanning, alex sharp, ruth Wilson, Matt lucas
Neil Gaiman’s 2006 short story “How To Talk To Girls At Parties” is a trifle, really. Following two ’70s punks who gatecrash a party and discover that those inside are Not Of This Earth, it’s basically just a first act. Hedwig And The Angry Inch director John Cameron Mitchell’s film builds on it, providing a second and third.
Alex Sharp plays fanzinewriting teen Enn. Elle Fanning is Zan, a curious alien who decides to spend 48 hours with him to “further access the punk”. This carpe diem romance is deeply sweet, and Fanning lends her naive outsider a convincingly otherworldly air. The film does an imaginative job of visualising exactly what caused Enn’s mate Vic to scarper in a panic midcopping off. And it’s pleasing that the film isn’t populated with mohicanned King’s Road punks; more reminiscent of The Adverts frontman TV Smith, Enn’s look feels much more authentic.
There isn’t much to the story, though; the breathless energy of the opening stages dissipates; and the brightly coloured PVC costuming of the aliens lends it the feel of a comedy sketch – casting Matt Lucas as one of their number doesn’t exactly help in this regard.
Extras A deleted scene, plus press kit interviews with cast and crew (13 in all); sliced into ultra-short snippets, they’re a chore to sit through.
Aged 16, Neil Gaiman sang in punk band Ex-Execs. Bandmate Graham Smith later commissioned Spaced.
The breathless energy dissipates