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| Entry tags: | movies |
Movie Review: Teeth
Teeth is a tender little indie film about a teen-age girl's blossoming into womanhood. Except that something goes terribly wrong.
Actually, Teeth is a low-budget horror flick in which the only tenderness is the tenderizing that gets brought upon the would-be rapists and other no-good'ers. Jess Weixler plays Dawn, a high school virgin who's a popular spokesperson for the "Promise" abstinence movement, which teaches other teens that their virginity is a gift to be shared with their spouse, not a hand-out to everyone who comes along. After a presentation, she meets Tobey, a new boy at her school and red-plastic-costume-jewelry-ring-wearing Promise pledge holder. She's so smitten she catches herself becoming aroused at the fantasy of the two of them... getting married. But Tobey isn't as nice as he seems, and tries to force himself on her only to learn her terrible secret. Her own horror turns to cold acceptance as she learns what potential this has for generally improving the world as a whole.
The movie itself has a fairly modest budget, and the only actor I recognized from any previous work was John Hensley (who plays on "Nip/Tuck", and here portrays Dawn's tattooed, inconsiderate, weed-smoking stepbrother). There is plenty of allegory and no small amount of intentional (and maybe some unintentional) sexual imagery in the shapes found in nature and in buildings. There are swipes taken at the embarrassing state of sex-education in schools these days and at the "body as a gift" mentality. And possibly the grossest on-screen act performed by a dog outside of underground porn films. The last few minutes before the credits roll, the last look Dawn gives the camera, say all that needs to be said about women understanding and embracing the power of their own sexuality.
Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. Joe Bob says "Check it out!"
Note: I saw this at the CinéArts Palo Alto, where they got two reels swapped accidentally. This shouldn't be a problem for anyone else, but the impression I got from the theater manager (who graciously gave me a refund) was that the reels are/were mis-labeled. If so, and if no one tells the management at a given theater, this could go unchecked. Just a heads-up in case you decide to go see this...
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rjray) wrote,
