Bully (2001)

Larry Clark isn’t exactly known for his subtlety. If there’s any artist that defines the word “polarizing” its Clark, going all the way back to the raw documentation of teenage drug use and sexuality in his 1971 photography book Tulsa and it follow up Teenage Lust in 1983. Clark’s uncompromising style translated over to film with Kids (1995), a film that left not only America but many around the world feeling completely blindsided and its a film that’s still as dividing as it was when it was first released. In dealing with such difficult subject matter, Clark has earned a loyal following of supporters who readily praise his fearlessness is exposing certain elements of society that some would rather deny the existence of, yet it has also earned him an army of detractors who find his provocative material, to put it mildly, very problematic. Clark may have followed up Kids with the cool James Woods led Another Day In Paradise (1998) but in spirit, 2001’s Bully was the true follow up to Kids. Based on the real life 1993 murder of Florida teenager Bobby Kent, an event which inspirited the 1998 true crime bestseller Bully: A True Story of High School Revenge by Jim Schutze, Bully saw Clark continuing his favorite theme of wasted youth in an even darker fashion resulting in one of the most full on revenge flicks in recent memory.

Hollywood, Florida teens Marty (Brad Renfro) and Bobby (Nick Stahl) have been best friends for years although ever since the beginning of their friendship Marty has been the target of constant verbal and physical abuse from Bobby which has only gotten worse throughout the years with Bobby even turning his attention to Marty’s new girlfriend Lisa (Rachel Miner), even sexually assaulting her. Fed up with Bobby’s behavior, Lisa convinces Marty that enough is enough and together along with friends Ali (Bijou Phillips), whom Bobby also raped, Donny (Michael Pitt), Heather (Kelli Garner), Lisa’s cousin Derek (Daniel Franzese) and a local criminal rumored to be a hitman (Leo Fitzpatrick), the group hatches a plan to finally put an end to Bobby’s torments.

With its endless barrage of teens behaving badly, indulging in drugs, sex and featuring a particularly vicious murder scene it would be easy to classify Bully as pure exploitation but doing so would be a serious misreading of the film. While its true that the film is unflinching in its presentation (and in all honestly there are some shots in the film that are rather exploitive) its important to note that these very “sensationalistic” aspects are crucial to point the film was trying to make. The film may center around a murder, true, but the film is about so much more than just a murder, its equally about the lives of all those involved. What’s interesting about Bully is that unlike in Kids where only one parent was present, here Clark introduces the parents and families and exposes the home and lives of the central characters, something he would do again in a much more disturbing fashion in his follow up film Ken Park (2002). Another important thing worth pointing out is that although certain points of the actual case that the film was based on were dramatized for the purposes of film, even if the film had been a work of total fiction it still would have felt as authentic as possible simply for the fact that things like happen virtually on a daily basis and people like the ones portrayed in the film actually do exist, and naturally Clark’s presentation, aside from a few dizzying camera maneuvers and edits, is no-frills.

The late Brad Renfro turns in a brilliant performance as the tortured Marty. This is a kid who’s always on defense, only letting his guard down when not in the presence of Bobby. There is a sense of hesitation to everything he does and when the years of bottled up emotions finally explodes the results are gut-wrenching, particularly in a stand out sequence involving him and Miner when they decide something drastic has to be done about Bobby. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Nick Stahl who (appropriately) approached the role of Bobby with such a sickening arrogance his character becomes detestable within the first five minutes of the film. The contrast between him and Renfro couldn’t have been more perfect making every minute of screen time they share together instantly uncomfortable. The film is all around flawlessly cast with Rachel Miner, Bijou Phillips, Daniel Franzese and Leo Fitzpatrick all putting on clinics but perhaps the most telling performances come from Michael Pitt and Kelli Garner, the later who’s turn in the film isn’t celebrated nearly as much as it should be. What makes the eternally stoned characters of Donny and Heather stand out so much is the fact that when their introduced they’ve already reached the point that the rest of these kids would have probably ended up had the murder not drastically altered their lives, virtually brain fried, and commendably both Pitt and Garner never once go overboard or venture into “try too hard” territory in their portrayals.    

This past July marked the 20th anniversary of the actual murder of Bobby Kent and funnily enough one of the members of the so called “Broward Seven”, Alice Willis found herself back in the news a few months prior on charges of parole violation for allegedly providing police with a false address. She was first released from prison in 2001. Along with Willis, Lisa Connelly, Derek Dzvirko and Heather Swallers have all been released from prison for their roles in the crime, Connelly in 2004, Dzvirko in 1998 and Swallers in 1999. Marty Puccio is currently severing a life sentence which was originally a death sentence until it was overturned in 1997 along with Donald Semenec and Derek Kaufman the supposed “hitman”. The case was also featured in a 2001 episode of A&E’s true crime documentary series American Justice. Its really a fascinating story and again, although various elements of the case were dramatized in the film in the grand scheme of things it really is chillingly accurate for the most part, and considering the cast of characters involved Clark was the perfect director for this type of story, and as is the case with all of Clark‘s films whether that’s a good or bad thing is bound to cause an interesting debate. Bully might not be for everyone, true, but its unquestionably a profound statement from one of cinema’s most audacious provocateurs.  

Nightmares Come at Night (1970)

Its interesting to look at the career of the late Jess Franco in stages, from his early documentary work in the late 1950’s which eventually led to his entrance in the horror genre with gothic masterpieces such as The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962), The Sadistic Baron Von Klaus (1962) and The Diabolical Dr. Z (1965). Then there’s of course the Harry Alan Tower’s era where Franco certainly benefited from some of the largest budgets he ever had for his films. This particular era is where many feel Franco made some of his very best films for instance 99 Women (1969), Venus In Furs (1969), Eugenie… the Story of Her Journey Into Perversion (1969) and The Bloody Judge (1970) amongst many others. As any Francophile will attest too, as the 60’s progressed Franco’s films became more and more mind-bendingly surreal and would only become even more so entering the 70’s beginning with the now legendary Vampyros Lesbos (1971) staring Soledad Miranda. Nightmares Come at Night holds an interesting place within Franco’s body of work as it was one of the first films Franco helmed during his post-Towers era. It also happened to be one of Franco’s first films to feature Soledad and its very much a transitional film, one that is a clear stylistic sign of things to come from Franco as he would enter yet anther stage in his exhaustingly prolific directorial career.

Anna (Diana Lorys), a beautiful exotic dancer living with fellow dancer and lover Cynthia is being plagued by nightmares wherein she is committing a murder. The dreams always end the same, with Anna waking up to find her hands covered in blood and Anna plagued with feelings of guilt and fear. Both Cynthia and Anna’s psychologist Dr. Lucas (Paul Muller) reassure Anna that her dreams are just that, dreams and she has nothing to worry about. Still, the nightmares continue and soon Anna’s sanity begins to slowly deteriorate as the lines between reality and fantasy become increasingly blurred.

Nightmares Comes at Night (Les cauchemars naissent la nuit, and yes that title is rather redundant) is certainly a curious entry in Franco’s extensive body of work. Obviously this wasn’t Franco’s first head-trip into subconscious delirium as this film could be seen as somewhat similar to Succubus (1967) in the way Franco transitions from sequences supposedly taking place within reality into otherworldly realms and back again until eventually trying to distinguish one from another becomes tricky. While its true that this film is nowhere near as ambiguous as Succubus in that department, at least early on as Anna’s dreams are fairly distinguishable from what’s really happening to her, there are points in the film where Franco makes it unclear especially during one long segment presented via flashback, and the more the film moves forward the more esoteric it becomes particularly in the visual department, although a good portion of the film possesses a certain hazy ambiance. There’s even a classic prolonged nightclub striptease. Another unique thing about this film is the added crime subplot Franco included (where Miranda’s character factors in) which takes the film in some pretty unpredictable directions making it seem far less “plotless” than it might have originally came across especially in terms of the evolution of certain characters. Also alongside Paul Muller keep an eye out for Jack Taylor making an appearance as a literal man of Anna’s dreams during one of the films most memorable sequences, and of course the mesmerizing score from the always reliable Bruno Nicolai.

Again, Nightmares Come at Night was one of the first films of Franco’s featuring Soledad Miranda although it wasn’t the very first as she had a small cameo in Franco’s 1960 comedy Queen of the Tabarin Club. When the film first hit DVD in 2004 the DVD cover (shown above) was a classic case of false advertising featuring Soledad on the cover as well as giving her second billing which was a stretch to say the least. While she is indeed in the film her role is really a bit part, the film is truly Lorys’ show. Redemption recently re-released the film in August along with The Awful Dr. Orlof and A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973) as part of their Franco remaster series with a more accurate cover although Soledad still received second billing. Despite her small role in the film its one that led to her more famous turns in Count Dracula (1970), Vampyros Lesbos (1971), She Killed In Ecstasy (1971), The Devil Came From Akasava (1971) and Eugenie de Sade (1974) which is why this film is of particular importance in Franco’s filmography. Whether or not Nightmares Come at Night should be considered essential Franco or minor Franco in the grand scheme of things is debatable but for those among the Franco faithful who’ve yet to see it, Nightmares Come at Night is a worthy addition to any collection.