Dillinger Is Dead: DVD Review
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Page 1 of 3 Criterion / 1969 / 95 Minutes / Unrated / Street Date: March 16, 2010
Uncompromisingly weird, Dillinger Is Dead is the kind of bigger-than-life artfilm import that will either leave you squealing with metafilmic glee or have you lurching for the fast-forward button. Like his obvious cinematic compatriot Jean-Luc Godard, director Marco Ferreri doesn't seem to give a crap what you think about his loopy, hallucinogenic tale - he wants the images (and their juxtaposition) to speak for themselves, whether an audience can handle it or not. That kind of devil-may-care attitude makes films like Dillinger Is Dead - long out of print until Criterion swooped in on its acetate wings to liberate it from the vaults - at the very least ad admirable film: There's no denying that the movie is a-swish with ideas small and large. Utilizing symbolism as a shoehorn into all his characters' minds, Ferreri paints his canvas here with bold strokes, occupying very little interest or dedication to typical narrative nomenclature, instead letting Dillinger's brain-bending imagery lead the way.
60s cinema icon Michel Piccoli plays our protagonist here, a dude who lives in a painfully 'modern' home with a bunch of women, who one day comes upon a gun that very well might have been owned by gangster extraordinaire John Dillinger. The film then wavers and bloats, following slivers of storylines that involve a Valley of the Dolls wife (who he playfully pretends to fuck with a toy snake at one point), an extended sequence in front of the super-8 home movie projector (nothing makes the pants grow tighter like groping toward the images of ladies' breasts flickering on the wall), and a 'what in the HELL was that?' ending that involves a nice ocean swim, a nymphomaniac princess and a chocolate souffle. Got it? You'll know immediately if Dillinger Is Dead ruffles your feathers - for this writer, everything Ferreri pushed on me felt potent yet overly precious, like he was going out of his way to deliberately try too hard to make his points - but as a despiser of mediocre filmmaking, I have nothing but applause for a filmmaker (and a film) that offers no solace in narrative normalcy or compromise. That being said, if Dillinger Is Dead stays beyond arm's reach for you, be prepared to appreciate its intellectual bents while you wonder what in God's name is actually happening on screen. |
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