The poster for Darryl Roberts' ( pictured ) documentary America the Beautiful asks the question 'Is America obsessed with beauty?,' and when one considers our plastic-surgery, youth-oriented, trashy-reality-show-mad culture, the answer isn't just a resounding, ironic 'yes,' it's a Susan-Powter-Stop-the-Insanity 'YES!' Stop the insanity, indeed.
As Roberts' insightful and entertaining film makes clear, this obsession with physical perfection has wrought inestimable damage to our collective psyche and, worse, doesn't show any sign of abating. It's a huge topic, but Roberts manages to stuff in a lot of sobering statistics as he tackles a host of the usual culprits while unearthing new variations on the topic. Roberts' personal approach is not unlike that of Michael Moore, though his spoken commentary isn't nearly as snarky and you don't feel him managing the material; moreover, the humor in the film ( and there's lots of it ) isn't mean-spirited. His approach is looser, more free-form and it feels like the personalities come through intact with their honest responses to his queries ( and Roberts—with his shambling, deceptively easygoing manner and large comportment—could be the African-American doppelganger of Moore ) .
The film begins with the contrast between two 12-year-old African-American girls: Ashley, who frankly describes herself as 'ugly' without a whisper of derision or self-pity and Gerren Taylor, her supposed opposite who is destined to become the darling of the New York designer runway shows. By the end, in a devastating summation, Taylor will seem to end up where Ashley has begun. In between, Roberts follows Taylor's ascent as he sidebars into everything from an ad executive talking about women's different levels of 'beauty involvement' to a particularly dreadful story of plastic surgery gone wrong; the toxic substances hidden in perfumes and cosmetics; a Web site for 'beautiful people' only; an anthropologist studying the adverse psychological effects of television's idea of beauty on young teenage girls in Fiji; the continued rise of anorexia and bulimia; and on and on. Eve Ensler, gay gossip columnist Ted Casablanca, Paris Hilton, Red Hot Chili Pepper's Anthony Kiedis and assorted other experts on the subject make appearances as Roberts explores his subject.
As Roberts' movie also makes clear, the inherent shallowness of the cult of beauty has become blurred with the rise of our celebrity culture and our standards of beauty have become much more rigid with the proliferation of technology, too. Breathtaking good looks used to be reserved for movie ( and later TV ) stars. Mere mortals couldn't hope to look like the gods and goddesses on the screen and, honestly, they still can't ( it's called lighting, make-up and CG effects, people ) but dismantling and reveling in the flaws of the airbrushed, carefully constructed non-human facades of the star beauties via the gossip Web sites and rags hasn't lessened the insatiable need to try and physically emulate them ( especially for women, and a case could be made for gay men as well ) .
America the Beautiful is a great film that explores some of these questions—a provocative cautionary tale that, fingers crossed, might also act as a wake-up call. The film opens Friday and plays exclusively at the Landmark Century Centre Cinema. Don't miss it. www.americathebeautifuldoc.com
Film Notes:
—The Music Box Theatre offers a weekend of movie genres for every taste. On Fri., May 9, the 1979 Midnight Movie 'classic' Rock-n-Roll High School—which features Halloween's P.J. Soles as a Ramones groupie who leads a student revolt against the oppressive, rock-music-hating principal, Miss Togar ( the hilarious Mary Woronov ) —will screen at 8 p.m. Rock critics Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis, co-hosts of 'Sound Opinions,' will host the event and presumably chat with special guest Woronov about her frequent co-star, the late gay actor-writer-director Paul Bartel, who makes a cameo in the film.
Woronov is again the special guest Sat., May 10, when host Rusty Nails presides over his annual Sci-Fi Spectacular, which once again promises no less than 12 hours of sci-fi thrills and kicks off at noon. The marathon includes Island of the Lost Souls ( the 1932 masterful version with gay actor Charles Laughton in the leading role ) , Earth vs. The Flying Saucers and Invasion of the Body Snatchers ( both from 1956 ) , 1981's The Road Warrior ( look for the crazed Wez, the gay killer with the Mohawk and his pretty blonde boy-toy who gets taken out by the feral kid's deadly boomerang ) , 1975's Paul Bartel's Death Race 2000 ( which co-stars Woronov ) , 1982's Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Kahn ( with hunky Ricardo Montalban as the villain ) , and, finally, 1987's Robocop.
The weekend concludes Sun., May 11, with a screening of 1981's Mommie Dearest—The Mt. Everest of Mother's Day movies … on Mother's Day. Dick O'Day ( the alter ego of yours truly ) hosts the 2:30 p.m. pre-show, which includes a Joan Crawford look-a-like contest, festive prizes and a performance by The Joans, David Cerda's Joan Crawford rock band, followed by the 3 p.m. 'interactive' screening. Early arrivals will also get a chance to pose for photos with Joan and Christina dolled up in their matching pinafores by renowned photographer Rick Aguilar ( proceeds to benefit Season of Concern/Chicago ) . A few of those V.I.M. ( Very Important Mother ) $20 tickets ( 1:30 p.m. brunch at Violet and preferred seating at the screening ) are still available. Advance tickets and further information on all three events are at www.musicboxtheatre.com .
—Chicago Filmmakers presents Dyke Delicious Series 5: Invisible Women ( in front of and behind the camera ) Sat., May 10. This edition of the long-running series includes Lip, a 1999 short subject that focuses on Hollywood's history of sidelining Black actresses into the stereotypical role of the maid ( and 'giving lip' to their white bosses ) and Women Who Made the Movies, a 1992 overview of women behind the camera that includes directors Dorothy Azner and Ida Lupino. As usual, the evening begins with a 7 p.m. social hour followed by the screenings at 8 p.m. Co-presented by Black Cat Productions. www.chicagofilmmakers.org
Check out my archived reviews at www.windycitytimes.com or www.knightatthemovies.com . Readers can leave feedback at the latter Web site, where there is also ordering information on my book of collected film reviews, Knight at the Movies 2004-2006.
