MaXXXine

Ti West completed his trilogy of horror movies starring Mia Goth with a spectacular ultra-pastiche that in a certain respect not only tops off the series and the director’s filmography to date, but also the entire filmmaking tradition of decadent genres. Since time immemorial, all trash filmmakers have longed for acceptance and recognition, which means studio facilities and shooting in Hollywood. West’s trilogy about the alluring nature of filmmaking and promises of fame ends there. The director absolutely delights in the eclectic composition of allusions and references. His film radiates enthusiasm for the high and the low, thus setting side by side allusions ranging from porn to Chinatown, from American trash to giallo, and from Psycho to The Long Goodbye. Taking full advantage of the fulfilled dream of making his film under the wing of the celebrated Universal Studios, he stages a fannish tour of not only iconic locations in L.A., but mainly Universal’s outdoor sets. In so doing, he recalls the VHS era, highlights genre movies made by ambitious female directors and settles accounts with the religionists and moralists who protested against trash filmmakers and their works in the 1980s. However MaXXXine still primarily remains a hedonistic genre fantasy that doesn’t aim for historical accuracy (e.g. female directors were given room to work by Corman, not by the major studios). The main denominator here is the filmmaker’s own joy and, ideally, that of viewers having the same mindset. We could reach for the word Tarantino-esque, but that would be inadequate and limiting in any case. Because whereas Tarantino makes ultimate paraphrases of his favourite genres by ingeniously twisting iconic moments with his screenwriting, West outright composes an enthusiastic tribute that makes do with a fetishistic reconstruction that isn’t much more sophisticated than its inspirations in terms of screenwriting, but is joyfully informed by those films and enthusiastically revels in the possibilities that present themselves (which is perfectly confirmed by the closing vanity shot). (30/06/2024)

Ti West has concluded his loose Texas-Hollywood trilogy for us, and there's a bit of a pattern to it now. With X, West dazzled us with a very accomplished retro visual style, although the simple script wasn't exactly anything to write home about. Then came Pearl, a rather admirable horror character study and the highlight (or anomaly) of the entire trilogy, and by extension the director's entire catalogue. With MaXXXine, West has rather returned to the beginning again, that is, to the triumph of form over content. On paper, it feels a little unfinished, unpolished, perhaps the director has become a bit tired as an auteur. It's still great fun, has great visuals, and the setting in the mid-80s looks totally believable. Ti West has never been a strong screenwriter, but he likes film, he likes filmmaking, and he also likes to quote from genre classics. A slight disappointment after the great Pearl, but a fine unpretentious movie nonetheless. [KVIFF 2024] (06/07/2024)