In Her Smell, Elisabeth Moss creates a brilliant, manic, troubled character and that’s putting it mildly! Moss’ Becky Something is an indy rock star who skyrocketed in the 90’s and and then exploded in drug-fueled psychotic rage for the whole world to see. Moss goes-for-broke. If you think she takes parts that are reserved or cautious, all expectations are blown away in the first scene. This follows Moss’ uproarious dual-role in Jordan Peele’s Us to cement her fearlessness.
It’s inevitable this film will be compared to the recent Vox Lux starring Natalie Portman who also plays an unhinged, past-her-prime rock diva. Both performances veer close to the edge of exaggeration, but where Portman’s gum-cracking “New Joisy” accent elicits some snickers, Moss just grabs you by the throat and won’t let you turn away.
Writer/Director Alex Ross Perry’s confusing timeline clues us into flashbacks by changing the video aspect ratio to mimic a hand held home video cam of the earlier era. It’s here you see Becky and her bandmates Ali van der Wolff (Gayle Rankin-GLOW) and Marielle Hell (Agyness Deyn-Clash of the Titans) celebrate their early success mocking their cover shot on Spin Magazine.
Perry transports us a few years later when full-on crazy has kicked in for Becky. Habitually hours late for shows, she’s a combination druggie psychotic and cruel diva whose ego knows no bounds. When Becky’s band, She Something, finally takes the stage they bring down the house with a riveting, driving primal scream of a song.
The half hour opening sequence take place backstage before this performance. It’s in a small venue called Her Smell which befits her dwindling popularity. At this point the film has the look of a rockumentary as the camera rushes around the room trying to keep up with Becky’s rants in extreme close-up. The challenge for cinematographer Sean Price Williams and Editor Robert Greene is huge. They need to create some video markers for the audience to follow or else this is a jumbled map that leads nowhere. Fortunately, they have Moss’ in-the-zone performance. Through all the swish pans, zooms and crazy close-ups, they catch her cooked grin and the piercing, hateful, glaring eyes that keeps their narrative in place.
For the vast majority of the movie, Becky has no redeeming value. She bullies and takes her bandmates for granted. She bites the hand that feeds her, namely the timid owner of her record label, Howard (Eric Stoltz). She pushes away from love. She walked out on her ex-husband Danny (Dan Stevens), but he comes to see her anyway, bringing their infant daughter whom she barely wants to hold.
A valid question for Perry is, “Who is Becky, really?” Is she just a drug-addled rocker or did the director have the vision of someone like Courtney Love in mind when he sent Moss in front of his camera? Ms. Love should not be flattered by the sneering, conceited, manipulative character on screen. In interviews Perry says the 90’s metal riot grrrl band L7 gave him the actual inspiration for his characters.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin consequat turpis eros, et elementum leo porttitor id. Integer quis enim at urna tincidunt molestie ac ac orci. Proin et urna eget nunc sagittis auctor vitae accumsan orci. Curabitur feugiat urna non blandit tincidunt. Nam porta eleifend porta. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla fringilla nisi in metus finibus, sit amet rhoncus ligula interdum.
Aenean efficitur vitae orci non sodales. In nec justo tempor, ullamcorper arcu eu, maximus leo. Proin a congue turpis. Aliquam iaculis augue ac enim lobortis semper. Pellentesque vulputate nibh vel ligula porta aliquet. Sed aliquet turpis diam, ut luctus orci efficitur a. Morbi elit arcu, sollicitudin aliquet porttitor in, vulputate nec justo. Mauris pulvinar nisl augue. Mauris ut quam nunc. In accumsan lobortis magna, eu egestas nulla semper quis. Nulla aliquam, nunc ut auctor mollis, enim quam mattis quam, a ornare tortor ligula a magna. Donec in feugiat purus. Praesent aliquet ante nulla, ut pellentesque dui molestie eu. Aliquam sit amet neque metus. Maecenas purus risus, hendrerit in tortor nec, rhoncus iaculis velit.
Nulla ornare libero ac odio elementum lacinia. Aliquam fermentum dolor sit amet erat rutrum placerat. Ut tincidunt, ante in eleifend lobortis, odio neque pellentesque augue, sed blandit orci purus at leo. Praesent tempor risus hendrerit convallis ultrices. Pellentesque ligula nisl, blandit non nulla in, aliquam posuere nisi. Nullam ac mauris lectus. Mauris dictum mi et porta convallis. Maecenas sapien leo, porta eu maximus ut, ultricies sit amet elit. Nulla maximus dictum metus, sed posuere libero accumsan nec. Phasellus id eros quis ligula facilisis facilisis sed et diam. Vestibulum porttitor nisi massa, vel congue velit efficitur eu. Phasellus quam lectus, venenatis eget hendrerit a, dapibus nec justo. In ultricies nulla nec erat tincidunt porttitor.
