Friday, February 27, 1998
Search for ‘The Real Blonde’ leaves no feelings unmoved
FILM: Ironic humor, sympathy evoke insight on characters in
pursuit of perfection in world
By Michelle Nguyen
Daily Bruin Contributor
In today’s fast-paced superficiality of organic coffee and
drive-thru dry cleaners, there is still truth and beauty.
Our modern artist is Tom DiCillo, and his new film, "The Real
Blonde," is his muse. DiCillo has created a comedy using New York’s
entertainment and fashion industry as its backdrop. The sad, but
deeply human subjects of his comedy are players in this industry –
products of a society whose emphasis lies in pursuing goals
empty-handed.
"It’s one thing to strive for things. It’s another to strive for
it and not have a sense of yourself while you’re doing it," says
Elizabeth Berkley, who stars in the film. "Now, taking that serious
note and spinning it around on its head is what Tom DiCillo does so
well."
The currents of sarcastic wit and sympathy that mark DiCillo’s
style in "Living in Oblivion"and "Box of Moonlight" continue to run
through "The Real Blonde."
"He and his wicked sense of humor poke fun of not only the
industry, but humanity. But it also shows the heart too, " Berkley
says.
No person is too cool to be spared in "The Real Blonde." DiCillo
has Steve Buscemi step down from the altar of independent films to
play a cameo as an outlandish, ego-heavy music-video director.
"(Buscemi’s) character is kinda pissed off that he’s an indie
filmmaker, and now he’s doing a video. You know, his snobbish
attitude,"Berkley says. "So (the film) pokes fun at ego."
With the national wrath for her feature film debut in
"Showgirls" behind her, Berkley herself is cast as a struggling,
fragile actress hoping for exposure as a Madonna body double.
The players in this tragic comedy are young, pretty people who
are struggling to do something with their lives. There is Joe
(Matthew Modine), an actor who still does not want to compromise
himself by pursuing demeaning parts. Mary (Catherine Keener), Joe’s
live-in lover, relentlessly tries to free her male-directed
hostilities by going to her sleazy shrink and her self-defense
class, taught by Doug (Denis Leary).
DiCillo chooses a slice-of-life approach that is akin to Robert
Altman’s. This rhythmic, fast-paced approach might reflect
DiCillo’s worries that people’s lives have been reduced to sound
bites.
The title of the film comes from the story line of Joe’s fellow
actor-waiter, Bob (Maxwell Caulfield) who is in pursuit of the
"real blonde," a true golden girl who doesn’t get her blonde from a
bottle. The directions of his pursuit aim at his soap opera
co-star, Kelly (Daryl Hannah) and the supermodel Sahara (Bridgette
Wilson).
"The fact that there’s only a certain caliber of woman that
(Bob’s) prepared to commit to means that he does have an easy
get-out each and every time," Caulfield says. "I think the guy is
close to approaching some kind of sexual burnout, and we witness it
in the movie."
During his incessant search for the real blonde, one must wonder
if any of Bob’s candidates are real blondes. Caulfield can only lay
claim to Daryl Hannah’s status as a blonde. Smirking widely,
Caulfield says, "I’m the only person that can actually answer that
question because umm … The script originally called for her to
flash the camera. I was the only person privy to that, and I think
it’s so obvious Daryl Hannah’s a blonde, but I definitely had the
Cadbury seat on that one."
On a serious note though, the phrase "the real blonde" provides
a larger metaphor for the whole lot of society who strives for an
invisible perfection.
"I think America is becoming a cartoon society," Caulfield says.
"We are looked upon as the society that has its act most together
… and yet we are getting more and more caught up with image and
perception as opposed to reality and facts. Without getting too
heavy about it Tom’s got an interesting viewpoint on it. It is
something to poke fun at."
DiCillo does paint a world of colorfully ludicrous characters,
but his film is hardly a scathing indictment of their world. He
shows them in a purely human light, synchronically sympathizing and
taunting.
"The one thing the English used to accuse America of is having
no sense of irony. I think that’s really coming along really fast
in America," observes Caulfield, a born and bred Englishman. "I
once asked my mother to define irony, and she said it’s laughing
with tears in your eyes, and I think the movie does that."
DiCillo’s sympathetic sentiments are epitomized in a scene where
Sahara (Bridgette Wilson), a blonde supermodel, has bruises on her
face from Bob’s beating. Her photographer (Marlo Thomas), ecstatic
with her genius and artistry, decides that Sahara should pose as
is, adorned with bruises, lingerie and snakes.
Wilson felt self-consciously weird when she was actually doing
the photo shoot, but the impact of the image really hit hard when
she actually saw the dailies.
"When I was watching the photo shoot, it was so sad to me
because, first of all, the issue of what really happened to her is
sort of skirted throughout the entire movie, which I think is how
oftentimes it’s dealt with," Wilson says.
In the film, this photo of Sahara was turned into an
advertisement, a biting sign that some "artists" think this brand
of sad beauty does sell.
FILM: "The Real Blonde" opens today.
Paramount
Matthew Modine and Elizabeth Berkley star in "The Real
Blonde."