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» Wonderfully entertaining was the eye and mind candy that is the movie Pecker, of John Waters’ fame. Remember that Waters’ is the demented mind that has given us Pink Flamingos, Female trouble and Cecil B. Demented. Fortunately no excrement was consumed yet we are still tantalized with his staple themes of gender bending and the display of cultural taboos.
» This is the story of a young man that takes candidly honest photos and while having a one-man show in the greasy spoon where he is employed, is discovered and whisked away to join the New York art scene. Pecker, so named as he never eats; photo documents the banality of life in downtown Baltimore. He captures the images of drug users, strippers, bus riders, his girlfriend and a dozen other “real life” scenes from his daily adventures.
» Following a cast of oddballs through a grown man’s juvenile take on local Baltimore, the New York art scene and human nature at its most bizarre, has never been more fun. Pecker, played by Edward Furlong is a young man navigating through a jungle of art dealers, a crazy family and a mildly psychotic girlfriend. The cast includes a hopped-up sugar junkie sister, a grandmother that is convinced her statuette of Saint Mary speaks, a father rallying against the strip-club across the street displaying “full bush”, a homophile sister who works at the “Fudge Palace”, a kleptomaniac best friend and a girlfriend obsessed with maintaining her beloved Laundromat. They all collide into a headfirst dive into the absurd.
» The movie is cliché in a few areas. First, when Peckers new found fame affects his relationships with friends, family and girlfriend. Second, Waters’ follows a traditional D.W. Griffith approach to movie plot lines. It is a linear narrative with predictable climaxes, crashes and outcome. Pecker has just one show, in a sandwich shop no less, and is on his way to selling prints for upwards of $1500 a piece. He then encounters all the smiling art gallery people that the media tell us inhabit the New York art scene. The very people that are supporting Pecker by attending his show and buying his prints are confused in their roles as protagonist or antagonist. It is for us to decide who are the good and bad guys.
» Pecker really is a “feel good” look at art and its inherent highs and lows. The way in which Pecker is discovered probably does happen quite often, yet one must remember how many millions of artists are starving in an attempt to make it in the art world. This movie was enjoyable and even hilarious, I would recommend it to anyone.
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