Damsels in Distress

Ah, those womenfolk are always getting themselves in scrapes. If it's not getting lost in caves overrun with cannibal mutants then it's getting abducted by a prostitution ring.

Afraid of the Dark? You Will Be.

That's the tagline for the British horror flick The Descent. It sounds kind of lame, but after the movie, you realize that it's absolutely true. Writer/director Neil Marshall, of Dog Soldiers, effectively plays upon our innate fear of the dark and enclosed spaces with a truly scary and tension-filled movie. He makes full use of his low budget and wisely uses most of it on creature makeup and set-building. The premise is so simple - a bunch of women get lost in a cave and have to fend off monsters they find inside - yet it manages to avoid all the pitfalls of lesser movies and delivers the goods, both in terms of scares and emotional trauma. On top of that, it had me thinking and analyzing it later, which is always a good thing.

The bad: A pointless snip of the censor's scissors in the middle of an action sequence. Why? It's not like monsters chewing on people weren't shown earlier on.

Lilja 4-Ever deals with a young girl's descent into prostitution and slavery, basically. It's not just poor Asian girls that fall prey to sex slavery rings, naive white girls are equally desirable prey. There's really no way you can make a cheerful movie out of this material, yet somehow, through the despair, you marvel at the rare glimpses of hope and human connection that exist. The bond forged between the title character and a young boy is pretty much the emotional crux of the film, and it's a beautifully depicted friendship, tender in its sincerity and heartbreaking in its fragility. My viewing companion and I had some problems with the ending, which seemed to be taking the easy (and clichéd) way out, even though it could possibly be interpreted in another manner.

And where are the men in this equation? The procurers, the clients, the pimps, the child-beaters, the mother-seducers, the scum of the earth. It's not an accident that her only friend who sticks by her isn't a man, but a boy. If there's one thing the two films have in common, besides women getting into trouble, it's the fact that there's no fucking white knight in shining armor riding in to save the day. These women are tough, and take matters into their own hands, relegating men to the role of useless appendages. It's a scary world out there, but if there's anyone that could handle it, these women can.

Women Power. Part of a new wave in cinema? Possibly, judging by upcoming films like North Country. (Yes, I know it's already over and done with in the US. It hasn't reached Singapore shores though) But it could very well be just a coincidence. Meanwhile, I'll be in the corner, reflecting on my role as a useless appendage.