Film: Double Bill

PAUL CHART, DIRECTOR OF `AMERICAN PERFEKT', RELEASED 11 JUNE, ON HIS IDEAL DOUBLE BILL

TIE ME UP! TIE ME DOWN! (PEDRO ALMODOVAR, 1989)

BADLANDS (TERRENCE MALICK, 1974)

"THESE TWO films had a great impact on me. Both are totally non-judgemental about their central characters and avoid a "message".

Badlands is supposedly based on a true story, and it's about a 15-year- old hick girl who gets hooked up with a 20-year old garbage-disposal worker, and falls purely and utterly in love. She can't see he is a psychopath. Her character, played by Sissy Spacek, wants to escape from an oppressive small-town home, and they go on this road journey.

It works on several different levels; what you see is not necessarily what is truly happening, and the real story takes time to reveal itself. There are different viewpoints. One narrative is from Spacek's character, and she sings the praises of her lover and protector. All the while this guy is losing it and leaving a trail of murder and mayhem in their wake.

I was struck by the dangers these characters were in, emotionally and physically. And how this was clear without the film detailing the violence.

Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! is the story of a young man released from prison and obsessed by an ex-porn film actress. He believes he is in love with her, and that if she got to know him, she would fall in love with him too. He ends up kidnapping and imprisoning her, at one point literally tying her to the bed. He hopes this will give them enough time to fall in love. Which it pretty much does.

This film reveals the negative aspects of a personality, or how you can fall in love for the wrong reasons, and how they are just as important as the positive ones.

The film attracted a diverse audience, independent coolites as well as blokes looking for a sexy picture. Something would happen and only one element would respond. But then there would be a moment when everybody would react the same way and suddenly discover a great unity."