My review was written in June 1988 after a screening at Mark Goodson theater in Manhattan's Columbus Circle.
"Exquisite Corpses" is an offbeat, New York-made black comedy that will be of interest to followers of the indie scene, both locally and in Europe. Pic debuted at the Cannes film market in May 1988. Currently in 16mm, feature is due for 35mm blowup before release.
Pic has a cult hook in casting of Zoe Tamerlaine Lund (formerly Zoe Tamerlis), who first scored in Abel Ferrara's thriller "Ms. 45". She portrays Belinda, a mysterious femme fatale who ultimately spells curtains for the hapless hero Tim (musician Gary Knox in his film acting debut).
In a pastiche on "Midnight Cowboy", Tim is a cowboy from Oklahoma who arrives in the Big Apple with high hopes of stardom. After the usual mistreatment by the cruel big city denizens, he lands a gig as singer/dancer/trombonist in a cabaret. His undoing is getting mixed up in a murder triangle involving Belinda and her weak husband.
Stylized with the sort of pastel lighting associated with Amos Poe's "Subway Riders" (which was lensed by "Sugarbaby"'s Johanna Heer), "Corpses" is best in its scenes of wacky humor and decadent cabaret routines, benefiting at times from Knox' uneven musical score which veers from lyrical to gauche.
Final reel attempts to create a tough guy film noir feel, but is too talky, burdened with unconvincing plot twists (regarding how the murder actually was committed) and a failed attempt at whipping up some international intrigue regarding a communist agent. Frank Roccio contributes an effective supporting role as TIm's aggressively homosexual talent agent.
In the leads, Lund is suitably exotic and has a very strange musical production number to boot. Knox is better at the naive early scenes than his fey transition to successful cabaret star. Likewise, debuting filmmaker Temistocles Lopez, a Venezuelan transplant to New York with stage experience, shows promise but produces here a film of extreme highs and lows.
Picture is dedicated to the late film historian Carlos Clarens, who was set for a supporting role but died before production commenced.
