Girls, Drugs, and Guns. Now how about a point?
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As a fan of 60’s and 70’s exploitation flicks, it really bums me out when a movie makes naked nubile beauties snorting coke, turning tricks, and blowing people’s brains out unappealing. 2004’s Greek powerhouse of style attempting to masquerade as substance, Hardcore, is just that film.
No really, kiddies, I’m just kidding. Sex, drugs, and violence are bad and shouldn’t be celebrated in film. Well, that is unless they are presented in a fun manner. Hardcore is not fun. It’s not really even that entertaining. And for the trench coat faction of you out there it’s not even very erotic. It just kind of sits there like a million other pretentious arty films that wallow in sensational topics just to get attention but offer little in story or substance.
Well, at least the chicks are hot.
Hardcore follows two teenage prostitutes in Athens, Nadia (Katerina Tsavalou) and Martha (Danae Skiadi), who fall in love with each other (even though they both have fellow prostitute boyfriends), kill their pimp, blame it on one of the boyfriends, and go off together as Nadia becomes a famous TV star and model. The ups and downs of their twisted relationship are explored while Nadia, who is the “bad girl” of the two, screws her way up the corporate entertainment ladder and Martha declines into a life of drug abuse and depression. Some sort of redemption supposedly takes place at the end, but it beats me what that is.
It’s kind of unfortunate that the story is so silly and pointless because the look of the film is great. Hardcore is director DennisIliadis’s first feature film and he does a great job of presenting the world these two live in as a dark, disturbing place. There are a few fantasy-type sequences in which Martha is dreaming of a better life that are really well done but are unfortunately like small diamonds periodically peeking out of a vast pool of foul, slimy, sewage.
Alright, I have another thing to get off my chest: I hated Leaving Las Vegas. That movie was, to me, a nihilistic exercise in depravity that had no point, no redeeming value, and was absolutely no fun. Hardcore seems to follow along the same lines as Leaving Las Vegas, and I enjoyed it about as much. I guess I just don’t get this kind of film-making because Leaving Las Vegas received a lot of critical acclaim when it came out and I’m sure somebody is going to think Hardcore is utterly brilliant. True, it’s visually appealing and clever at times, but it’s ultimately a waste of time.
The disc itself, however, presents the movie well. The picture and audio are great and there are a fair amount of special features, including deleted scenes, a music video, a theatrical trailer, and a photo gallery. The deleted scenes don’t add much; like most films they were deleted for a reason. I guess if you don’t find the movie itself boring and terrible, you might find the deleted scenes of some value.
I think I’ve said enough negative things about this movie already. Those of you who like foreign arty sex murder films may get a big kick out of this one. Like I said, the disc is good. I just wish the movie was better.