Last night I had the pleasure of viewing Eve’s Necklace at its Los Angeles premiere as part of the American Cinematheque’s film noir series. I was introduced to this film by one of my favorite partners in bizarre-film-going, Melissa, who frequent readers may remember from my adventures at Sundance this January. Melissa happened to be in town last night for the screening: double yay.
Eve’s Necklace, the third film from writer/director/producer Daniel Erickson, is the story of Eva, a Mexican immigrant and ex-pornstar, who thinks her new American life as a recently pregnant housewife married to a business man is just perfect, until a thug from her past threatens to take it all away. The film is classic noir, black and white, with a way-beyond-the-top dramatic score.
So here’s the trailer for “Eve’s Necklace”. I’ll wait. Oh, yes, the cast is entirely mannequins. Now you see the appeal.
What did you think of the trailer? I think it’s one of those trailers that leaves one thinking, “This film will be great if the trailer is only giving me a taste of the plot, but it will be painfully terrible if the trailer is showing me the best parts.” (Which do you think was the case?)
This movie was a joy to watch. The mannequin effects were near-perfect. There were a number of legitimately funny moments, aside from the many awkward moments that provoked laughter.
And now that I’ve said some positive things, I will begin my brutal criticism. This film failed in many ways, completely apart from the mannequins. In general, the plot shied away from its potential. This story could have been filled with deceit, mystery, suspense… you know, like a real film noir. Instead, the main conflict is laid out clearly early on, with nary a stake to be raised. I would have taken the well-meaning neighbor Cindy and exposed the dark side of suburbia, like maybe her son’s crippling train accident was no accident! I would have made the thug, Ramon, increasingly threatening, instead of turning him into a common thief by the end. I would have had William actually kill himself over the torment of his wife’s past, because WHY NOT? Of course, I wish most of the cast had been killed off by the end. The fact that Eva’s baby survived this ordeal and there was an actual happy ending was the real tragedy in this film.
If the answers to why this film failed for me were murky by the credits, they became clear during the Q & A with Daniel Erickson. (And, I should note, everyone else in the audience LOVED this movie. To the point that someone was called upon for a question, and instead had a chorus of people chime “AMAZING!!” So, Erickson succeeded with the majority of the viewers. Cheers.) Erickson is from Austin, TX and answered questions like an incredulous child (or an alien, depending on how much of a jerk you feel like). I found myself being simultaneously proud and embarassed for him. He made a film, it’s getting exposure, people generally like it, and that’s amazing. But he also could have made this novelty movie EPIC, and his complete unawareness is what pained me during his talk. For instance, he said that he hopes Eve’s Necklace will be made someday with human actors, and that this version will be a fun dvd extra. I slouched in my seat. That’s your big dream for your work?!
Besides the writing and plot problems I had with Eve’s Necklace, there was the voice over of the mannequins. These parts were acted so poorly that we all left the theater wondering if it was intentional. I found out during the Q & A that these parts were recorded in one day, before the film was shot. Even though I thought the writing was bland, delivery would have made a big difference.
Possibly the best part about this film was the score. It took the film to a new level of suspense. But during the Q & A, Erickson revealed that the score was a never-used track by Bernard Herrmann (who scored all your favorite Hitchcock thrillers and little movies like “Citizen Kane”) and the rights have not as yet been secured. It’s filed right now as a “temp-track”. I won’t totally condemn this, but I thought it was strange to be showing the film without the music rights.
I also found out during the Q & A that the script was originally written for human actors. This dealt the K.O. blow to the film for me. This film would be unwatchable with human actors. (I’ve never used that phrase so much!) I keeled over in my seat. NO! NO! I scream-thought. That means you had no sense of irony about those mannequins!! ARGH!!!
Breath. I hope Daniel Erickson continues to make films and progress as a filmmaker, but damn it, there’s no “next time” with an all-mannequin movie.
