REPO YOUR ENTHUSIASM (11)
By:
May 4, 2024
One in a series of 25 enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of “offbeat” movies from the Eighties (1984–1993, in our periodization schema). Series edited by Josh Glenn.
EATING RAOUL | PAUL BARTEL | 1982
The Swinging ’80s are the backdrop for Eating Raoul, with an opening narration about perverts who roam the streets of LA. It’s akin to those short films from the ’50s on the dangers of… everything. While in the Army, Paul Bartel made films for the U.S. Information Agency, then later directed Roger Corman movies: Death Race 2000, Hollywood Boulevard, Piranha. Eating Raoul feels like the mutant child of both these “parents.”
Our heroes, Paul and Mary Bland (Bartel himself and frequent costar Mary Woronov), are a happily asexual couple who wear matching PJs and sleep in Ozzie-and-Harriet beds. By contrast, they live in a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah, where Mary is constantly fending off sleaze balls who refuse to hear “no” — including a patient where Mary works, and Buck Henry, who plays the aptly named Mr. Leech.
Subtlety is out the window here, as this is a cartoonish take on sex in the ’80s. After Paul loses his job and Mary’s attempt to get a loan is thwarted by Mr. Leech — who rejects her request after she rejects him — their bucolic dream of owning a country restaurant seems doomed. That is, until a series of misadventures leads Mary to become “Naughty Nancy,” luring pervs to their apartment for a few minutes of discipline and/or cosplay followed by Paul emerging with a frying pan and BAM! — a lethal knock to the head.
Since these clients are willing to pay for play, Paul and Mary believe they may get that country restaurant after all. Enter Raoul (Robert Beltran, who would later appear with Woronov in Night of the Comet). He’s a thief posing as a locksmith who installs a lock on the Blands’ door, then breaks in — only to find a Nazi banner, cash, and a dead body in a trash bag. It’s all in a night’s work for the Blands, but Raoul wants a cut of the action….
Eating Raoul emerged during the Reagan Era, so you’d think it might poke fun at the staid and moral, and revel instead in a hot-tub party. In fact, it’s more about the ridiculousness of the world we lived in then — like when the Blands get a tutorial from “Dora the Dominatrix” while she’s off-duty feeding her toddler.
Do we root for the Blands? After all, they kill and rob for a living. But in the exaggerated world they live in, it’s hard to judge them for it.
REPO YOUR ENTHUSIASM: INTRODUCTION by Josh Glenn | Annie Nocenti on AFTER HOURS | Lynn Peril on BRAZIL | Mandy Keifetz on BODY DOUBLE | Carlo Rotella on ROBOCOP | Marc Weidenbaum on GROUNDHOG DAY | Erik Davis on REPO MAN | Mimi Lipson on STRANGER THAN PARADISE | Josh Glenn on HOW TO GET AHEAD IN ADVERTISING | Susan Roe on HOUSEKEEPING | Gordon Dahlquist on SOMETHING WILD | Heather Quinlan on EATING RAOUL | Anthony Miller on MIRACLE MILE | Karinne Keithley Syers on BETTER OFF DEAD | Adam McGovern on WALKER | Ramona Lyons on MILLER’S CROSSING | Vanessa Berry on WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS? | Elina Shatkin on NIGHT OF THE COMET | Susannah Breslin on MAN BITES DOG | Tom Nealon on DELICATESSEN | Lisa Jane Persky on RUMBLE FISH | Dean Haspiel on WEIRD SCIENCE | Heather Kapplow on HEATHERS | Micah Nathan on BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA | Deborah Wassertzug on ELECTRIC DREAMS | Mark Kingwell on WITHNAIL AND I.
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