Search - Boy Meets Girl on DVD

Yucky

Jeffrey Leach | Omaha, NE USA | 06/04/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Boy Meets Girl" came to me highly recommended by a fan of extreme horror movies. I figured I would give it a shot based solely on his opinion. Well, sometimes you hit it big when a pal gives you tip and sometimes you don't. This 1994 movie from British director Ray Brady falls somewhere in between. As I watched the dark scenes slowly unfold on the television screen, I couldn't help but draw a parallel to what I was seeing with what George Orwell described in his novel "1984." Remember when Winston went into that dreaded room that contained the darkest fears of each individual who went there? Remember how his persecutor tormented him so long and so horribly that he eventually modified his thinking to blindly accept whatever Big Brother wanted him to believe? When he actually begged his tormentor to put him out of his misery rather than endure another electric shock? That's essentially what happens in "Boy meets Girl." One of the extras on the disc is a commentary track from the director; I should have listened to it to see if he got his inspiration from Orwell's dystopian classic.The film starts innocuously enough. A guy named Tevin (Tim Poole) meets a stunning French beauty, Anne Marie (Margot Steinberg) in a crowded bar. He strikes up a conversation that soon leads to the pair heading to her apartment for a nightcap and probably much more. After a bit of small talk at the apartment, the French gal offers her new boyfriend a drink to relax. The next thing Tevin knows, he's not feeling well at all and his conquest is hovering over him with concern. Flash forward through unconsciousness and Tevin finds himself waking up strapped into a dentist's chair in a very dark room. All types of unpleasant looking tools, including an innocent looking video camera, clutter the room. The French girl is here too, except she suddenly has no accent and seems to be quite upset with Tevin. This poor chap does what anyone would do in a similar situation: screams (no one can hear him), struggles futilely against his bonds, and tries to reason with his captor. All to no avail. She's not letting him go no matter what he does, although she occasionally dangles references to freedom in front of him just to torment him. What happens then is a real shocker.Tevin's first tormentor disappears, replaced by another woman named Julia (Danielle Sanderson). This woman isn't as overtly dangerous as the first gal, at least not at first. She seems to exhibit real concern for Tevin's condition until he slowly begins to realize this is just another phase of the game. Then the tortures start, hideous tortures involving weird things like microwave ovens (didn't Paul Atreides in "Dune" undergo this test?) and things placed over the head. I won't go into detail about what Julia does to Tevin except to say the implications are decidedly unpleasant. Moreover, Julia likes to talk to Tevin, telling him how much of a jerk he is and how he deserves everything he gets. She reveals that she knows everything about his life and his job, all the bad things he's done to his family and friends. It's obvious this abduction has been planned out well in advance. This lady even has photographs of his family. As time progresses and Tevin grows weaker from the endless shocks to his system, Julia reveals what she's been doing in this little dark room for a long, long time. Can a woman be a serial killer? Apparently so in the world in which this movie is set. The conclusion, I almost hesitate to say because it should be so obvious, is not a pretty one."Boy Meets Girl" will probably leave a bad taste in your mouth. It's designed that way. The English film censors banned this film for over eight years due to the subject matter. I usually don't take too much stock in the British cinema police, though. Many of the films on the "video nasties" list are so tame it's laughable that any government could have defined them as subversive or too graphic. Brady's film probably does fit certain criteria, though. The dialogue, even more than the violence, is perverse and degrading. The philosophy of "Boy Meets Girl" is sickening too, a mix of the Marquis de Sade with a form of ultra feminism that any decent human being should find repellent. Brady mixes things up by switching perspectives frequently, from what the video camera in the torture chamber is showing back to film showing the whole room. Perhaps a not too subtle rumination on the public's love for violence shown in the media? Who knows, but I suspect someone like Aileen Wuornos would have loved this film.The biggest problem I had with "Boy Meets Girl" was the picture quality on the DVD version. So much haze clouded the picture that I felt like I was watching a second-generation VHS dupe. Such a bad quality transfer is a real problem when most of the film takes place in a darkened room. Still, the movie is an interesting one even if it does feel highly derivative. Poole does a wonderful job as the terrified Tevin. Margot Steinberg and Danielle Sanderson both turn in strong performances as women willing to carry things over the edge. A nihilistic, cynical film destined to be a minor cult classic; "Boy Meets Girl" needs a decent picture transfer more than it needs a bigger distributor. Oh, trailers on the disc include one for "Flower of Flesh and Blood." That ought to tell you a bit more about what this film is like."

Contrived and Confused. What a mess.

stu | 05/24/2005

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I had been hearing about this movie for years. It is often spoken of along side films such as "Henry: Portait of a Serial Killer," "Man Bites Dog," "I Stand Alone" "Funny Games," and other works of profoundly disturbing cinema. Being, Myself, a fan of such feel-bad films, I could not help but indulge my curiosity and give it a rent.

What a disappointment. I guess the first thing I want to point out is that this film is not scary or suspenseful or even the slightest bit psychologically disturbing. Not that it doesn't try. In fact, when one considers the basic premise of the movie (torture) and its content (scenes of torture), it becomes achingly apparent just how horribly it fails in its purpose.

You ask for particulars? The script is a meandering, self-conscious mess. Despite all the juvenile psycho-babble, "Boy Meets Girl" has absolutely no philosophy. If Brady was going for nihilism, he should have trimmed his talky script considerably.

Due to the clunky dialogue, it is hard to judge the actor's performances. There wasn't much any actor could have done to salvage this script.

The extra star is for some decent production values (for a low-budget) and for the attempt, however flawed, to do something provocative."