It is immediately obvious that while X and Pearl were written up and shot back-to-back, Maxxxine is a later, more meditated effort. Whereas the former pair cohere as a deliciously exciting thesis on repressed sexuality unleashed through violence, Maxxxine has little to offer except to reiterate those themes, all without the kinetic and joyously impulsive filmmaking that made them such a triumphant double feature in the first place.
Indeed, Maxxxine is barely a slasher at all, playing more like West’s take on Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, with a touch of Altman’s The Long Goodbye in its many meandering mysteries and day-in-the-life structure. Mia Goth’s titular heroine is at all times front and centre; we follow her across three days as she endeavours to transition from a porn star into doing ‘real movies’. In the background, whether in papers or on television sets, rumours fly about a supposed Night Stalker butchering women after dark. How these two storylines will converge, or indeed if they will at all, is a question teased for much of the film’s runtime, alongside a dozen other threads with varying levels of intrigue.
Goth is well capable of anchoring this increasingly scattered L.A. epic, and is matched by some delightful supporting performances, particularly Elizabeth Debicki’s icy studio director and Giancarlo Esposito’s at-all-times preposterous talent agent. Esposito particularly seems to relish a chance to play against type, devouring each ridiculous line with the vigour of Shakespeare. Together with some scenery-chewing, genre-standard turns from Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale and an exponentially-bruised Kevin Bacon, this ensemble works to create a populated, sleazy world that both shapes Maxine and gives her cause to escape.
They can only do so much however, to bolster a story that can’t quite find a reason to exist. X and Pearl both stand as confident and consciously outrageous rebukes of Hollywood’s prudish sensibilities, while Maxxxine struggles to land much more than a few extra blows on the pearl-clutchers who most certainly aren’t watching. It doesn’t help that this is by far the tamest of the three entries, with minimal gore outside a small handful of thrills scattered across Act Two and even less sex; apart from one throwaway line, Maxine never faces judgement or discrimination for her background in porn. One might be disappointed to find that her big break comes surprisingly easy throughout; if she’s late for work, she gets another chance, and when her PTSD interferes with production, they simply go again. West is far more interested in the big moments than in the road to get us there, which isn't half as effective when those hyper-violent beats feel rote to what has come before.
In short, Maxxxine is not quite a slasher, nor is it an erotic thriller or even a Hitchcockian drama despite its constant allusions to all three. It is a film that struggles to justify its existence as the third part in a duology, despite the best efforts of its very game cast. West concludes this final chapter by giving Goth one last opportunity to proclaim herself a star, but even this feels like a sanitised retread of Pearl’s showstopping audition scene. Goth’s stardom is beyond question at this point, and it is ultimately a shame to see West running short on ways to use it.
Comments