Ms. 45 4K UHD

It’s hard to justify the artistic value behind every exploitation flick that unspooled on 42^nd street in the ‘70s and ‘80s.  Especially when you’re dealing with the “rape- revenge” genre.  Movies like I Spit on Your Grave (1978) were vilified, despite their eventual female empowerment, for depicting sexual assault for the sake of titillation, although this was rarely ever the case.  Regardless, it’s not a subject matter to which most “normal” people are anxious to subject themselves.  

Abel Ferrara’s Ms. 45 covers the same dangerous ground, forcing its central character and the audience to endure two rapes within the first 10 minutes.  But the movie that follows is quite unlike any other grindhouse thriller in history: a morally ambiguous, socially deviant, psychologically damaging masterpiece of street-level independent filmmaking.

 

Shot during the “disco sucks” era in New York City, Ferrara’s camera travels down all the side streets and dangerous alleys Scorsese didn’t.  And Zoe Lund is his mute muse as Thana, a seamstress whose sexual assault triggers an emotional break.  After killing and dismembering her attacker, she engages in nightly patrols to punish other members of the male sex she deems “dangerous.”  Initially, her revenge seems justified.  But as her targets shift from pimps and lotharios to innocent men on the street, Thana’s rampage becomes much harder to justify.  And her role as a victim becomes questionable to say the least.

 

Ms. 45 is a cinematic loaded gun.  In the wrong hands it could have been a disaster.   But Ferrara’s creative choices are so spot on that it easily trumps more well-known vigilante flicks like Death Wish that were obviously its inspiration.  It’s a film that feels dangerous to its core.  So much so that during the bloody conclusion at a Halloween office party – where Thana arrives in a full nun outfit - even the film isn’t sure whose side it’s on anymore.  Give at least half of the credit to Lund, whose performance is heartbreaking and terrifying…all without a single line of dialogue. 

 

And upgrade from the old Drafthouse Films Blu-ray, Arrow makes the brutality even more beautiful with this 4K UHD limited edition.  The old extras are all there - interviews with Ferrara, composer Joe Delia (whose music cues play an integral part in the film’s unnerving effect) and creative consultant Jack McIntyre and two short films reflecting on Lund’s untimely death from a drug induced heart attack in 1999.  But there’s new stuff here too, including a superb commentary track from Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, two featurettes, a collector’s booklet and fold-out poster.  This is cult cinema at its most essential!