By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.3 cats
Director: Reginald Harkema
Starring: Anjelica Scannura | Don McKellar | Gregory Smith | Kaniehtiio Horn | Kristen Hager | Kristin Adams | Ryan Robbins | Tracy Wright | Travis Milne
Country: canada
Year: 2010
Running time: 85
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1345488/
Bruce says: “In 1970-71 Charles Manson along with a trio of his followers – Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia ‘Katie’ Krenwinkel – were tried for killing five people at the home of Sharon Tate on August 9, 1969, and killing Leno and Rosemary La Bianca the following night. Let’s make a musical about the Manson trial! Can you imagine how many takers there would be in Hollywood? Fortunately, writer/director Reginald Harkema is a fearless Canadian who does not hesitate to poke fun at self-righteous, imperialistic American culture while drawing some very serious observations. During the trial, mainstream media displayed tabloid outrage over the Manson Family; meanwhile American soldiers were killing thousands of people in Vietnam. My Lai – the 1968 massacre in which hundreds of civilians were raped, tortured and murdered – was a distant memory for a country with a short attention span. Archival footage very effectively supports Harkema’s point of view.
“LESLIE, MY NAME IS EVIL uses flashbacks to give us some history about the Manson Family, the politics and the romantic intrigues. Kristen Hager (Leslie), Kaniehtiio Horn (Katie), Anjelica Scannura (Susan, aka Sadie), and Ryan Robbins (Manson) portray the Manson family members. Harkema wisely uses another device: to tell part of the story through the eyes of one of the jurors. We meet Perry (Gregory Smith) before the trial. He is a hot blooded young American boy who wants more than a few kisses from his girlfriend Dorothy who puts off his sexual advances by telling him ‘I love you but I love Jesus more.’ Perry’s parents share Dorothy’s love of the Lord and religion creeps into many aspects of what is normally considered secular life. When Perry is called to jury duty and selected as a juror for the Manson trial Perry’s father tells him, ‘Perry you make them pay.’ Later he further clarifies his stand when he tells Perry, ‘God’s will and mine are pretty much the same.’ Perry, in a sexual holding pattern with Dorothy, becomes infatuated with Leslie Van Houten during the trial. At night he lusts for her and has erotic dreams; during the day he can barely take his eyes off her. Van Houten picks up on his feelings and begins to flirt openly during the trial proceedings. Perry’s confusion is heightened by another juror saying ‘Just because I want to lay her doesn’t mean I wouldn’t put her to death.’ Harkema creates a substantial amount of suspense considering most of his audience already knows the outcome of the trial.
“It is a pleasure to see that Gregory Smith, one of the great child actors, is segueing nicely into adult roles. The other roles are well cast and the actors are evenly matched. Harkema crams a lot into a relatively short film; no doubt a second viewing would highlight many details missed the first time around. Harkema takes ever so many risks in this film and happily almost all of them pay off. 4 1/2 cats”
Michael says: “Using a moment in American history that almost seemed like a perfect storm of events: the Manson trial, the Viet Nam War and the hippie movement; Reg Harkema’s LESLIE, MY NAME IS EVIL blends biting satire and high camp to create a surprisingly successful follow-up film to his counter-culture MONKEY WARFARE. While LESLIE, MY NAME IS EVIL lacks the maturity and ambiguity of his earlier film, it satirizes the cultural wars between left and right beautifully. Harkema uses as his representatives Leslie, a young woman seduced away from her broken family by the charismatic Manson and the need to find meaning in her life; and Perry, a young Christian Republican, engaged to be married and happy that his job allows him to avoid the draft, who finds himself chosen to serve on the jury for the Manson Murders. Despite his rigid background, conservative fiancée and overbearing father, or perhaps because of them, he finds himself drawn to Leslie, to the point of lustful dreams that involve virgin sacrifices. Will God set him on the right path so that he can do the right thing?
“LESLIE, MY NAME IS EVIL is deft at skewering hypocrisy and rife with symbolism. In MOKNEY WARFARE Harkema dabbled with inserting archival footage into the storyline, and with this film, he takes it even further to good effect. The youthful cast is a mixture of adept and awkward, with one of Manson’s ‘girls’ played by Kaniehtiio Horn outshining the others. Kristin Adams (WHERE THE TRUTH LIES) is also terrific as the virginal and pious Dorothy. Don McKellar has a small part as the prosecuting attorney, who goes after Leslie and Manson’s harem with gusto, then slyly revels in his triumphs. Tracy Wright has an even smaller role as Leslie’s mother, but it’s a pivotal one. When testifying on her daughter’s behalf, she wonders how this could have happened, citing her divorce, or the fact that she made her daughter abort her child as possible reasons. It’s a surprisingly poignant moment amidst the high camp, and it’s essential in order for it all to work. That scene provides the only moment of true emotion in the film thereby grounding it in reality and making the satire all the more effective. How appropriate that the scene belongs to Ms. Wright, so underused and underappreciated in the world of film. 4 cats.”
Chris says: “The Manson Family trial re-imagined as a farce? That’s the gist of Reg Harkema’s follow-up to his anarchic comedy MONKEY WARFARE. Here, he gives us the twin tales of Leslie, a runaway who falls under the wild influence of Charles Manson, and Perry, a young, sheltered chemist who becomes obsessed with her while serving on the jury for her trial. At the premiere, Harkema introduced the film as “anti-realist” and he wasn’t kidding: LESLIE plays like the love child of late John Waters and Charles Busch (minus the drag), gleefully sending up late-1960s America. While often crude and always over the top (don’t miss the ultra-groovy virgin sacrifice sequence!), the film is also a hoot in how it comically inverts a tragedy without managing to entirely trivialize it. Mostly avoiding garishness and almost approaching wit, Harkema’s palette is nonetheless an acquired taste, and this one could use more of the previous film’s discipline. Still, it’s hard for me to hate on a farce that’s actually quite sincere in how it secretly holds up a funhouse mirror to the real, modern day world. 4.5 cats”