| Lou
and Sass proceed to find a flat and land jobs together at
a grocery in the Mission District of San Francisco, which
at the time was a hotbed of lesbian grunge chic. They explore
their new freedom as baby dykes like kids in a candy store,
reveling in the multitude and variety of options available
to ladies who like ladies. Everything from sadomasochism (SM)
families to butch/femme monogamous relationships are skewered
to great comic effect.
The
only problem the women encounter is that everyone assumes
they are a couple, even when they insist they are just friends.
Eventually they succumb to their attraction to each other
and develop a non-monogamous, daddy/princess relationship.
Then all hell breaks loose as they both struggle through their
feelings of jealousy and insecurity while trying to maintain
an idealized union in a playground of attractive and available
women.
I
love the little touches in the production that made
me nostalgic for a pre-dot-com San Francisco. Eating burritos
in Dolores Park, riding bicycles through the muralled alleys
of the Mission, eyebrow piercings and overalls, moving the
futon up several flights of stairs, and getting coffee at
Red Dora’s Truckstop Café are all part of the
rich texture of that time that the writer and director have
captured in a low-key but hilariously accurate way, right
down to the use of “lipstick lesbian” to describe
the not-so-high femme Sass and second-hand shopping at Community
Thrift. The city seems to be as much a character in the story
as the butch/femme neighbors or the local dominatrix hottie.
Some
of the best scenes involve the scenery chewing work of Tina
Marie Murray as Chelsea Chuwawa, the femme top object of Lou’s
desire and smartass about town. She rolls off one of the best
lines in the movie when Lou and Sass are sitting in the Café
snidely commenting on how the cliquey nature of the dyke scene
is like high school. Ms. Chuwawa calmly informs them that
“dykes don’t get to have high school,” which
sets the stage for the tumultuous and sometimes juvenile behavior,
accurately depicted by the film, that is so often a part of
being a queer woman in her twenties.
This
film is extremely well-crafted and includes the theatrical
introduction of scenes with a nautical theme, which gives
a nod to its stage play origins. There is a charming “candy
store” theme that is more about Lou’s perspective
on the city and its dyke scene, and I really enjoyed the sugar
daddy poem midway through the movie. There is the SM/role-playing/
leather theme that depicts the relationships in the film,
and last but not least, an interesting cut technique is used
in a few spots that I can only describe as the visual equivalent
of a DJ scratching. It’s fun and interesting to watch.
If
there is anything I can complain about in this movie it's
that there are too many different themes and novelties that
don’t work together seamlessly.
But
overall, Mango
Kiss is a funny and entertaining look
at the struggle to be in a relationship while also being free
to explore new things. There is a fair number of women of
color in it, including a couple of African American women
as tops in the SM scene, and there are many locally cast young
women shown in a positive and sexy light who wouldn’t
normally be shown as glamorous or desirable in mainstream
films (or even a lot of independent ones).
The
DVD has some great extras, like a behind-the-scenes short
about making the movie that is interesting even for people
who aren’t industry insiders; the trailer that was shown
at numerous film festivals; deleted scenes; and, if you can’t
get enough of one of the actresses, audition clips.
Get
Mango Kiss on DVD
Please
be aware that this movie shows some explicit SM scenes.
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