Ms. 45
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Alex Jachino, Jayne Kennedy, Scott Covert, Vincent Gruppi, Wayne CaroDVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Letterbox, 1.78:1
Running Time: 80 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-04-25
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Image Entertainment
Movie Reviews of Ms. 45
Movie Review: A spiral into insanity.
Summary: 5 Stars
Though Abel Ferrara's 1981 vigilante flick 'Ms. 45' frequently gets the label of a "female Death Wish", it really is much more than that: it is, like 'The Driller Killer' before it, an elaborate tale about an individual's spiral into insanity with the pressures of life and the pain of, in this case, a dual attack of brutal sexual assaults.
The film tells the tale of mute clothing line worker Thana (played brilliantly by the late Zo? Lund) who is a little bit of a misfit at her place of work due to her inability to speak. Walking home from her job one afternoon she is snatched and dragged into an alleyway by a masked rapist (played eerily in a cameo by director Ferrera). Meanwhile, her apartment in in the process of being robbed by another man. When she gets home, the thief beats her and begins to rape her again, but she gets the best of him and ends up chopping him up and putting his remains in a city garbage can. With the robber's gun in hand, she begins her own journey of inner-city vengeance against a variety of men she views as predatory.
This is a film where one feels somewhat immoral being entertained by the revenge killings but they end up being enjoyable because we the audience can identify with her rage, however misandrious and irrational it is. Given that she was already a sort of misfit and outcast in her own world due to her mute voice, her brutal violation alienates and enrages an already isolated woman. In essence, it's entertaining to watch her spree because we can feel her pain yet soon we realize we're enjoying a mere spiral into insanity and irrationality.
'Ms. 45' is an absolute gem of a flick, a masterpiece that gets the audience to cheer on a spree of retribution that is unjustified yet from the perspective of one so damaged and alienated it's more than justified and even overdue. As such, it also works as a character study and a treatise on urban alienation and rationality of revenge and justice. A masterpiece.
Summary of Ms. 45
Abel Ferrara, the bad boy of American independent filmmaking, made his first splash with this violent twist on Death Wish and the revenge-vigilante genre. Nastassja Kinski look-alike Zo? Tamerlis Lund stars as a beautiful mute seamstress in New York's garment district, a shrinking violet who is brutally raped and assaulted not once but twice in the same day. After dispatching the second predator in an adrenaline-driven rush of panic, she pockets his handgun and disposes of the body in small chunks. Tamerlis makes the most of her wordless role, her wide-eyed vulnerability hardening to a dead-eyed determination as she transforms from quivering victim to avenging dark angel, a one-woman vigilante force hunting pimps, perverts, sickos, and slimeballs and using herself as bait. Consider this Ferrara's Taxi Driver, a very different portrait of New York's mean streets. Though this shot-on-the-cheap production occasionally suffers from amateurish performances in supporting roles, Ferrara's impeccable eye for composition and bravura sense of editing create momentum that carries it through to its memorable Halloween party finale. Tamerlis is decked out in a nun's habit with a slash of lipstick across her face, a handgun tucked in a garter, and a contract out on the entire male sex. It's a deliriously effective exploitation thriller that undercuts every expectation of the genre. Ferrara makes a cameo as the first attacker. Tamerlis later cowrote and costarred in Ferrara's most notorious production, Bad Lieutenant. --Sean AxmakerA young, voluptuous New York City woman is intensely shy and unable to speak. Her naive beauty provokes the aggressive attention of all men. One evening while walking home, she is assaulted at gunpoint and brutally raped by two thugs. Her enormous fears, which had driven her inward before, now push her to an outward course of action. After killing one of her assailants, she cuts his body into pieces and disposes of the parts, one by one, at various spots in Manhattan. She carries her dead assailant's .45 automatic, initially for protection, but ultimately for unrelenting revenge against all males. Men, keep your legs crossed for this frightfully erotic thriller that delves into the life of a nubile young maiden out for blood.
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