The Gits - A Documentary

The Gits is a documentary about the now defunct Seattle band by the same name. The reason the Gits unfortunately became part of the national scene was because of the brutal rape and murder of their lead singer Mia Zapata in 1993. I lived in Seattle in the same neighborhood that the murder occurred in at the time, and knew a lot of the same people that she did, and went to many of the same clubs and bars. I remember vividly the fear that gripped the city after her murder. I used to walk home from clubs all the time back then; and her murder made me realize that there but for the grace of God went I. Eerily, her body was discovered only 4 blocks from where I lived at the time.

In this documentary, we get to explore Mia’s life, meet her family and friends, and see her perform on stage. We get to see her old haunts, the house on 19th Street where she lived with her band, and the clubs where she played. The most poignant thing is that we get to see her sing; and the posthumous beauty simply breaks your heart. Hearing the way people who enjoyed her music describe how her music felt to them, drives home the loss of her amazing voice; in all it’s bluesy glory. It’s madding how close the Gits were to a major tour and national exposure, mere days; when she unfortunately wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time. I clearly remember the posters of her on every telephone pole and street corner, begging for information leading to the capture of her killer. I remember the benefit concerts at the clubs in memoriam of her. I remember how angry women were in the musical community, driving them to band together to form a non profit safe rides group, that has now gone national, so no woman has to endure what Mia did.

What I didn’t know going into this film is that there was a break in this case a decade later. DNA testing has come a long way since 1993, so due to DNA found on Mia’s body in 1993, a match was made to an offender in Florida in 2003. It was a turn in the film I hadn’t expected, and was relieved and happy to see. I was on the edge of my seat as we trace the investigation and discover the identity of Mia’s killer. I squirmed when hearing the details of the case, and what Mia went through that night. I felt the relief, anger and pain of the friends, fans and family members in the Seattle courtroom when this scumbag was sentenced to life in prison. Justice was served!

The Seattle music community could now rejoice that Mia could finally rest in peace. Though her impact and life was in Seattle, she is originally from Kentucky and that is where she is buried. Her family welcomes her fans to pay their respects at her gravesite, and understand how much she was loved and touched others. The are proud of the legacy that she has left behind. Amazing journey for music fans.

The Babysitters

This was a humdinger of a film we'll say Jawbreaker meets Risky Business. Except this time the business is girl powered. Our heroine is Shirley, a tall sort of gawky stoic high school senior that runs a neighborhood babysitting service. It's clear in the first 10 minutes of the film that she's crushing big time on one of her clients, Mike played by John Leguizamo. He picks her up and drops her off, and begins taking 'the long way home' so to speak when his wife Gail played by Sex in the Cities Cynthia Nixon and he begin to drift apart.

Now that seems like a pretty cut and dried story in itself, and I pretty much went in thinking that would be the jest of it. What you don't plan on is Mike telling his oldest friend and co worker Jerry about the ongoing trysts he's been having; and then Jerry wants a similar arrangement for himself. Shirley drafts her mischievous best friend Barb for the job, and Shirley then gets 20% for setting up the deal. Shirley is determined to get money for college it seems by any means necessary. The two make $250 a pop and become quite in demand so then they have to expand their 'elite' services to some of their already practicing babysitters. They approach already incredibly insecure Jill about the extra clientele. Initially she is resistant, but gives in and begins to enjoy the money she is making. The girls become so busy that Jill recruits her younger sister Nadine when she's already booked to handle the overflow.

Nadine begins to question why she has to hand over 20% of her money if she does 100% of the work. Shirley explains it's because 'she sets up the appointments' and takes her cut. Next thing we know, Shirley's phone stops ringing. Nadine has gone rogue and stolen all Shirley's clientele and seems to have dropped the babysitting guise. Shirley is furious and sets out to keep her pimp hand strong. She tries to get hard evidence that Nadine is cutting her out; however when she cannot , she displays her power in such a way that the whole school feels it. The girls get the message and fall back into line.

The sexual escapades and husband's lying escalates. Mike begins to become possessive over Shirley who he has discovered is his only solace in his very structured and responsibility laden life. He entertains the idea of running away with her leaving his wife and kids to fend for themselves. Shirley becomes more and more distant, and emotionally shuts down as she begins to feel the effects of what it is she is doing. In the meantime despite the warnings she was given Nadine is determined to do things her way, sending Shirley off the deep end. The emotions of this film hit a fever pitch, however you don't see the surprise twist coming. Definitely expertly written, with some intense social commentary about people's need to have secret lives.

Disfigured

This film starts out as if it may be a farce about a thin woman wandering into a fat acceptance group because she 'identifies' with the people in the group then is chased out and pummeled about the head and neck by anything that isn't nailed down. Not so. The films focus starts on Lydia an overweight woman who is struggling to connect with other people dispite how she's been treated. Lydia thinking it would help everyone be more social and focus less on emotionally unloading, decided to start a fat acceptance walking group on the beach. The other members of the group take offense to this and all but kick her out of the group. Darcy is a thin woman who comes into the group the day Lydia poses this suggestion and thinks it's pretty cool and shows up at the beach to support Lydia. She offers to advertise the group for her to get more people involved and it works, and people from all over the community show up to walk and socialize. Lydia ends up meeting a man in the group, who is also overweight and she becomes physically involved with him. Cut buddies as the kids call it these days. Her buddy announces one afternoon after the festivities that he is planning on weight reduction surgery. Lydia thinks it's lame and tells her buddy so. This sends her into an emotional downward sprial which lands her on Darcy's door step. What we discover about Darcy is that she isn't just thin, she's anorexic. In her desperate state Lydia asks Darcy for 'anorexia lessons' and Darcy reluctantly obliges her helping her clear out all the fattening foods from her cupboards and fridge and making a pact that if she feels herself wanting to emotionally eat, that she will call Darcy for support. This movie explores those darker areas within that we don't want to admit exist, and our desperate need for acceptance and the lengths we will go to get it. Hard Core.

Reviews April 5

This was one of the most disturbing and difficult movies I have seen in a while. In the tradition of Smithereens and all those other homeless new york punk rock wanna be chick movies, imagine if she never ever got her crap together and was still doing the same thing at 40? Antimatter the man character is a homeless drug abuser who wants to be famous, she's in a band who really barely tolerates her, but she writes great lyrics so they keep her. She's promiscuous and out of it, and going nowhere fast regardless of her ability to write entertaining punk songs. The guys whisper 'If she was 19 and hot maybe we'd get somewhere, but we kick her out of the band she will literally die. This band is her life' Toward the end of the film she drops nuggets of semi wisdom, and seems to have a bizarre clairity onher situation even though she is completely losing it. If you want to feel sick and like you've been kicked in the stomach, see this one.