Review - Her Smell

midlandsmovies • October 6, 2019

Her Smell (2019) Dir. Alex Ross Perry

Told over 5 separate sequences interspersed with old video footage, new music drama Her Smell stars Elisabeth Moss as Becky Something, a troubled and self-destructive singer on a downward trajectory.

Backstage after a gig, her intense mood swings are not helped by her reliance on a shaman before her self-appointed God-like behaviour angers her ex-partner (played by Dan Stevens) who arrives with their child which culminates in Becky spiralling down into a substance induced blackout.

Months later at a recording studio, the band’s manager Howard Goodman (Eric Stoltz) is frustrated at their lack of progress whilst Becky intimidates his label’s new signing Akergirls. With her unlikable demeanour and jealous aggression, Becky pushes her band’s drummer (Gayle Rankin) and bassist (Agyness Deyn) to quit before we soon jump forward to find Becky supporting the now more famous Akergirls at one of their own shows.

Elisabeth Moss is absolutely brilliant as the dysfunctional front woman whose star rises and falls (mostly falls) in a cacophony of self-obsession. A danger to both herself and others, Moss manages to keep a wholly unlikeable character just on the right side of sympathy.

However, her behaviour gets more extreme as she violently attacks her old band mate and verbally assaults her mother. The film brilliantly teases out the exposition and by the mid-way point there are hints of an abusive relationship by an absent father.

“There are no bad days”, says her bandmate, inferring they’re all terrible at this point as her burgeoning ego leads to further erratic behaviour. She calls out for the Goddess as she tries to channel the other-worldly into a creative endeavour that goes beyond the surface of mass-consumed pop culture but becomes a cliche herself.

But as Becky’s behaviour reaches a crescendo of rotten on and off-stage antics, the film eventually slows down in a very poignant chamber piece scene with Becky and her daughter. A beautiful and delicate piano cover of Heaven by Bryan Adams calms both Becky and the viewer as we see her finally coming to terms with her past actions.

Like my enjoyment of Lords of Chaos, I tend to gravitate towards the darker aspects of a touring rock band rather than the glossy pop stylings the like of which was covered in Vox Lux. Her Smell goes beyond the traditional take of rock misadventures but luckily the over-the-top characters don’t fall into the trap of the bro-dude stylings The Dirt, where the perm-coiffed hedonists of Mötley Crüe somewhat glamorised these nasty behaviours.

The songs in the film are actually the weakest part with the sub-Avril Lavigne American 3-chord pop-punk being musically and lyrically awful. But such a small part doesn’t take away from the successes of both the protagonist and the supporting cast.

A reunion leads the film towards a more upbeat conclusion and Moss’ terrific central performance allows us to be drawn into her shocking exploits without condoning what she is doing to those around her. As she poisons herself one event at a time, the interesting dynamics are slowly teased out and revealed as the narrative progresses.

Whilst the film doesn’t wholly take this type of rock 'n' roll redemption story in a brand new direction, from the excellent performances to the grotesque but engaging breakdowns, Her Smell is an intense and satisfying tour down a boulevard of broken dreams.

★★★★

Michael Sales

By midlandsmovies April 26, 2025
Up! (1976) Dir. Russ Meyer  Well, bi-Adolf Hitler BDSM is not something (a) I thought I’d ever see 5 minutes into a movie and (b) ever expected to write in my lifetime to be fair but this spicy start is pretty standard for the work of exploitation filmmaker Russ Meyer. Up! is a kind of r*pe-revenge softcore p*rn film (there’s gonna be a fair bit of self-censorship in this review so apologies in advance), the type Meyer is known for. I’d describe the plot in more detail but it’s mostly a convoluted and incoherent mess of double-crossing, murder, violence and lots and lots of humping. In short, a man called Adolph gets murdered and a woman investigates (kinda) the circumstances but as she does so, a group of locals blackmail, attack and screw each other with the murder mystery barely mentioned throughout. With so little narrative, it could be argued if it’s essentially p*rn? To be fair, not far off. It’s about extreme as you can go without simply making a s*x film. Is that a…no, it’s a belly button hole. Bookending the film (and also seen at various points throughout) is a Greek Chorus - simply a busty fully nude woman of course - who delivers dialogue like “Pummelling the scrotum with joyous supplication” and other such poeticisms. This artistic flourish is mostly pointless - the actress herself saying the words were tough to learn because it was utter nonsense. On a technical level, the editing is surprisingly well done and the 4k image is frankly fantastic. Someone somewhere must be putting together a post-modern take about the beautiful landscapes and cinematography of Meyer’s * ahem * output. But it definitely does have a kitsch artistry. It has certainly provided plenty of cinematic influence though. Elements of Tarantino grindhouse sensibilities are on show - Meyers likes bosoms as much as Quents likes feet - and there’s even a leather gimp early on. I can also see how its had an impact on Ti West X’s with a focus on sexuality and the body as well, more obviously, Anna Biller’s feminist-twist The Love Witch (2016). Suffice to say it’s not for the weak of heart. I think in this day and age you can’t go into this completely blind to its style, period and context though. It's an X-rated Carry On style that was bad taste then and it’s bad taste now. It revels in its sleaziness without a single hint of shame or apology. Simply saying 'deal with it'. The main negative though is the absence of plot - if the film can even be looked at like that - which is barely present. This is a shame as the whole thing could do with a bit more coherence rather than endless shagging. But it’s far from titillation, it’s mostly clowning - albeit a very adult version of it. More saucy than sexy. Trying to review this through modern sensibilities is almost impossible. It’s as offensive can be from the first scene through to the final credits - heck even this 4k menu is simply one of the film's many s*x scenes. But there are some progressive themes as it doesn’t shy from confronting sexual freedom, bisexuality, gay sex, BDSM and consensual exploration. There's moments of comedy thrown in and I enjoyed a frankly hilarious 5-minute monologue explaining the culprit’s intentions, which was a ludicrous way to deliver a slasher-style ending. I suppose the main thing about Up! (and Meyers’ work overall) is there’s a sort of love it or loathe it quality about the whole shebang. But it’s so unlike anything being made today - for good or bad - that it’s never anything other than unpredictably fascinating. More explicit than most Meyers films - in fact more than any film - it’s a lewd, rude and crude (s)exploration with a satirical edge and campy enjoyment bouncing from every frame. ★★★ 3 / 5 Michael Sales Severin Films releases Russ Meyers' UP! (1976) and MOTORPSYCHO (1965) on 28 April 2025 in newly restored and scanned 4k with hours of new and archival Special Features https://severinfilms.co.uk/
By midlandsmovies April 26, 2025
On the 24th of April, the Midlands Art Centre opened its doors to Gobby Flicks Productions for a night of live comedy. Proceeds were raised towards the production of new short comedy films, directed and written by women.
By midlandsmovies April 25, 2025
Ti West’s The House of the Devil makes a wonderful companion piece to his film The Innkeepers. Both maintain the director’s referential approach to horror, incapsulating it in a slow burning 90 minutes that manages to build and maintain tension while cheekily winking to the audience and showing the mechanisms behind the scares.
By midlandsmovies April 21, 2025
Read the full list of nominees for the Midlands Movies Awards 2025
Show More