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| Director Kurt Voss |
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| Voss with Lemmy Kilmister |
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| Lemmy Kilmister |
DOWN AND OUT WITH THE DOLLS B USA (87 mi) 2001 d: Kurt Voss
The Paper Dolls are the band I’d hope would rise above the bullshit and make it...Guess not. —opening narration from Lavendar (Melody Moore)
Having worked with Allison Anders on Border Radio (1987), the two UCLA grads also collaborated on SUGAR TOWN (1999), a look at the lives of struggling LA scene rock stars, as aging rock musicians who were big in the 70’s and 80’s face midlife crises, career slumps, financial woes, and God knows what else, while this film is loosely based on Portland visual artist, production designer, producer, and co-writer Nalini “Deedee” Cheriel's life as a musician and the stories she would tell her friends Kurt Voss and Zoë Poledouris, who wrote the music for the film, about this time in her life playing in The Hindi Gods (with Voss) in Los Angeles, and several all-girl bands, including Seattle-based Teen Angels, Juned, and Eugene-based Adickdid. Voss embodies the independent spirit and do-it-yourself filmmaking ethic who specializes in depicting the interpersonal relations of rock personalities, making shoestring-budget movies, with a flair for behind the scenes portraits of ignored or forgotten artists. A raunchy, wry, and in-your-face tale of the fast rise and fall of a fictional all-girl, indie Portland rock band, the Paper Dolls, modeled after Pacific Northwest grunge and riot grrrl bands like Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill, the subject of Sini Anderson’s The Punk Singer (2013), punk-inspired indie and alternative rock bands that emerged in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Demonstrating the continuing influence of punk, both in terms of sounds and anti-authoritarian attitudes, representing defiantly anti-mainstream values in a market that was seeking to co-opt alternative culture, riot grrrl bands stressed gender issues and sexism within indie music scenes, often featuring feminist lyrics and fiery performances, and were much more opposed to engagement with mainstream media than many grunge acts were, and therefore at the time of its emergence in the early 1990’s was far less popular than grunge, yet its influence has continued to grow over the years and has inspired a number of films like this one. A depiction of the struggles musicians face while dealing with the music industry, this exposes issues that were frequently addressed following commercial breakthroughs within indie cultures, leading to well-worn debates on the effects of selling out and mass media’s detrimental effects upon the integrity of these underground subcultures. The film had little to no distribution, no name stars, and was barely seen in theaters, but it does an excellent job revealing why rock bands break up so easily, as members are such divas, and behind the scenes all hell is breaking loose. The film is populated by fanzine writers, music label owners, producers and other people who work in the independent music scene, while bassist Janis Tanaka of L7 and former Nymphs frontwoman Inger Lorre are among the Dolls hangers-on, along with a character named Alcoholly (Jennifer Shepard), emphasizing musical performances such as rehearsals, live performances, and a studio recording, where despite the film’s comic moxie and sardonic tone, the musical performances are authenticated by the input of musicians who actually play their own instruments, making music the driving force of the film.
A compelling, satirical, and occasionally campy look at women in the underground music scene, and while the production values are a little rough around the edges, the core of the film is the authenticity of the music and the characters, featuring an independent record store, where one of the women works a day job, Lavendar (bassist Melody Moore), and a local bar where two of the other women work, Kali (Nicole Barrett, songwriter, guitarist, and lead vocal) and Reggie (drummer Kinnie Starr). With a rather spare narration from Lavendar’s point of view, the entire story plays out in flashback mode, as what starts the wheels in motion is an argument in the local bar with Fauna (Zoë Poledouris), lead singer of a Goth band The Snogs, and her partner and bandmate Paulo (Mikael Jehanno), leading to the break-up of their band. In the immediate aftermath, Kali asks Fauna if she wants to front their all-girl band, but receives only a dismissive look. But when she’s thrown out of her home with Paulo and kicked out into the street with all her earthly possessions, she has an entirely different perspective. Kali is a worshipping fan with a teenage crush on Levi (Coyote Shivers), lead guitarist of a New York-based band, The Suicide Bombers, seen performing a solo set in the record store, a guy she knew when they were much younger, having grown up in the same town. Meeting the next day in a bar, their conversation is interrupted by Fauna, who literally throws herself back into the mix by agreeing to join their band, not only because she is desperate, but she sees this as an opportunity to get closer to Levi, who has status within the indie music world, as The Suicide Bombers have already signed with local indie label Pop Up Records, on the verge of going nationwide and becoming breakout stars, and she sees this as an opportunity. Fauna may be opportunistic and mostly unpleasant, but she is also a commanding performer who acts as an inspiration for Kali and helps to improve the band, deciding to move into “The Dollhouse” together, a home allowing them space to rehearse while honing their songwriting skills, but their closeness may also drive them crazy. While the band is comprised of archetypical figures, a self-obsessed, ambitiously-driven diva lead singer, naïvely idealistic yet comically sincere guitarist, pragmatically down to earth bass player, and go with the flow stoner drummer (apparently bringing her own bong to the set), their first informal performance, playing to a small audience in a make-shift backyard, is dynamic, where Fauna is a compelling, confident performer who grabs all the attention as she strides around the small, impromptu stage in a commanding fashion. The dynamism of the performance is heightened by the way it is filmed, with quick edits, shot in weird angles, facilitated by digital cameras, which accentuate the film’s raw and hyperreal aesthetic, offering a more kinetic feel. Even Kali has to admit, “Chalk it up to the benefits of creative conflict, but with that show The Paper Dolls sounded better than we ever had before.”
Kali writes the band’s songs with a sensitive, wide-eyed innocence, driven to write by an autobiographical need for self-expression, in stark contrast with Fauna who is star-driven for success, loosely based on Courtney Love, lead singer of the alternative rock band Hole, who herself was involved in the Portland rock scene when she was younger, a controversial figure who was ambitious and highly motivated, which put her at odds with the riot grrrl movement at times, and reportedly punched Bikini Kill lead singer Kathleen Hannah at the 1994 Lollapalooza festival. One of the more memorable sequences in the film is the arrival of the Suicide Bombers in a small club, shown in a slo-mo sequence, envisioned like a girlish teenage fantasy. At one point during a rehearsal, Fauna cynically attacks one of Kali’s songs in a nasty, patronizing manner, driving a schism between the honesty and raw authenticity of Kali and the ambitious commercialism of Fauna, which eats away at their friendship. Making matters worse, Fauna has made a beeline towards Levi, driving a wedge between them, knowing how he could jumpstart her career, where her character represents naked ambition in the film, where her cravings for fame and money also lead her to sexually seduce men in positions of power, such as Levi and the record label owner, Bill Black (Alan Charing). While she proves almost impossible to work with because of her conniving and manipulative selfishness, Fauna acts as a catalyst in bringing about the group’s demise. Lavender is also frustrated, as she has put her relationship with longtime boyfriend Clark (Shawn Robinson) on hold to fully commit to the band. Now, with Clark growing increasingly distant and jealous (he’s a frustrated musician himself), Lavender is beginning to weigh the cost of success. She also senses the battle brewing between Fauna and Kali for the affections of Levi, and is concerned that her friend Kali, so youthfully innocent, will be the big loser. Motörhead's Lemmy Kilmister (former roadie for Jimi Hendrix), in a rather bizarre cameo as an aging roadie speaking with a Cockney accent, happily moves into Fauna’s bedroom walk-in closet because the rent is so cheap. Drummer Reggie doesn’t know it, but she has a looming problem of her own, as her proclivity for casually seducing and then discarding female fans has seriously angered one of her groupie conquests, Heather (Sierra Feldner-Shaw). Mistaking Reggie’s casual hedonism for treatment one would receive at the hands of a male rock star, Heather feels used and jilted. Seeking revenge, she has enlisted the help of Mulder (Brendan O'Hara, who is himself a DIY musician), Reggie’s long-suffering roadie boyfriend, a rather pathetic figure that she keeps around to help haul around the heavy equipment. The good-natured Mulder has no vindictive feelings toward Reggie, but as she rarely sleeps with him, the sex-starved Mulder is quickly, if reluctantly, seduced by Heather into aiding her in a scheme to humiliate the sexually amoral drummer. All comes to a head during a two-day rave at the Dollhouse, where the party, intended as the band’s glorious coming-out, degenerates into debauchery marred by drunken recrimination and mudslinging. Where it all leads is to death and destruction, followed by a rebirth into new and completely unexpected directions. So You Want to Be a Rock 'N' Roll Star YouTube (2:07), you might ask? This plays out as an easy to like cautionary tale.
Note
Nicole Barrett who plays Kali, was killed after being hit by a car while trying to cross a highway on foot in Thailand on July 17, 2014 where she was attending a Buddhist education course, Portland musician killed in Thailand car collision.
Down & Out With the Dolls entire film may be seen on YouTube (1:25:21)
