Ça m'est tellement destiné que j'en suis gêné

Ça m'est tellement destiné que j'en suis gêné

i wasn’t digging it until the last twenty minutes. what the fuck

i wasn’t digging it until the last twenty minutes. what the fuck

This was actually a really cool film, as a big fan of the 70s disco/rock and roll era this film stood out to me, with its groundbreaking message and controversial content it was just all round a good film. It certainly wasn’t for everyone but if u like films from the era then go check it out plus bro there’s so much boob shots. 


Bently

This was actually a really cool film, as a big fan of the 70s disco/rock and roll era this film stood out to me, with its groundbreaking message and controversial content it was just all round a good film. It certainly wasn’t for everyone but if u like films from the era then go check it out plus bro there’s so much boob shots. 


Bently

My Criterion Challenge 2026

Challenge Category #13: Song and Dance

Where to start with this one? I guess maybe the best place to start is why this exists in the first place. Skin-flick filmmaker Russ Meyer caught the attention of the head of Fox, Richard Zanuck, after the success of Vixen (a $70k movie that grossed $6 million). It also caught the attention of the Chicago Sun-Times’ film critic, Roger Ebert. Zanuck wanted to develop a sequel to Valley of the Dolls (1967), and so Russ and Roger got to work on writing Beyond in the wake of the Manson murders (in which one of the victims was Valley of the Dolls star, Sharon Tate!).

What they ultimately came up with was a satire/send-up of sorts of the oftentimes nightmare world of show business in which an all-girl rock band, tired of playing high school proms, goes to Los Angeles with the hopes of making it big. Through some family connections, they meet Ronnie “Z-Man” Barzell and his cohorts of actors, producers, fashion icons, and porn stars.

This film hits the ground running and really never stops, with an awesome soundtrack and a pop-art Bauhaus color palette, zippy editing (almost too zippy at times), goofy character arcetypes, even goofier one-liners, and plenty of nudity. The late-60s sensibility might be off-putting to some, and at times this extreme version of that vision is off-putting to me too, but if you can stomach something like The Monkees’ film Head, then you’ll feel right at home.

I’ll stop beating around the bush. This is just a fun time at the movies. It’s got the schlock appeal, while also being injected with the feeling of “these guys know what they’re doing” in the sense that Ebert and Meyer are intellectuals making anti-intellectual art, if that makes sense. They’re aware of the melodramatic tropes in storytelling, and they use them for parody and absurdism in a way that doesn’t talk down to its audience or make them feel bad for enjoying schlocky melodrama or Giallo-esque, nudie flicks.

And beyond all that, the film is competently made with bold, striking production design, some performances that are so bad they’re good, and some that are just bat shit and going for it (Z-Man in particular).

This is a film that is difficult to talk about as a sum of its parts because the parts are so ridiculous, but ridiculously watchable. The various love affairs (and their troubles) that unfold are unique; Kelly and Lance and the inheritance, Casey and Roxxane, Pet and Emerson, dealing with Randy Black. All the while, Harris is being persistently pursued by a nymphomaniac porn star, Ashley St. Ives, Aunt Susan has fallen back with an old flame played by Charles Napier, and Z-Man has been secretly lusting after Lance the whole time. And I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what actually HAPPENS in this movie.

So much is packed into 110 minutes of screentime. At one point, at Z-Man’s first party, as different characters are ogling at others and whispering secrets about them to their neighbors, I was imagining that that must be what the Downton Abbey movies are like. It has the energy of an Agatha Christie chamber-piece novel, where you need to pay attention to the blips of expositional dialogue, as they will come in handy later.

Sometimes the economy of storytelling is a bit much, as scenes transition without so much as a breath into one another. And there is no use in mucking about, trying to poke holes in the plot or do the usual criticism things, because this isn’t that type of movie. This is a sensory experience, playing with conventions of a certain breed of filmmaking, that pushes our expectations to their limits.

It’s beautiful to look at (in more ways that one, if you know what I mean), it has a rocking soundtrack, some campy performances, some hilarious dialogue, plenty of “just go with it” plot developments, and, at the heart of it, a genuine cautionary tale about the allure and dangers of the LA “city where dreams come true” mythos.

for shits and giggles: here are some of my favorite quotes from the movie:

“This is my happening, and it freaks me out!” (a classic, as is pretty much everything Z-Man says)

“Emerson, but you were gonna study! You said you were going to study!” (lol, the delivery makes this one for sure)

“How dare you cast aside my alabaster charms, my capacious love, my undying troth. Yes, I vow it. Ere this night does wane, you will drink the black sperm of my vengeance!” (fuck, dude, I hope to write something that awesome someday)

“There's nothing like a Rolls, Harris. There's nothing like a Rolls. Nothing. Nothing like a Rolls! Not even a Bentley! Not even a Bentley! Bentley! Bentley!” (exclaimed while having sex)

6.7/10

My Criterion Challenge 2026

Challenge Category #13: Song and Dance

Where to start with this one? I guess maybe the best place to start is why this exists in the first place. Skin-flick filmmaker Russ Meyer caught the attention of the head of Fox, Richard Zanuck, after the success of Vixen (a $70k movie that grossed $6 million). It also caught the attention of the Chicago Sun-Times’ film critic, Roger Ebert. Zanuck wanted to develop a sequel to Valley of the Dolls (1967), and so Russ and Roger got to work on writing Beyond in the wake of the Manson murders (in which one of the victims was Valley of the Dolls star, Sharon Tate!).

What they ultimately came up with was a satire/send-up of sorts of the oftentimes nightmare world of show business in which an all-girl rock band, tired of playing high school proms, goes to Los Angeles with the hopes of making it big. Through some family connections, they meet Ronnie “Z-Man” Barzell and his cohorts of actors, producers, fashion icons, and porn stars.

This film hits the ground running and really never stops, with an awesome soundtrack and a pop-art Bauhaus color palette, zippy editing (almost too zippy at times), goofy character arcetypes, even goofier one-liners, and plenty of nudity. The late-60s sensibility might be off-putting to some, and at times this extreme version of that vision is off-putting to me too, but if you can stomach something like The Monkees’ film Head, then you’ll feel right at home.

I’ll stop beating around the bush. This is just a fun time at the movies. It’s got the schlock appeal, while also being injected with the feeling of “these guys know what they’re doing” in the sense that Ebert and Meyer are intellectuals making anti-intellectual art, if that makes sense. They’re aware of the melodramatic tropes in storytelling, and they use them for parody and absurdism in a way that doesn’t talk down to its audience or make them feel bad for enjoying schlocky melodrama or Giallo-esque, nudie flicks.

And beyond all that, the film is competently made with bold, striking production design, some performances that are so bad they’re good, and some that are just bat shit and going for it (Z-Man in particular).

This is a film that is difficult to talk about as a sum of its parts because the parts are so ridiculous, but ridiculously watchable. The various love affairs (and their troubles) that unfold are unique; Kelly and Lance and the inheritance, Casey and Roxxane, Pet and Emerson, dealing with Randy Black. All the while, Harris is being persistently pursued by a nymphomaniac porn star, Ashley St. Ives, Aunt Susan has fallen back with an old flame played by Charles Napier, and Z-Man has been secretly lusting after Lance the whole time. And I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of what actually HAPPENS in this movie.

So much is packed into 110 minutes of screentime. At one point, at Z-Man’s first party, as different characters are ogling at others and whispering secrets about them to their neighbors, I was imagining that that must be what the Downton Abbey movies are like. It has the energy of an Agatha Christie chamber-piece novel, where you need to pay attention to the blips of expositional dialogue, as they will come in handy later.

Sometimes the economy of storytelling is a bit much, as scenes transition without so much as a breath into one another. And there is no use in mucking about, trying to poke holes in the plot or do the usual criticism things, because this isn’t that type of movie. This is a sensory experience, playing with conventions of a certain breed of filmmaking, that pushes our expectations to their limits.

It’s beautiful to look at (in more ways that one, if you know what I mean), it has a rocking soundtrack, some campy performances, some hilarious dialogue, plenty of “just go with it” plot developments, and, at the heart of it, a genuine cautionary tale about the allure and dangers of the LA “city where dreams come true” mythos.

for shits and giggles: here are some of my favorite quotes from the movie:

“This is my happening, and it freaks me out!” (a classic, as is pretty much everything Z-Man says)

“Emerson, but you were gonna study! You said you were going to study!” (lol, the delivery makes this one for sure)

“How dare you cast aside my alabaster charms, my capacious love, my undying troth. Yes, I vow it. Ere this night does wane, you will drink the black sperm of my vengeance!” (fuck, dude, I hope to write something that awesome someday)

“There's nothing like a Rolls, Harris. There's nothing like a Rolls. Nothing. Nothing like a Rolls! Not even a Bentley! Not even a Bentley! Bentley! Bentley!” (exclaimed while having sex)

6.7/10