Another Look at Liquid Sky (1982)

When one sees a film their opinion is usually consistent, but occasionally a movie is better than you remembered, and then there are times when a movie is worse than you thought. Today is not going to be a generous day, as I'm diving back into punk cult classic Liquid Sky...

In New York's bustling nightclub scene, a series of mysterious deaths occurs, almost unnoticed by the drugged out partygoers. A local model Margaret is a doormat and victim to all who come her way, but she realises what's going on when several people die while assaulting her. Empowered by a presence unknown to her, she begins to change, and takes her life into her own hands...

Liquid Sky is an interesting movie, and certainly well put together, especially for a low-budget film. Directed by Russian expat Slava Tsukerman had a vision for something weird and counter-culture, and by god he made it, so for that I give credit to him.

The plot is one of the weaker parts of Liquid Sky. It's a character-driven piece, but I didn't like or care about any of the bastards, and it felt like there was a much more interesting story to be told going on in the periphery. Overall, things takes a little too long to get started. It's never boring, but it takes about forty minutes before anything starts happening with the aliens.

The film focuses very little on the nightclub/party scene, and there are only two scenes showing Margaret's modelling line of work. Thankfully the second one, despite being annoying to start, and then overlong, culminates in a really good monologue from Margaret, and actually fleshes out her character. Until then though, the film is a bit listless, spending absolutely zero time on any kind of scene, and is mostly just set in a couple of apartment rooms. It's almost dull, really, and that's a shame, given the movie's aesthetic is trying so hard.

The soundtrack plays an important part in Liquid Sky, and it's pretty headache inducing in its design, like an assault on the ears. Some tracks sound neat, in a surreal sort of way, while others sound like mashing a casio. The sound design itself can be pretty good with its use of ambient city noises.

The film contains lots deliberately disorienting editing, from the frequent music changes, to intercutting between three different conversations in the same scene. Less effective though is the weird fashion interview later on, where it seems like the film dropped some acid.

The aliens are never actually seen, but many scenes are filmed from their point of view, through some pretty interesting filters and light spectrums. It's kinda fascinating to watch how different species' might see the world.

The characters are numerous, and none likeable, for the most part. Margaret is an utter doormat, walked on by everyone else in the film, and having no redeeming features. She does finally grow a backbone, using her sexuality as a weapon in the process (To quote her, "I'm nobody's victim. It's only fair I warn them this pussy has teeth."), though I still didn't like her, especially when she turns psycho in the end.

Margaret's drug-dealing lesbian girlfriend is one of the film's nastier characters. She's abusive, toxic, and cares little for her partner. She also think she's way cooler than she actually is, if her musical poetry is any indication.

The neighbours include pretentious failed writer husband Paul, who has a terminal case of being a fucking idiot. You'll be on the edge of your seat waiting for his ass to get orgasmo-zapped by the aliens! Another such character is Margaret's passive aggressive professor, who doesn't understand that no means no, and gets harvested by aliens for his trouble.

Then there's Sylvia, a middle-aged cougar who really wants to get her freak on with her alien-hunting houseguest, and doesn't let sighting two women disposing of a dead body, nor a rape and murder, kill the mood. She's also Jimmy's mother, but that's almost entirely incidental.

An interesting aspect to Liquid Sky is the gender-bending double-performance by Anne Carlisle, playing both Margaret, and Jimmy. Visually it's really good! My opinion on her voice as Jimmy though is less positive. She sounds really unconvincing. Sometimes she sounds like a woman with a bad smoker's voice, and other times she doesn't even sound like she's trying. As for the idea itself, I don't feel it lives up to its potential. The character of Jimmy is very underdeveloped, barely appears, and comes to a sticky end via the aliens as if he were just some random player. All in all, he plays no role in the movie at all and I wish he was, given the unique casting.

Unlike the last time I reviewed it, I don't recommend Liquid Sky. It doesn't really live up to its potential, and it's prone to give you a headache. But, it's still got a few moments of interest, and is not a worthless experience, just unsatisfying...