Feed
TLA Releasing
Director: Brett Leonard
Website: http://www.feedthemovie.com
A freakish, ferocious masterpiece of gleefully
kinky, taboo-smashing obscenity.
Rue
Morgue
Feed, at first, seems like a detective drama set
within the sub culture of the lovers of large women. But all is not what it
seems, while gainers and feeders may be composed of individuals involved in
consensual activity, at what stage does the act of deliberate over-feeding a
super obese person become complicit in their illness and perhaps finally their
death. While Feed certainly uses powerful and confronting sexual and violent
images the underlying philosophical and ethical issues are what, for me, made
it a most fascinating film. Indeed the group of us who watched it spent late
into the evening debating many of the issues involved, ranging from whether one
can consent to being “eaten” (ala the German Cannibal case) to the related
issues of feeders and gainers…
The film opens with a nod to the German Cannibal
case, the police raid and find a penis cooking in a fry pan and then locate two
men upstairs in a bath. One has removed the other genitals but as it is
consensual it becomes a legal quagmire. This relationship between sex, desire
and consumption becomes a re-occurring motif throughout the film. Oral sex and
the concept of sex and eating is the background to the concepts which underlie
the story of Feed and they are challenging and intriguing. They are reinforced
in all sexual relationships portrayed from the original Cannibal scene through
the policeman and his girlfriend to the gainers and feeders.
What is also intriguing is the portrayal of the curse
of “normality”, the major feeder Michael Carter, lives a seemingly normal life
in a suburban home surrounding by Christian imagery and his wife is a devout
Catholic. Phillip Jackson, the detective, the paragon of society’s battle
against sexual exploitation, has a violent and destructive relationship with
his girlfriend. Nothing is as it seems, even when we come to the conclusion
that Michael Carter is deranged and a violent psychopath, we still notice that Deirdre
the gainer, continues to love him till the end and hence there is a level of
consent, disturbing though it is. The conclusion to the film reinforces this
even further when the detective becomes “disturbed” in his own right and keeps
Michael Carter alive albeit slowly starving him to death.
Feed is a powerful film; there are so many elements
which I found engaging and at times deeply disturbing. Yes, there is an
abundance of sex and violence and many have complained about this, but what can
one expect of a film set within a subculture centered on sex and one which is
exploring sexual violence. I do not see
any of the portrayals exploitative or gratuitous; I believe it simply offers an
honest exploration of a challenging sub-culture.
There is even a sense of dark play and humor,
especially when extreme scenes are accompanied by such musical classics as 'Cherish',
'Yummy Yummy Yummy' and 'Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini',
this ironic use of classic tunes made the scenes seem even more extreme than
they were !
Feed is released Unrated in a Region 1 edition from
TLA Releasing, it includes a lot of nice extras including 10 deleted scenes and
an alternative ending. I must admit I liked the alternative ending a lot better
as it offered a greater sense of completion and also hinted at government
involvement. Other extras include a final day interview with Director Brett
Leonard, interviews with Alex O'Loughlin, Jack Thompson and producer Melissa
Beauford, "Feed In Philadelphia: the North American Premiere"
featurette and Behind-the-scenes footage.
The quality of the DVD cannot be faulted; Feed was
produced using High Definition film so it looks great. There is both a DD5.1
and DTS track, the DTS track really rocks and creates a powerful mood.
This is not a film for everyone, lots of sex,
violence, gore and a distributing set of ideas, at the same time, if you are
sick of mainstream entertainment and want a challenging experience, this is for
you.