Good Dick
© 2008 Good Dick LLC
Marianna Palka's gentle and often comic tale would probably do better on DVD if it had a different title.
Those familiar with the film, are likely to want to buy it/see it. But for those who aren't familiar with it, the film's title and cover art, may be a tad confusing, or even a deterrent.
I'd encourage those people not to overlook this eccentric gem of an independent American film. The film's eccentricity is due, largely, to its frank sexual content, despite having been penned and directed by a woman. It's also due to her starring in a lead role that is utterly devoid of vanity.
Palka plays a dishevelled, young woman, who frequents a local video store, where she rents soft porn films. A clerk at the store is oddly attracted to her, and pursues her relentlessly.
To say she refutes his attentions would be an understatement. She treats him contemptuously. But he persists in trying to nudge her out of her reclusive state, away from the pornography for which she seems to have an unhealthy preoccupation, and into a relationship with him.
Why is he so understanding? It turns out that he is struggling troubles of his own: addiction and homelessness.
Can this unlikely pair manage to conquer their respective demons and be happy together?
Palka succeeds in taking two characters, one of whom, at least, is quite unlikeable, and telling us their stories in such a way that, by the end of the film, we care about what happens to them, all without ever resorting to schmaltz.