BANG
By Harvey Karten, Ph.D. Eagle Eye Director: Ash Writer: Ash Cast: Darling Narita, Peter Greene, Michael Newland, David Allen Grafs, Luis Guizar
The most shocking four-letter word in the English language is a three-letter word: GUN. In the November 10, 1997 issue of The New Yorker magazine, a police officer writes "....Short of gunfire, nothing has as strong an effect on a cop as the word 'gun.' Guns are unique in their ability to change nobodies and wanna-bes into genuinely bad men in an instant." Long before that article appeared, Mao Tse-tung said that all political power emanates from the barrel of a gun. What's more, Ash's movie, "Bang"--shot for $20,000 but looking much better--both agrees and disagrees with that gem from The Red Book. In a single, event-filled day his principal character, named simply "Woman" (Darling Narita), accumulates quite a bit of empowerment through her use of a gun. Ultimately, though, she realizes that she doesn't really need a piece to flex her muscles, and manages to put down corrupt people in various walks of life who use their authority to get what they want.
While probably not an Oscar contender, this sleeper of a movie is in some ways the most exciting contribution of the year, partly because of the way it treats its subject matter but mostly because of the way it was filmed. A cinematic example of "guerrilla theater," "Bang" was filmed without official approval. In hit-and-run fashion, the production team quickly zipped through scene after scene (some improvised) and disappeared before they could be rounded up, handed summonses, or arrested for impersonation of a police officer and working without authorization.
Ash divides a section of Los Angeles society into two groups: the powerful and the impotent. The former camp includes a landlord, a Hollywood producer, a police officer, a cold-blooded killer, and a pimp. The latter group include a homeless man, a fun-loving and helpful pair of Latinos, a desperate drug peddler, a coterie of black street people, and most of all an Asian-American woman who is kicked around by all elements of the power structure. Ash begins with film with a bang, zooming in on a ticked- off, uncompassionate landlord slamming a "For Rent" sign on his quarters as he vehemently throw out his tenant (Darling Narita). Reporting for an acting audition to a Hollywood producer (David Allen Grafs) who barks into his cordless phone and may or not be actually in the movie business, she is put off by his sexual coming-on. She discovers a homeless man (the remarkable Peter Greene), who lives in a tree, represents the good guys, and serves as her mentor-for-a- day. When the homeless man trashes the producer's garden, she is chased by a cop (Michael Newland), who is willing to drop his plans to arrest her if she would take two minutes to alleviate the distress of a lonely man. She gets the jump on the officer, handcuffs him to a tree, puts on his uniform, and notices almost immediately how differently people respond to her. It's unfortunate that the great playwright Bert Brecht did not live to see this movie: "Bang" astutely demonstrates that writer's Shakespearean view that the apparel oft proclaims the man.
To their credit, the actors performed in this guerrilla movie for free. The entire crew go through their roles with verve and sincerity, but Greene and Narita are standouts. The funniest scene, a rather tense one, has two police officers asking to join the Woman at a coffee shop, thinking that she is one of their own. Luckily for her they are more involved in recounting an anecdote involving the theft of a kidney from a sleeping victim than in looking her over to discover her real identity. In one poignant moment a charming young Latino, Jesus, is gunned down by a drug dealer, an incident which both infuriates and frustrates the Woman--who is unable to help the casualty but instead goes after his killer.
Unlike Sal Stabile's vigorous, no-budget indie "Gravesend," "Bang" does not look at all messy but rather comes across as well planned despite the chaos of its production, the mise-en- scene delightfully composed and vivid. It's just amazing how many experiences a would-be cop can go through in a single day: running out of fuel and getting a lift to a gas station from a couple of guys; showing her benefactors that she's a regular person despite her badge by sharing a beer with them and looking with amusement on their stash of weed; running into a couple making love and giving them her blessing once she discovers that they love each other; handing out money to street people (actual folks playing themselves who almost riot as the bills are delivered to their hands).
You wonder just how much cooperation the police might really get if they all acted like the Woman: genuinely friendly, compassionate, and generous, rather than brutal, cold or indifferent. Ash plays close attention to detail and by doing so has made a film that is poignant, humorous, tense, and all- around fun. Not Rated. Running Time: 98 minutes. (C) 1997 Harvey Karten
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