Ti West’s X trilogy has always revolved around movies – watching, making, and starring in them. MaXXXine is the only one that has a strong connection to Hollywood legend.
West’s third film comes after “X” as well as “Pearl.” It is a direct follow-up to the first film and follows porn actress Maxine (Mia Goth), who is trying to establish herself in 1980s Hollywood. Elizabeth Debicki, the director of the film’s horror movie and Maxine Minx (who is still traumatized from the farm massacre that she escaped during “X”) take Maxine on a tour around the backlot. West is unapologetic about his love of this era of Hollywood or the sleazy glitzy 1980s B-movies. But Bender’s speech as she drives Maxine around the studio backlot begins to nail down the larger ideas of the film.
Bender asks Maxine a simple question to see if she has the ruthlessness to succeed in a world that does not want her.
“MaXXXine”, a B-movie with A-movie ideas, is a movie that embodies the ruthless ruthlessness of Hollywood. Maxine’s refrain from the series “I will not accept an undeserved life” and Bette Davis’s “In this industry, until you are known as a Monster, you’re a star” open the movie. “MaXXXine is a lot of fun, but its most important ideas are far too diverse, and too brushed over, to be able to pinpoint something truly bold. West comes closest to a truly bold idea when he makes fun of the notion that monsters and stars are interchangeable.
“MaXXXine”, which picks up 6 years after “X”, is smack in the middle all that the 1980s offered; censorship and the Satanic Panic. It also features tirades against exploitation movies, as well as the reign of serial killer Richard Ramirez, better known by his nickname, the Night Stalker. Maxine’s experience with a homicidal couple in “X”, who were a homicidal couple, is still fresh in her mind. The backstory of one of them is revealed in the second part of the trilogy, “Pearl”. She has fought to become a star through her sheer confidence and grit. Maxine is a rising star, but someone with a dark past is waiting to reveal her. She won’t give up without putting up a fight.
It’s a great time, even if the concepts in “MaXXXine,” don’t go too deep. From a stylistic standpoint, this is a lot of fun. West and cinematographer Eliot Rockett create a style of muted neons, seedy glamor and homages to horror movies, from Dario argento to Alfred Hitchcock. The costumes of Marie-An Ceo, with their sequins and acid wash, scream the 80s performative flash, but they also have a grimy underbelly. Bender, while driving through the studio lot, says that it is “fascinating” how something can appear so real when in fact, it is a façade. This quote is applicable to each frame of the film “MaXXXine”, a mix of dark and alluring. The glitz barely hides the darkness beneath.
