Written by Perrin Smith, Photo courtesy of SCAD
Have you ever seen a train wreck? Well, I haven’t, but I have been on a rollercoaster, and I’ve seen rollercoasters get stuck. It always seems like a full ride of park-goers will get stuck at the height of the loop-the-loop. They’re upside down, and from the bottom looking up, you can’t help but stare.
You’re staring at their misfortune, sure, but you also want to see what happens next. Will the car fall, will the people pass out, or will there be a spectacular flashing of lights as technicians and paramedics rush to the scene? Regardless of why you’re looking, you can’t look away. That’s how watching “Her Smell” feels in a nutshell. It’s like seeing something go wrong and then not being able to look elsewhere. It hijacks your brain and forces you into watching a slow, burning train wreck. But it’s not bad, not at all; the performances are strong, it’s just the directing that falls a bit flat.
Elisabeth Moss plays Becky Something, a musician in the band “Something She,” whose given over to the more destructive side of the rock n’ roll lifestyle. She does coke, smokes a cigarette every minute and performs foreboding religious rituals before her concerts. If that sounds like a lot to handle in one person, it’s because it is.
There’s a lot wrong with Becky, and her friends know this. She yells obscenities at them, hits them, changes her mind suddenly on whims and even fires them from their band and forgets about it. But this is the joy of watching “Her Smell.” Though, it’s hard to see Becky destroy her life and her relationships.
With each long scene, we see the bonds she holds weaken and crack as she ratchets up the crazed coke-fueled fever dream we’re a part of. Elisabeth Moss shows us Becky as a human. In her deepest, darkest, most horrible moments, you can’t help but feel bad and empathize with her, even if you’ve never been so unhinged you’ve wanted to stab your friend.
But it’s not just the acting that gets a shout out here. Something should be said for writer and director Alex Ross Perry. This film acts as a slow burn, like a methodical plodding of horrible choices and malicious circumstances. There’s a disconnect from the audience to the screen, but it’s not a bad thing. “Her Smell” feels like a voyeuristic take on watching a train derail.
However, that voyeuristic quality and separation from the audience comes at a cost. Often during the two hour and fifteen-minute runtime, there’s very little to watch. There are just two characters in a room arguing or hurting one another, both physically and emotionally. It becomes a bit tiresome when all you feel like is a fly on the wall. Naturally, it becomes boring. It feels like the train has derailed so far off its tracks; it’s now become a car on the highway. It’s no longer entertaining – it’s a chore. While it may not be entirely entertaining to watch, there is something to be said about Perry’s commitment to the craft.
But the star of the show is Elisabeth Moss, in each scene, she steals the spotlight – and rightly so. Her performance is dazzling, and it’s not just the sparkles in her eyeshadow. There’s something sincere about her performance. She’s able to take us from electrifying heights and terrifying lows, all in a single scene. It’s stunning, incredible, and the reason to see “Her Smell.”
