Cori Dials as Cigarette Girl in Mike McCarthy's film
CIgarette Girl: Photo by Robin Tucker
Having a clear, distinct vision of what the world is and what the world may be is paramount to being a filmmaker who can tell stories in such a way that the viewer is transported to another time or place, or both. Upon viewing Cigarette Girl by Mike McCarthy, it is evident he is a filmmaker with a stranglehold on this concept. His film recently screened as part of The Arizona Underground Film Festival, garnering him the festival’s Director’s Award. McCarthy spoke with the Tucson Film Industry Examiner last week and that piece can be found here for some background information on McCarthy and his filmmaking style and philosophy.
The basic premise of the film is the journey the title character, Cigarette Girl, takes in a near future world as she must find her way through the choking, dank, hard environment on the smoking side of town, as in the world of the film, smoking has been outlawed everywhere but this smoking side of town, and the price per pack has risen to over $63 per pack. She works at a club, the Vice Club, that sells cigarettes and she is going to attempt to quit smoking, causing the obvious mood changes and frequent outbursts of anger. The film is set in a graphic novel type of world that allows for the birth of a heroine who can maybe save the world from itself.
Ivy Mcclemore on set as Runaway Girl in Mike
McCarthy's Cigarette Girl: Photo by Robin Tucker
The film is really well thought out from the opening 70s style credit sequence that was easily the most professional of the movies at the festival, through the dynamic relationships he expertly develops and explores throughout the film, to the brilliant locations and overall look of the film that was an equal to any film you will see at your local cineplex. This film has the polish of an experienced filmmaker, as McCarthy is, having done a lot of interesting looking films that can be seen will perusing his website, Guerillamonster Films.
The most important element of the film from this writer’s perspective was the way relationships and character arcs were explored. The different dynamics in each relationship is something that is often very difficult to portray on screen. But McCarthy seems to do it with relative ease. For example, the very different way Cigarette Girl, played superbly and with such strength by Cori Dials, interacts with her ill grandmother, to her rougher encounters with Ace and the others from the Vice Club, which is the cigarette shop she worked at in the film, to the evolving relationship between her and the young girl, played with a perfect balance of strength and vulnerability by Ivy Mcclemore, simply named as Runaway Girl in the credits.
It is also the rich back story developed for Cigarette Girl that especially helps the viewer to understand where she is coming from and where she may be heading. Her parents left her shortly after she was born, leaving her to be raised by her Grandmother. The classic role reversal that often comes with aging occurs as Cigarette Girl is forced to begin looking out for her Grandmother who falls ill from her own cigarette addiction and must head to the non-smoking side of town to a hospital to fight for her life. Cigarette Girl is losing patience with the world in a lot of ways because of what she has seen and is forced to live in. You are basically forced to live in squalor if you smoke, but other vices and bad habits go unnoticed, or unpunished. This drives her anger and leads to her growing internal strength throughout the film. This might be seen as the birth of a heroine.
Cori Dials as Cigarette Girl on a rooftop, showing the dazzling world created by Mike McCarhty for his film
Cigarette Girl: Photo by Robin Tucker
McCarthy is clearly a student of film, paying homage to numerous filmmakers and films, with Metropolis by Fritz Lang being the most clear. He may not be simply paying homage however. Cigarette Girl and Metropolis clearly are films with similar ideas they explore. The worlds of these films are almost police state in nature. There is a clear separation or marginalization of certain groups who do not fit into the world those in power are trying to create. Those in power are also willing to do anything to maintain that position, whether it crosses a moral line or not. The great thing about Cigarette Girl is that these ideas are very much beneath the surface, not preaching anything, rather telling an interesting story that entertains, but allows for multiple layers of interpretation or a lack thereof if that is what the viewer desires. The film is very much in the hands of the audience, allowing the experience to be dictated by their place in time and mindset. Think of it as a great Ernest Hemingway novel, where he applied something called the iceberg principle, with 7/8 of the story hidden beneath the surface story.
Cigarette Girl is the kind of film that should be supported much more than they have been in the past by the major studios of the film industry. It deviates from the tired path most major films take, placing women in positions of power and strength instead of just men. The film is not regurgitating standard and prescribed thought, rather trying to create something new and entertaining above all else. If you have seen it before, or feel like you have, the film will most likely not provide the level of pleasure it should, as films for Mike McCarthy are a form of escapism, taking the viewer somewhere away from the duress modern life often provides. Head over and bookmark Mike McCarthy’s website Guerillamonster Films and keep up with how you can see his film Cigarette Girl either at a theater, or purchase it when it comes out on DVD. You will not be disappointed.
For more info:
Guerillamonster Films
Coverage of Arizona Underground Film Festival
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