When a big name actor such as Giuseppe Andrews tries his hand at filmmaking, I guess I am not too sure what to expect but I can definitely say that this kind of product wasn’t even a consideration.
“Who Flung Poo” is the story of an aspiring artist named Poo (Walter Patterson) who paints with human excrement. Living in squalor with his girlfriend Gloria (Gayle Wells) who is screwing his shifty parole officer, Poo meets a porn director at his rehab meeting and decides to impregnate Gloria and then film a ‘pregnant porn’ movie.
Andrews portrays his characters with no redeeming social values whatsoever and rather than depicting the lives of these people in realistic fashion, he decides to make them inherently disgusting beyond the call of reality. Maybe I just don’t get the film, I tried so hard to watch it in different frames of mind, yet no reachable outlook was enough to appreciate this so-called art. Maybe Andrews is a filmmaking genius whose work will not be understood for many years to come, who knows, but as for now I must say it either went way over my head (not likely) or way below my belt (very likely)!
I am not threatened by poor people who live in trailer parks, and that is not the reason I didn’t like this film. It had no method, no direction and more importantly no point. The only good to come from this film is the fact that famous actor Andrews has made meagre stars out of regular (or irregular) people. I admire the fact that an actor with a solid reputation in the industry can go off and make his inexpensively weird little films and not care what people think. His crass independence is one thing to commend but the end result of his amateur production doesn’t hold as much interest as his actual decision to do it.
Shot on Mini-DV using the actual sound from the camera with a one man crew, the technical result of “Who Flung Poo” is to be expected, considering. The amateurish home video aesthetic can be used to great effect by filmmakers who want to present raw subject matter. Andrews succeeds at making the focus of his film fit the look of what he used to make the film with, but ultimately it is not enough. He is a guy with plenty of ambition which is aimed in all the wrong places. The one thing he needs to learn is to structure his films better. Sure he can make spontaneously realistic truth cinema, but even they need organization in order to both make sense and to lead to something. Andrews does love his characters but fails to show it, but like in any relationship “sometimes love just ain’t enough.”
I watched the Lloyd Kaufman interview with Andrews on the “Trailer Town” DVD prior to watching “Who Flung Poo” and really liked what he was saying. His ideas were intriguing and I wanted so badly to like his film, but I just couldn’t do it. The credits could use some real work as I have seen better on low-rent porn films however I did think the music was first-rate. Andrews has showed us a part of underground society that we all know exists but not many people understand and fully realise. However at times I can’t help but think he has made his characters as shocking as possible just for pure astonishment which consequently makes his aim at portraying real life nothing more than a one dimensional stereotype. Either he made his characters like this or he only decided to focus on such people exclusively. In any case against all odds these untrained actors actually pull off convincing performances for the most part. Apparently since his debut feature, Andrews has directed around a dozen more features including two sequels to “Trailer Town”. I will be curious to see Giuseppe Andrews’ next feature film, a western produced by Adam Rifkin. “Who Flung Poo” is an extra on the “Trailer Town” DVD.
