The credits for "Flushed" list 80 cast members and 17 extras, all of whom make one or several stops at the restrooms of a New York club one typical night. While it is outrageously obsessed with bodily functions and never gets out of the can in terms of a conventional story, filmmaker Carrie Ansell's 1998 debut -- playing this weekend at Laemmle's Monica in Santa Monica -- is satisfying, short, occasionally hilarious and clearly not for everyone.
A well-executed, low-budget comedy of bathroom manners, the uniquely inspired "Flushed" is a showcase for confident writer-director Ansell and the mostly unknown actors, some of whose characters become somewhat familiar as they lurk about the stalls and urinals struggling with personal dilemmas. In the case of a nebbishy young man who talks like Woody Allen and panics because he realizes he might be gay, this is not always a good thing.
The ranting, overly verbose regulars are of less interest than the many briefly seen pairs of both genders who engage in conversations about myriad subjects. With graffiti scrawled on the restroom walls providing occasional textual support, topics include dating, sex, body parts and the vital importance of wearing the right style of underwear. Occasionally, the sexes mingle, but "Flushed" is mostly segregated choruses singing about the hopes, disappointments, fears and winning moments of that night and life in general.
Ribaldry centering on various reactions to the revealing atmosphere of a public bathroom is frequent, but with the swinging cast going for broke, the wide range of characters and viewpoints leads to the most resonant moments. Imbued with energy that makes its grubby, claustrophobic milieu a fertile playground for taking the pulse of the Generation X singles scene, "Flushed" is well-paced and quite enjoyable after a fashion.
FLUSHED
First Run Features
A Chick Flick production
Writer-director-editor: Carrie Ansell
Producers: Carrie Ansell, Marshall Dostal, Ken Greenblatt
Director of photography: Scott Duncan Pauly
Production designer: Shanya Tsao
Costume designer: Shara Porter
Color/stereo
Running time -- 78 minutes
No MPAA rating...
A well-executed, low-budget comedy of bathroom manners, the uniquely inspired "Flushed" is a showcase for confident writer-director Ansell and the mostly unknown actors, some of whose characters become somewhat familiar as they lurk about the stalls and urinals struggling with personal dilemmas. In the case of a nebbishy young man who talks like Woody Allen and panics because he realizes he might be gay, this is not always a good thing.
The ranting, overly verbose regulars are of less interest than the many briefly seen pairs of both genders who engage in conversations about myriad subjects. With graffiti scrawled on the restroom walls providing occasional textual support, topics include dating, sex, body parts and the vital importance of wearing the right style of underwear. Occasionally, the sexes mingle, but "Flushed" is mostly segregated choruses singing about the hopes, disappointments, fears and winning moments of that night and life in general.
Ribaldry centering on various reactions to the revealing atmosphere of a public bathroom is frequent, but with the swinging cast going for broke, the wide range of characters and viewpoints leads to the most resonant moments. Imbued with energy that makes its grubby, claustrophobic milieu a fertile playground for taking the pulse of the Generation X singles scene, "Flushed" is well-paced and quite enjoyable after a fashion.
FLUSHED
First Run Features
A Chick Flick production
Writer-director-editor: Carrie Ansell
Producers: Carrie Ansell, Marshall Dostal, Ken Greenblatt
Director of photography: Scott Duncan Pauly
Production designer: Shanya Tsao
Costume designer: Shara Porter
Color/stereo
Running time -- 78 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 8/19/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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