Where were you when electroclash exploded at the turn of the millennium? Sexy new A new wave fusion of synth pop, electro, house, and punk rose from the underground and took over clubs, concert stages, and CD players (if not radios) in the early 2000s. Rapper, singer, songwriter, and performance artist Peaches was right at the forefront of that.
Apparently somewhere nearby was the film director Marie Rosier (Cassandro, Exotico!), cranking a 16mm camera and documenting nearly every phase of Peaches’ life and career as an electroclash pioneer, touring artist, and feminist icon propelled by her breakout single “Fuck the Pain Away.”
It was released in 2000 from the artist’s second studio album. Peach’s teachingsthis club banger and dyke anthem (named one of the 10 best lesbian songs of all time by) timeout Worldwide) provides a running theme throughout Losier’s final work, a funky, fun, yet heartbreaking documentary. peach and banana.
With “Fuck the Pain Away,” Peaches (born Meryl Nisker in Toronto to Jewish parents) all but established herself on the international stage. The film, which took Rossier 17 years to shoot, shows packed venues in New York and Paris singing and bouncing to every beat and lyric, and uses the song wisely to establish the performer’s bona fide rock star credentials.
And oh, what lyrics. “Suck my tits like you wanted/Call me all the time like a Blondie/Check out Chrissy behind me/Always okay.” Just as Peaches does in the music, the film revels in her brazen sexuality, beginning with: acapella Reciting her song “Vaginoplasty,” one montage was built around a slow-motion shot of the singer topless with a thick gold rope chain wrapped around her neck.
Dressed in a variety of outlandish costumes and backed by scantily clad dancers of various genders, Peaches brings a sex-positive swagger to every performance. Offstage, she’s not herself, but she takes her artistry and message seriously.
But she knows that critics and fans alike can be blinded by her pussy, so to speak. At some point, she seems resigned to being “misunderstood” not as a three-dimensional person, but as an overtly sexual person 24/7.
The film attempts to capture Peaches in three dimensions, spending time with her and her collaborators on the road and in the studio. Most importantly, Peaches is seen with one of the most important people in her life, her sister, who had MS and died before the film was completed.
A full portrait of the character emerges through glimpses of their close relationship, and through small interactions and interviews with her strangely passive-aggressive parents, who seem ambivalent about her success.
Roger also includes pre-fame footage of Peaches, when she was still Meryl, looking like the Canadian girl next door, working in a daycare center and singing songs and playing short songs to children on her acoustic guitar. From her appearance to the sunny song, this song is a 180 degree change in vibe from “Fuck the Pain Away,” but the film draws a clear enough line between the two.
Losier and editor Aël Dallier Vega have drawn this 17-year timeline out of chronological order. Eschewing narration, on-screen text, or many other markers to contextualize the journey, other than aging or changing hairstyles, the film lets the viewer slip in and out of the moment at will.
The effect can be disorienting and the storytelling vague, but the film’s free-floating movement, along with all the concert footage, also feels exciting, and is not only a record of this incomparable artist, but also a loving capsule of a burgeoning dance movement.
Peach and banana (★★★☆☆) is playing in limited theaters across the United States and available for rent or purchase on Fandango at Home. visit www.filmmovement.com.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
