Trouble In Mind (1985)

Directed by Alan Rudolph (who brought you such heights of cinema as Roadie and Barn of the Naked Dead…not REALLY shit talking, I’ve seen them both) Trouble in Mind is an 80’s retro futuristic neo-noir set in “Rain City” (Seattle).

Kris Kristofferson is Hawk, an ex-cop fresh outta prison for a murder he did commit, but one committed out of a moral obligation. He immediately tries to strongarm is ex-girlfriend into sex, He gets sweet on the bad girl from Footloose who is new in Rain City. Shes fresh from the sticks with her baby and criminal boyfriend Keith Carridine (who gets more…uh, cyber-billy? as the movie goes on). So Cyberbilly is running some scams and criminal deals around town, Footloose Girl gets a job at Hawks ex-girlfriends diner. ‘Stofferson does some more sexually inappropriate behavior. Uh, there are some tenor saxophone solos, some underacting, lots of OVERacting, some very poorly executed slap-stick, moments where you can’t tell if its 1949 or 1985 or 1999, but you are sure that it ISN’T Blade Runner and has no excuses for being a total pile of poorly put together weirdness that does not transcend.

And then Divine shows up, as a crime boss that Keith Carradine has to deal with. Divine is astounding as an effeminate, menacing, cold motherfucker. Totally great. Every scene that he is in is worth the other 80 mins he isn’t (if you are a Divine fan).

Readers here will know that I am a fan of the “bad”, the “poorly made”, and the weird. But this just does not fucking work for a goddamn moment (except when Divine is talking, these moments are like a dream inside a nightmare). It does have some So Bad Its Good moments, but not Bad enough or often enough. Sure, it knows when its being over the top, but does it know when its just sucking?

If you do dare to take the plunge keep your eyes peeled for Twin Peaks minor players picking up the slack as extras, The Seattle Asian Art Museum moonlighting as Divines mansion (among many other local spots, some long gone), also some of the soundtrack is by Marrianne Faithful. Thats a good distraction.

There is no dvd of this jam available, maybe for good reason.