The much buzzed
about Sundance film, fails to live up to the hype.
Hounddog ain’t no friend of mine. Steeped in
controversy, Elvis music, and cornpone Southern
gothic, this Dakota Fanning drama prompted hisses
after its first press screening at Sundance – a
fitting reception, I think, given all the snakes we
see writhing in the film.
It’s the
1960s, and little Lewellen (Fanning) is obsessed with Elvis
Presley. There’s not much else to do in her backwoods
Southern swamp, so, coaxed on by her creepy Daddy
(David Morse), she croons The King’s songs and
practices his dance moves. Her finesse at hip-shaking
mimicry soon draws the unsavory attention of an
acne-covered milkman and, in a scene that has already
brought the film notoriety, he manipulates Lewellen into
giving him a private dance that turns quickly into rape.
Whether or not
you feel Fanning was exploited in the making of
Hounddog, the fact remains that this isn't a very
good movie, and certainly not one smart enough to
tackle a thorny topic like child sexuality. Director
Deborah Kampmeier tilts the proceedings into absurdity
far too often, and if it weren’t for the
uncomfortable nature of its themes, Hounddog
would become an instant camp classic. Just try to
resist laughing when Lewellen’s Daddy is abruptly
struck by lightning and bounced fifty feet in the air,
or when the over-the-top Piper Laurie (in what must by
now be twenty histrionic performances too many)
appears as Lewellen’s grandmother. By the time Morse
gives himself a Three Stooges haircut and starts
wandering naked through his scenes, you’ll have
given up entirely.
Fanning is a
technically skilled actress (when she faces off against
Robin Wright Penn and starts mocking her voice, she does her
better than Penn does herself) but she’s done
no favors by this screenplay, which has her character
lurching into some very improbable choices. The result is
some impressive acting in isolated scenes that don’t
add up to a sense of the character as a whole. Even
after the rape, when Lewellen finally sings
“Hound Dog” again in an entirely different
way, it’s as though Fanning has just practiced
a key change rather than given us a real feel of who
Lewellen has become. Hounddog can be commended for
trying, but in the end, it ain’t nothin’
but a dog.
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