This weekend was the kid's turn to pick a movie. The Saturday before, I chose Prey, which she loved and found a poster of Naru and her dog Sarii facing off against the Predator that she put on her birthday gift list. Presented with a few Halloweenish options, she instead chose a movie called Mystic Pizza, which I'd never heard of before. I thought it would be a simple, bland rom-com, but what the hell. Why not.
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| "Mister, I said we ain't got any fresh oysters 'til Wednesday." |
Mystic Pizza charts the lives and loves of three unforgettable waitresses in a little town called Mystic. For sexy Daisy Araujo (Julia Roberts), her sensible sister Kat (Annabeth Gish) and their wisecracking friend Jojo (Lili Taylor), the summer after high school is a summer they'll never forget. Slinging pizza at a local restaurant, the three girls share their hopes, dreams and plans for escaping their small town.The primary story is about three young women of Portuguese descent looking for love: Daisy with a WASPy law student who may just be looking for a fling with a townie; Jojo and her on again, off again relationship with Bill; and Kat seems to be falling for the man whose child she babysits. Uh-oh. So far, so standard rom-com. Me watching the movie up to this point:
But the movie takes a turn for the interesting shortly. There's a subplot involving a roving food critic and the secret ingredient in the sauce that Leona, the proprietor of the restaurant refuses to divulge until the day she retires. Will she get a good review? What is the ingredient? Is it love? Something special from Portugal?
Turns out Leona's secret ingredient is otherworldly in origin (and so is she and all the other 'Portuguese' in Connecticut) and is slowly turning the lily-white town of Mystic into shambling fish people. Even better when it's tourist season, to spread the good word, so to speak. Near the climax, you notice it's been a long time since anyone has blinked. It's a very subtle building of unease.
At one point, Tim Travers asks Kat to say something in Portuguese, and she intones, "a na kadishtu nilgh'ri stell'bsna Nyogtha, K'yarnak phlegethor l'ebumna syha'h n'ghft, Ya hai kadishtu ep r'luh-eeh Nyogtha eeh, s'uhn-ngh athg li'hee orr'e syha'h." He tells her that's beautiful, what does it mean?
"It means, 'Where is the volleyball net?'" and they both laugh.
Meanwhile, Charles Gordon Windsor, Jr, the rich kid slumming in Mystic, claims to love Daisy and attempts to flee the horror of Mystic with her in his Porsche. Right on the outskirts, Daisy smiles too many teeth and rips into his neck. The Porsche careens off the road, knocks into a sign, and smashes into a tree. Charles and Daisy are both dead. As the horn continues to blare, the camera sweeps from the back of the sign to the front. It says, "WELCOME TO MYSTIC" but "MYSTIC" is swinging by a nail. Underneath it, you can just make out faded lettering spelling "INNSMOUTH".
Bill and Jojo, agree they cannot marry in the church. They walk to the end of a pier, and Bill says, "Of course not. This is our world, and our church is below," and they step off the pier together.
Back at the restaurant, Leona sees she received rave reviews from the food critic. Soon they will go nationwide, but for now they're swamped. Absolutely drowning in business.
THE END... ?
The movie was fine, if a little trite and dopey like most rom-coms. I wouldn't recommend this movie if not for all the future horror movie veterans in it who always seem to give 110%. You should go look for their other work if you've never heard of them:
Julia Roberts as Daisy (Mary Reilly, Flatliners)
Lili Taylor as Jojo (The Addiction, Eli, Say Anything, The Haunting '99, Leatherface, The Conjuring)
Annabeth Gish as Kat (Desperation, Bag of Bones, The X-Files, Midnight Mass)
Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio as Bill (Chained, Sinister, The Cell, Rings)
Conchata Ferrell as Leona (Krampus, The Axe Murders of Villisca, Two and a Half Men)
And introducing little Matt Damon (Contagion, Unsane, The Talented Mr Ripley, Good Will Hunting)
The Night of the Hunter .gifs are there because I had to know if Annabeth were related to Lilian Gish. They are not, but as an aspiring actor she did write to Lilian asking for advice, and Lilian responded more-or-less with "Don't do it." Lilian is in the top .gif with the shotgun, Mitchum and Winters below. The Night of the Hunter remains one of my all-time favorites.
Not at all one of my favorites, but the one Pumpkins album I do own is their debut, titled Gish after Lilian.
BTW, I've been mistaken for James Iha, but other than long black hair, I do not see the resemblance. Same with the lead singer of Seam. Yay, tell me all Asians look alike with saying it.
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