A Dirty Shame

Colour, 35 mm
USA, 2004, 89 min
Section: Midnight Screenings

Synopsis

To John Waters’ delight, the Catholic News Service condemned his latest work, warning of “almost non-stop rough, crude and profane language, full-frontal nudity, sexual imagery, obscene gestures, scatological humour, casual portrayal and description of deviant sexual practices, a glorification of freewheeling sex and some sacrilegious imagery.” A Dirty Shame posits that accidental head injuries bring on carnal lust. When prudish housewife Sylvia (Tracey Ullman) is knocked unconscious, she wakes as an out-of-control nymphomaniac. She discovers that her blue-collar Baltimore neighborhood is teeming with once-concussed sex addicts practicing their kinks and worshipping the sexual healer Ray Ray Perkins (Johnny Knoxville of Jackass fame). Meanwhile, the messianic Ray Ray seeks an all-new sex act that will bring on the divine Resursexion.

About the director

John Waters (b. 1946, Baltimore, USA) is a writer-director known as the “Sultan of Sleaze” and “Pope of Trash” for his low-budget, bad taste classics such as Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1975). An independent filmmaker working out of Baltimore, he is famous for his love of camp and kitsch, and commitment to offending some audiences. Even as he moved to bigger budgets, his films retained a gleeful irreverence and appreciation of the American grotesque. His filmography includes Mondo Trasho (1969), Multiple Maniacs (1970), Desperate Living (1977), Polyester (1981), Hairspray (1988), Cry Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994) and Pecker (1998). Waters is also a photographer and author of a number of books and is currently working on the TV series John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You.