CONFESSIONS OF A TRICK BABY

US, 1999, 97 minutes, Colour.
Natasha Lyonne, Maria Celedonio, David Allan Grier, Vincent Gallo, Max Perlich, Michael T. Weiss, John Landis.
Directed by Matthew Bright.

Confessions of a Trick Baby was written and directed by Matthew Bright – who seems to have something of a corner on ugly stories. He directed the very interesting Freeway with Kiefer Sutherland and Rhys Witherspoon, a variation on the Red Riding Hood story. He also directed a film about the serial killer Ted Bundy.

This film is quite repellent in its way. It is a portrait of a young girl, played by Natasha Lyonne (who had quite some problems in her own life as well as those on screen). She is sentenced to a long jail term and is put in a cell with a young Mexican woman, played by Maria Celedonio.

The scenes in prison are what is expected from an exploitation women’s prison film, fights, crass language and stories. Many of the characters also suffer from bulimia and this is portrayed in a graphic way.

When the two girls escape from prison, they go on something of a violent spree, especially since the Mexican girl psychotic and has killed her family and many other people. Eventually they get to Mexico where Natasha Lyonne’s character sets herself up as a prostitute and again is aggressive and violent.

The bizarre aspect of the film is meeting Sister Gomez in Mexico who seems to have had a good influence on the Mexican girl as a child – but turns out to be Vincent Gallo, turns out to be a man, turns out to be an exploiter who videotaped sexual activity and sold the tapes. He is eventually killed – quite brutally. In this aspect the film is more imaginative, Gallo made up to look like a witch – and finally being burnt in an oven, with Bright giving a contemporary twist to the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale.

Those who like the film see it as having mordant wit, an offbeat take on contemporary society.