Have you seen John Waters’ Pecker?
I’m certain that joke has been made a thousand times since this film was released, but I bet John Waters cackles to himself every time it’s made. And while the former enfant terrible of Baltimore has likely mellowed a bit with age, he’s still not afraid to push the boundaries in cinema.
While he made his early fame in the midnight theaters showing films like Pink Flamingos and Female Troubles, as his career moved into the 80’s and 90’s, Waters found himself in an unfamiliar place…the mainstream. With the success of Hairspray (which eventually got remade and turned into a musical) Waters found himself able to use actual movie stars and not his usual gang of misfits. That’s not to say he didn’t continue to use his favorites like Mink Stole and Patricia Hearst, but with name actors comes the gifts of a budget, and for a filmmaker who never wanted to leave Baltimore, that can be a gift.
Pecker stars Edward Furlong as the titular Pecker, a goofy amateur photographer who purchased a used camera from his mother’s (Mary Kay Place) thrift shop and finds joy in shooting everyday life around Baltimore. He’s never without it, often to the detriment of his employer and friends, but he’s got a gift and everyone is supportive of him, from his sister (Martha Plimpton) who works as an MC at The Fudge Palace, to his father, owner of a bar that is slowly losing money to the aptly named strip club, the Pelt Room, across the street where you can get a look at pubic hair while enjoying your beer. Even his Memama, who sells Pit Beef Sandwiches from a stand on their lawn while talking to Mary, mother of God, wants him to succeed.
About the only person in his life who isn’t the biggest fan of his photography is his girlfriend Shelly, who works obsessively at the local laundromat. While Pecker loves to shoot all the dirt and grime in the surrounding neighborhood (rat sex!), Shelly would rather wash it all away.
“How can I be beautiful with all the dirt I have to put up with,” she asks when he wants to take her photos while she works.
His talent behind the lens doesn’t go unnoticed and soon Pecker is showing his photos in galleries in New York City, whose patrons delight in seeing life from a lower perspective. Fame and small fortunes come his way, but with any popularity there comes a price, and for Pecker that means life in Baltimore being no longer what it once was. Soon enough everyone is unhappy with him, including the department of child welfare who decide that his sister, who loves all things sugar related enough to eat it straight from the box, is in need of ADHD medicine.
Waters has always made his mark with his use of outsiders, those who don’t properly fit into a neat box, and Pecker is no exception. It delights in obscure strip club rules (no teabagging) and how pubic hair can cause crime as well as the multitudes of characters that frequent those establishments. While no one might be eating dog excrement on screen anymore, there is still enough strange to make the most buttoned up gasp in offense.
But to Waters, there is beauty in that weirdness and Pecker might be his sweetest film yet. For the most part, everyone is looking out for the best interests of others and in times like these, it makes this film even more important.
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
