If you've survived the 90's era punk rock scene, a lot of this will ring true. Drawing from the misbehaviors of Axl Rose and (I presume) Courtney Love, Elizabeth Ross plays Becky Something, the front woman for the underground success band Something She. When we first come across the fried out Fraggle, she is backstage with the rest of her trio, bassist Marielle Hell (Agyness Deyn) and Ali van der Wolff (Gayle Rankin). Obviously success has gone to Becky's head, which causes her to vamp about all the inequities she's faced in life and all the miseries she insists to burden others with. They aren't all angels, but Becky goes beyond the party lifestyle into stretching the bounds of tolerance. Especially to a rival Zelda E. Zekiel (Amber Heard) who recognizes Becky's talents and wishes they'd tour together. Instead, she's met with the acid tongue of Becky. And so it repeats itself.
"Her Smell" isn't necessarily a cautionary tale of the rock business, as that's long dead. But it makes you wonder why it was made. My only guess is that it is a glimpse at a bygone era when a rock star life will catch up to you. And we have never really seen this from a female perspective. In most cases, Hollywood uses an established band and makes it a biopic. As in "The Runaways". In this case, the essence of bands like Hole or Bikini Kill is enough to elicit the response.
It's not anything new you haven't heard about poor behavior of damaged people BUT Elizabeth Moss absolutely owns the role and it's impressive how deep she got into this truly unlikeable person. Kudos to writer/director Alex Ross Perry. If you aren't familiar with his work, "Queen of Earth" is a very odd, inaccessible actor's exercise. Hard to watch, so I was very happy that this does have more accessibility when it comes to the story. Also, the dialogue is pretty solid. The cruelty a degenerate rock band inflicts on each other seemed real.
Her Smell
(2018)
The 80's and 90's Punk Rock Boiled Down To Sweaty Backstage Antics
9 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers