Drive-Away Dolls

Ethan Coen: Drive-Away Dolls (US/GB 2024).

US/GB 2024

    Production company  Working Title Films

Produced by Ethan Coen, Tricia Cooke, Robert Graf, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner

Directed by Ethan Coen

Written by Ethan Coen, Tricia Cooke

Cinematography Ari Wegner

Music by Carter Burwell

Edited by Tricia Cooke

    CAST

Margaret Qualley as Jamie

Geraldine Viswanathan as Marian

Beanie Feldstein as Sukie

Colman Domingo as the chief

Pedro Pascal as Santos

Bill Camp as Curlie

Joey Slotnick as Arliss

C. J. Wilson as Flint

Annie Gonzalez as Carla

Josh Flitter as the bellboy

Matt Damon as Senator Gary Channel

Miley Cyrus as Tiffany Plastercaster (uncredited)

    Running time  84 minutes

Distributed by Focus Features (United States), Universal Pictures (international)

    Release dates

22 Feb 22, 2024 (Australia)

23 Feb 23, 2024 (United States)

22 March 2024 (Finland)

    Sous-titres francais: Sabine de Andria.

    Viewed at Grand Action, 5 April 2024.

IMDb synopsis: " Jamie regrets her breakup with her girlfriend, while Marian needs to relax. In search of a fresh start, they embark on an unexpected road trip to Tallahassee. Things quickly go awry when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals. "

 

AA: Ethan Coen's first fictional feature film made without Joel Coen. His film-making companion is Tricia Cooke, his wife since 1993, co-screenwriter, co-producer and editor of Drive-Away Dolls.

The concept is new in the Coen trajectory. First of all because of the female viewpoint, which is also a Lesbian one. Drive-Away Dolls belongs to the "women on the road" lineage, ranging from Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! to Thelma & Louise. A genre film but not a pastiche.

It satisfies exploitation cinema expectations with moments of brutal violence and luscious Lesbian sex (open-minded but soft-core). There is fun with Lesbian bar titles such as The Butter Churn and The She Shed.

Margaret Qualley (Jamie) and Geraldine Viswanathan (Marian) are the women on the road, with backup from Sukie (Beanie Feldstein), Jamie's ex who is also a police officer.

There is a crime plot about a misunderstanding of the rented car the women are driving which contains highly volatile cargo. The fabula belongs to the same tradition as "A Scandal in Bohemia", the breakthrough story for Sherlock Holmes.

Jamie is the uninhibited one and Marian the more traditional one. She prefers reading Henry James to frequenting Lesbian bars. She reads The Europeans while the leader of the criminals reads The Golden Bowl.

Set in 1999, the film looks back 25 years in visual imagery. The kaleidoscopic psychedelia evokes the music video decade but also 1960s visions. In her dreams, Jamie returns to her childhood voyeurism of adoring naked female glory beyond the garden fence. 

The scandal in bohemia now refers to Cynthia Plaster Caster (1947-2022: the film is dedicated to her), famous for rock film buffs from The Untouchables aka Groupies (1970). In a supporting role, Matt Damon plays Senator Gary Channel whose early life Cynthia Plaster Caster had covered in her unique way.

The engaging score is by Carter Burwell, and the soundtrack is full of inspired discoveries (see listing beyond the jump break).

I like the bright, vivid colour world of the cinematographer Ari Wegner.

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: PLOT FROM WIKIPEDIA:

BEYOND THE JUMP BREAK: PLOT FROM WIKIPEDIA:

At a bar in Philadelphia in 1999, a man named Santos sits in a booth, nervously clutching a briefcase. He exits in a hurry and is followed by the bartender, who murders and decapitates him in an alley.

Elsewhere in Philadelphia, Jamie and Sukie are lovers whose relationship falls apart due to Jamie's infidelity. After Sukie kicks Jamie out of their apartment, Jamie learns that her friend Marian is planning a trip to Tallahassee, Florida, and decides to tag along. They head into a drive-away car service, where someone can transport a car one-way for another client. Due to a misunderstanding, they are given a car that someone else has already booked for a trip to Tallahassee.

Moments later, a trio of criminals—Arliss, Flint, and Chief—come to the shop to pick up the car headed to Tallahassee. They find that Jamie and Marian have taken it by accident, along with unspecified cargo that is part of their illegal dealings. While Marian wants to go straight to Tallahassee, Jamie constantly tries to convince Marian to loosen up by taking detours and trying to have casual sex at lesbian bars along the way. Marian prefers to read Henry James' The Europeans but slowly comes out of her shell due to Jamie's prodding. When the pair finally enter Florida, their car gets a flat tire. They open the trunk and find the briefcase Santos was holding and a basket containing Santos' head and a smoky white substance (likely dry ice or liquid nitrogen).

Jamie and Marian are followed by Arliss and Flint, who are led on a wild goose chase by a soccer team who had invited Jamie and Marian to a party. When Jamie and Marian check into a hotel using Jamie's credit card, the mob is tipped off to their location. Jamie convinces Marian that she needs to have a positive sexual experience to enjoy life more, and they have sex. The next morning, Arliss, Flint, and the Chief arrive in Tallahassee, while Jamie decides to use the contents of Santos' briefcase: a collection of dildos that were created from plaster casts of men's erect penises. Marian is shocked, but Jamie insists that she just wants the sexual release that Marian had the night before.

Immediately after Jamie climaxes, Arliss and Flint burst into their room, retrieve Santos' head and the briefcase, and abduct the women at gunpoint. In the backroom at a dog racing track, the Chief arrives to meet them all and explains that the sex toys are based on the genitals of powerful public figures, including one that was molded from Senator Channel's penis. Channel is fearful that his reputation will be ruined if anyone learns of the dildo, which Jamie had used earlier in the morning and subsequently left behind in the hotel room. After the gangsters have an argument that leads to Flint shooting the other two dead and running away, Jamie and Marian decide to blackmail Channel.

Sukie has also been en route to Tallahassee in her capacity as a police officer after Jamie tipped her off. Jamie and Marian meet Channel at a lesbian bar and give him the dildo in exchange for one million dollars. Sukie intercepts them as they exit and Channel turns back around to try and kill the women. Sukie shoots Channel. Channel survives, but his reputation is ruined when newspapers begin publishing articles about his criminal connections and the dildo collection.

The next day, Jamie and Marian meet with Marian's aunt at their hotel. Jamie casually mentions that she and Marian plan to go to Massachusetts, as same-sex marriage is legal there. As the trio drive away, a bellhop races to give them a bag that they have left behind, which contains two plaster casts Jamie had made of the dildo modeled after Channel's penis.

SOUNDTRACK FROM IMDb:

  

Blue Bayou

Written by Roy Orbison, Joe Melson

Performed by Linda Ronstadt

Courtesy of Elektra Entertainment Group

By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

Long Long Time

Written by Gary White

Performed by Linda Ronstadt

Courtesy of Capitol Records under license from Universal Music Enterprises

Maggot Brain

Written by George Clinton (as George Clinton Jr.), Eddie Hazel (as Edward Hazel)

Performed by Funkadelic

Courtesy of Westbound Records, Inc.

Patti's Dream

Written by Ken Walker

Performed by Kennelmus

Courtesy of Sundazed Music, Inc.

You Belong to Me

Written by Pee Wee King, Chilton Price, Redd Stewart

Performed by Diana Krall

Courtesy of Verve Records

Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words)

Written by Bart Howard

Performed by Diana Krall

Courtesy of Verve Records

Dance

Written by Renee Scroggins

Performed by ESG

Courtesy of Fire Records under license from MRMT Limited/Twist and Shout Limited

Eau d'Bedroom Dancing

Written by Kathleen Hanna, Johanna Fateman, Sadie Benning

Performed by Le Tigre

Courtesy of Le Tigre Records

By arrangement with Terrorbird Media

Peanut Butter

Written by H. B. Barnum (as Hidle Brown Barnum), Marty Cooper (as Martin Cooper), Clifford Goldsmith, Fred Smith

Performed by The Liverbirds

Courtesy of BMG Rights Management (US) LLC

Fire

Written by Arthur Brown, Vincent Crane, Michael Finesilver (as Mike Finesilver), Peter Ker

Performed by Lizzy Mercier Descloux

Courtesy of ZE Records International Studio, Co. LTD

By arrangement with Lights in the Attic Records & Distribution, LLC

Never Nowhere

Written by Tamala Poljak

Performed by Longstocking

Courtesy of Jealous Butcher Records

By arrangement with Terrorbird Media

I Love You

Written and Performed by Asie Payton

Courtesy of Fat Possum Records

By arrangement with Wixen Music

Cryin' My Eyes Out (Lyin' Beside You)

Written by Shannon Shaw, Dan Auerbach, Richard Swift

Performed by Shannon Shaw

Courtesy of Easy Eye Sounds/Nonesuch Records

By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

Got My Mojo Working

Written by Preston Foster

Performed by Joyce Harris & The Daylighters

Courtesy of Ace Copyrights Ltd

By arrangement with Cosmos Music