Eating Raoul (1982) ****

 

With all the 80's nostalgia today, including the return of mullets and mall-bangs, high-waisted pants, and other perversions, it is easy to forget just how seedy things were in the 80's. The satirical, low-budget, '80s, art film “Eating Raul” paints its time as a period of crime and despair, and at the heart of all this vice...swinging. As the opening narration points out, “It is a known fact that prolonged exposure to just such a psychopathic environment will eventually warp even the most normal and decent among us.”

Speaking of normal and decent, Paul Bartel and Mary Woronov play Paul and Mary Bland, a straight-laced couple whose sex life Mary sums up thusly: “I'm not against a little hugging and kissing once in a while.” The Blands long to open a restaurant in the country, but lack the funds for the down payment. Meanwhile, they are very uncomfortable in a city that is being taken over by swingers. One sex-crazed partier gets lost on his way to an orgy and wanders into the Blands' apartment. He tries to rape Mary, and Paul gets home just in time to stop the attack, accidentally killing the swinger. Unsure what to do, they search him, and discover several hundred dollars.

From the seeds of this discovery grows an idea: The Blands will lure swingers to their home and murder them for their cash. The plan works great until a Chicano burglar named Raoul discovers their game, and cuts himself in on the action.

Made on a budget of only $500,000, this absurdist, black comedy delights not because of its amoral, lurid themes, but because of the ultimate innocence of its main characters. Paul and Mary are prissy prudes, but they aren't especially judgmental or hostile to those around them. It is only after repeated harassment and assaults by the depraved sex addicts and criminals in their city that they stumble into the amoral world of murder for profit. Even then, they retain a level of innocence that makes them more sympathetic than the warped orgy-goers and muggers who populate their version of L.A. This same innocence is found in the best character in the movie, Doris the Dominatrix, who cracks a mean whip at parties, but at home is just a sweet, pretty, suburban mom.

If you enjoy kooky, absurd, low-budget films, then this one should definitely go on your list. It's darkly funny and ultimately satisfying. Finally, “Eating Raul” begs the question, “What kind of wine pairs well with Puerto Rican food?”

4 stars out of 5