Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

When they have to chose between doing their duty and doing what feels good, most young people opt for the latter. This can be tricky when specific social circumstances are supposed to guide you to the former. This is the situation the protagonist of Two Moon Junction, 1988 erotic drama written and directed by Zalman King, finds herself in. April Delongpre (played by Sherilyn Fenn) is oldest daughter in rich, influential and politically connected Alabama family who has just graduated college and is about to marry Chad Douglas Fairchild (played by Martin Hewitt), son of another rich, influential and politically connected family. Few days before the wedding April is left alone at family mansion and can’t fail noticing Perry Tyson (played by Richard Tyson), muscular and attractive man who works for carnival that has recently arrived in town. Perry becomes equally interested in April and two of them soon start torrid and passionate affair. As the wedding approaches, April tries to end it, but always gets overwhelmed by her insatiable passion. As this happens, April’s protective grandmother Belle (played by Louise Fletcher) becomes aware of what is going on and, in order to spare her granddaughter from heartbreak and scandal, asks local sheriff Earl Hawkins (played by Burl Ives) to take care of Perry by any means necessary.

After the premiere, only minority of critics called it “erotic”, while the majority called it “softcore pornography”. It represented directorial debut of Zalman King, writer and producer of 9 ½ Weeks, vastly overrated film which had tried and failed to push some boundaries of big screen erotica in increasingly puritan 1980s Hollywood. King in this case wasn’t that constrained by censorship concerns and Two Moon Junction indeed contains many scenes of nudity and explicit sex. Those scenes featured the main star, Sherilyn Fenn, young actress who here appears as blonde (albeit not natural, as some more perceptive viewers might conclude) and for many (mostly male) viewers then and later whole purpose of film was to see future star of Twin Peaks completely naked. Fenn indeed delivered the goods (although would later criticise film as “exploitative”), while King took concerns of female audience by having Richard Tyson shirtless for almost entire film. There is even brief scene where Kristy McNichol, star of 1980s television show, appears topless in the role of Perry’s cowgirl friend with bisexual tendencies. King directs those scenes with great sense of style, with good cinematography by Mark Plummer and quick editing that, like so many 1980s films, give away strong influence of MTV videos. As a result, Two Moon Junction is a film very pleasing to the eye, even among audience that couldn’t care less for anything erotic.

However, all this good work is compromised by bad script. Plot is very weak and burdened by cliches, while characters are one-dimensional. While Fenn and Tyson look really good and even have some chemistry together, they are forced to use corny lines of dialogue. Furthermore, plot is resolved in reasonable, but ultimately anti-cathartic and predictable fashion, while not dealing with some major plot holes and implausibilities. Film features very strong cast, but most characters don’t leave much impression. It was the last film for veteran character actor Burl Ives and Hervé Villechaise (who plays dwarfish member of carnival troupe), while being the screen debut of 13-year old Milla Jovovich (who apart from looking beautiful doesn’t do much in the role of April’s younger sister). Another example of miscasting is Martin Hewitt, young actor who played semi-psychotic protagonist in Endless Love, here reduced to playing bland character of “safe” future husband. Two Moon Junction failed at the box office (and Kristy McNichol even won Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress), but it was big success at home video market, which later led to direct-to-video sequel Return to Two Moon Junction starring Melinda Clarke. Zalman King later became specialist for erotic dramas and in 1990 had success by pioneering that kind of content on cable television with series Red Shoe Diaries.

RATING: 4/10 (+)