- Lana Turner (left) in A Life of Her Own, a likely influence on Roommates
“It’s hard to believe there was a time when such progressive politics could be expressed in a drive-in movie,” Dave Kehr wrote of Stephanie Rothman’s Terminal Island (1973), “but yes, Virginia, there was an early 70s.” I’d argue that the era of subversive exploitation cinema continued after the Nixon presidency, as evidenced by such works as George Romero’s Martin (1978), Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer (1979), and Chuck Vincent’s Roommates (1981), which screens on 35-millimeter tomorrow at 7 PM at Doc Films. Roommates, in fact, is the most thoughtful and progressive-minded hard-core movie I’ve seen. Almost none of the sex scenes are intended to titillate, but rather to illustrate how sexual relationships can mirror power dynamics in society at large. That these scenes advance the narrative content instead of distracting from it reflects Vincent’s uncommon focus and attention to performance.
