Boy Meets Girl

Plot synopsis:
This dark British drama features S&M and centers upon a woman who slowly, fatally tortures the man she keeps captive in her basement. Anne Marie, a French woman, finds her captive, Tevin, in a bar. She is beautiful and he willingly returns to her apartment for a night of love. Instead she spikes his drink. He awakens to find himself stripped to his underwear and strapped to a dentist's chair. Enter Anne Marie, dressed in full dominatrix garb. She swiftly begins a series of vigorous mental and physical tortures. An unseen third person videotapes the festivities. Anne-Marie is soon replaced by the camera woman and true perpetrator, Julia, a serial killer. For her good work, Anne-Marie is butchered and her head is placed in the cellar with Julia's other victims. Julia proceeds to continue tormenting Tevin until the film's inevitable conclusion.........
[borrowed from NYTimes movie review]

Tags: violence, sadist

Review:
One of the many things I love about DVD, as a medium, is the way that so many wonderful films that never got the video release they so richly deserved have being unearthed from the vaults and unleashed on the viewing public - usually a public that can't even remember them from the first time round at that.One such forgotten gem is Ray Brady's "Boy Meets Girl" (1994, UK) which although responsible for huge amounts of controversy upon its theatrical release (BBFC not liking its subject matter, for some reason!), never seems to get mentioned by many folk any more.
The film begins, as the title suggests, when Boy Meets Girl in that all-too-familiar setting of a divey little bar somewhere.
Girl is French, quite the 'randy little tart' it seems, so Boy thinks he's struck lucky, especially when she takes him back to her flat, plies him with wine and asks if he'd like to watch some porn with her.
and she wants to film it all.I'd love to tell you more, because the way I've put it probably makes it sound like one of the "Guinea Pig" films (which it's quite a far cry from!), but I also don't want to spoil the plot for you.
I WILL however go as far as to say, the entire thing takes place in the black room with minimal cast members (which all lends it quite a 'theatrical' feel), so major cred points distributed all round for creating such a continuously tense and edgy atmosphere that keeps you guessing and utterly engrossed right up until the final few grotesque scenes.There are so many things in this deeply unusual film's favour that enable it to be so effective.
It's almost disorientating, the way the characterisations manipulate perceptions of what's going on and, by the time the plot reaches its ferociously visceral climax, the impact is made all the greater, because you're being made to THINK about what's going on instead of just watching it through zombified, desensitised eyes."Boy Meets Girl" is one of the more genuinely disturbing films I've seen.
It kind of feels like I'm a "newborn" movie viewer, and makes me believe in the power of the medium again.
The effective use of clever camera fading and fade up techniques, invisible cuts and so forth, makes me think that it is now possible for someone to actually make the movies Anthony Burgess predicted in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, which are shown to Alex during his brainwashing.
Ray Brady's "Boy Meets Girl" is a low budget, uncompromising and controversial shocker.
Brady in his Director's commentary explains that the political context at the time in the UK was such that films that glamorized violence(when violence was perceived to be entertaining) were being passed by the censors and any films that showed realistic violence, pain, suffering etc were perceived by the censors to be dangerous and potentially damaging viewing material and were subsequently immediately banned.
Brady said that his motivation for making Boy Meets Girl was to provoke and challenge the censors into a public clarification of this problem and arguing that irreparable damage was being done to the sensibilities of British audiences in that they were slowly and insidiously being desensitised to violence by watching films where the pace of the narrative never allowed the time to portray or dwell on the subsequent casual effects of violence and the repercuations to the whole community that surrounds an individual that has experienced an act of violence.
Brady argued that the way films were being edited, to conform to censorship guidelines, was more likely to lead to potential dysfunctional behaviour by viewers of films with violent content.
Having heard of the darker appetites being indulged here and the possible repercussions if someone decided to make the events of this  film a reality, I thought to always steer clear of this film, due to the subject matter but after it was released in the US on the Unearthed label I thought now it's finally on region 1 it's time to check it out.I then read that Danielle Sanderson was fantastic in it, and I decided to bite the bullet and give it a watch.
And like all writers, I'd fight for the right for a colleague's work to be read, even if I hated it.The acting is unbelievably good.Sanderson was perfection as the corrupt Julia (I can't even envision anyone else in that role) yet, she is perfection.
I hope that she has a long and happy career.Tim Poole has great range as an actor, and this role proves it beyond a doubt he manages to portray a disturbed nasty individual but still manages to evoke my sympathy before the end.This isn't a film I'd want to watch often, (I can't stomach the reading of Sade's prose, that was read out in an early scene, for long) but it is a film which is much better than expected and after watching the DVD extra's and listening to the Director's explanatory commentary on who the film was shot on a micro-budget and made as an argument within a film to challenge the way the then UK censors were desensitizing audiences to violence in the mistaken belief that they were protecting them, with the budgetary restraints it is an incredible film and I'm amazed they managed to pull it off.
"Boy Meets Girl" is not as nasty as I expected,but still we have here a pretty disturbing stuff.A man meets a woman in the bar,the two go back to her home and there they decide to watch a porno film.The guy passes out and wakes to find himself strapped to a dentist chair.The woman starts to torture him...This artsy shocker is full of brilliant color schemes and there is a lot of atmosphere through out the film.The torture scenes are pretty tame in comparison to "Guinea Pig:Devil's Experiment"(1988),but still there is enough shocking scenes to satisfy fans of extreme stuff.Recommended!.
After watching and being disappointed by Day of the Sirens (the directors latest movie) I was slagging the film off to a friend when she asked me had I seen Boy Meets Girl, she insisted that I borrow her copy and to watch it.
What a shocking surprise, I was glued to my seat, genuinely disturbing the film was intelligently written and felt at times as real as a documentary and left me with recurring nightmares.
This is the darkest film I've ever seen, you really don't believe that what you are watching is or could be a real movie, more like you are watching some sort of sick home movie made by a female Hannibal Lectern who has decided to make a demented snuff movie.
Perversely brilliant and unlike any other film I've ever seen I was repelled and drawn to it simultaneously, a movie more like a play written by a reincarnated Marquis De Sade.
Starting to work myself through the "Unearthed Films" I purchased recently, I decided to start with this interesting little take on a cross between "Man Bites Dog" and "Hard Candy".
Boy meets girl is the most brilliantly sick and twisted, exhilarating and outrageous kick in the ass film I've ever seen.
A film that questions the exploitative use of violence by cinema, something that makes this films subject matter appear more realistic and important, a provocative way in which to illustrate what the film is REALLY about.
The audience identifies with the film making inquisitor, fascinated and disturbed by Tevin's sadistic captor, unable to look away.
Other films have attempted to incite similar discussions on violence but Boy Meets Girl is simply the best of its kind.This movie is a piece of art: shocking and disturbing, while at the same time funny as hell in a raw "should-I-be-laughing-or-should-I-be-ashamed" kind of way.It gives an insight in the very realistically portrayed life of a serial killer with an impressionable charisma.Most people who commented on this film either love it or hate it.
The pivotal point of the film is when the audience begins to look "beyond" the obvious relationship, that of torturer (being obviously evil) and their subject Tevin (a victim).
When watching this movie, try to imagine that this *could* be a real movie: documentaries about terrorists, drugdealers, and even mercenaries (the closest thing to an actual serial killer) have been made, and some of them were very close to their subject.It is *not* a "black comedy" in the classical sense of the word; more like a "Clockwork Orange" for the nineties.
But it is also a display of film-genius.The movie is filmed in mostly in one room, more like a set for theatre as a "fly-on-the-wall" victim in the life of a serial killer.
Those who shy from blood and killing - about the most graphic and nasty domestic violence you'll ever see in a film - should shy from this movie.
But anyone with an interest in a glimpse at the darkest side of human nature will appreciate this film, not necessarily for its story or its darkness, but for its ability to make us think, and open our eyes to human behaviour we don't like to admit might exist.During the course of the movie you become totally numb to the act of killing (or maiming or torture or rape or any violent crime).
I wonder if this is the kind of numbness that soldiers experienced in wars like WWI, entrenched and under constant fire - to where the violence around become the norm ( one of the films many strange chapter/scene headings.
When I told him about this movie, a friend mentioned that "society, as a whole, is already numb to brutal killing and violence." He's right about that.
It's not Hollywood by a long shot so I'm pretty sure this film will have its detractors, but the film delivers what it says, it's a feel good movie for a teen audience.
I won't go into it too deeply, but their means include a microwave, maggets and a dildo.The problem this movie has is keeping things interesting, so at like 3/4 of the film we see a silly escape attempt to keep us awake.
Also at the end of the film you feel like: so what does it all mean, where does this lead us?
If going back to Man Bites Dog, that movie had more of a story to tell, and actually had an ending.Too bad as it's not uninteresting what the makers try to do, but in the end they do kinda fail...
A few days ago I received this film in the mail,and I must admit that I was expecting this to be something special,at least according to reviews that have praised this as something dark and unsettling.Well,I can tell you that's not the case at all,I'm afraid to say.First of all;I'm well aware of the fact that this is director Ray Brady's cinematic statement about the general portrayal of on screen violence.And I also realize that Brady had to choose an angle that didn't blur his message,meaning that he couldn't exactly revel in blood and gore.The result he would have got then,is that people would have perceived it as a sadistic gorefest,and ultimately failed in grasping his overall message.But then the question is;is it still possible to make it unsettling and dark,and at the same time let the message come across?Of course it is.Two examples that come to mind are "A Clockwork Orange",and "Man Bites Dog".Regarding the latter,it is stated on the cover that "Boy meets Girl" is "the English answer to Man Bites Dog".Well,sadly it is a far cry from this gem,and should not be compared at all!!My main objection to BMG is that the whole affair comes off as a amateurish attempt to make the viewers emphathize with the victim,and perhaps also with the perpetrator.My point is that this isn't accomplished at all,this mainly due to the apparent lack of really convincing actors,lack of top-notch dialogue,and the lack of realism that is acquired in order to make it look like a snuffpiece.To sum up;I have not watched a horrifying and unsettling film which is shaking one's foundation,I have instead watched a first-year's film student's idea of a innocent,masochistic wet dream.Mediocre at best.Definitely hardly anything that's worth banning,that's for sure!!Oh so many squeamish people out there,the reviews this one has got is a crystalclear proof of that!!.
Without question the very worst British film I have ever seen, this had me questioning my rental choice from literally the first frame (a Nietzsche quote on a pink background that looks like it was knocked up on a Fisher Price "My First Computer").A bunch of friends apparently pooled their student grants together to make a film (I listened to the first 5 minutes of the director's commentary) and the result was this.
Honestly it would have been better spent on beer and pork scratchings.A woman picks up a man at a bar, drugs him, and 1 minute into the film he's strapped to a chair and an 85-minute torture sequence begins.
Well not if that torture consists of her yelling ridiculous feminist mumbo-jumbo at him and quoting from books.A remarkable film in that the victim's plight is less painful than the audience's, Boy Meets Girl contains the worst actors outside of a Timothy Hines flick, and photography to match.
Things perk up when he gets his hand microwaved, but the big finale only excites because we know the film will soon be over.Hopelessly inept in every conceivable way..
and 20 minutes later I took it back and hired something else.I feel my comments may be unfair as I fast forwarded this all the way through in the hope of seeing something interesting.The film is about a woman who takes a man back to her place and subjects him to several forms of torture....
there are three characters in the film, and with the exception of the first five minutes the rest of the film was shot in a dark room.I have seen some bad films in my time but this actually makes all of them seem quite entertaining!
"Leave all that to me..."And thus Boy Meets Girl was born...The genius of this film is that they entrusted all of crucial aesthetic elements to the least talented film-maker in the entire world - Ray Brady.
The acting reminds you of 1970's Open University programmes, but without the lecturers charm and on-screen charisma.Basically this film takes self indulgent trite into a whole new dimension and you will leave it at best swearing never to watch a moving image on a screen for the rest of your life, and at worst planning genocide of the entire human race to ensure something like this is never made or seen again.Fun for all the family!.
A truly funny film.The comedy that I notice has not been mentioned here so far is truly brilliant.The director changing the main character half way through the film is one of the most inventive bits of cinema (or should I say SINema) that I have ever seen.It really is funnier than watching a late night showing of Jim Davidson after being hit by a truck!
That said, BOY MEETS GIRL is not a horrible film by any means - my MAIN problem with it is that it drags on for far too long.
What ensues is some pretty inventive but non-graphic torture, interspersed with way too much boring dialog...There ARE some positive things about BOY MEETS GIRL.
A couple of the torture scenes are imaginative, but lack the "payoff" that I expect in a film like this.
Our main protagonist Tevin, a grimacing Gordon Ramsay clone with a taste for all the usual 'bad' male behaviour (one-night stands, homophobia, heavy drinking, not reading books, macho violence, inbred sexism...the film-makers even throw in something about repressed bestial urges, as if he wasn't enough of a stereotype of the unreconstructed caveman), accompanies his latest conquest - a young, apparently French woman in a startling blonde fright wig - back to her flat, where the poor slob thinks he's in for the time of his life.
But things aren't quite what they seem, and when Tevin collapses after drinking drugged wine, the film shifts to a darkened basement-like setting with the hapless chauvinist strapped to a dentist's chair, where he is tortured and lectured...along with the audience.
Why do we watch violent films when real-life violence is this horrible?
Even in the digitally restored version, the photography is grimy and eye-straining almost beyond endurance, the sound is often inaudible (the sound recordist is pseudonymously credited as Alan Smithee, and I can understand why he wanted to keep his name off this stinker) and the torture scenes are broken up with dinky little paper-and-paste title cards (one of which reads 'The TV is laughing at you' - not as much as the video library manager who foisted this dreck on me and stung me for £1.50) that make the whole thing look even more like an inept student film project than it does already.
If you want to be lectured, patronized and taken for a senseless buffoon who will benefit from being told how to perceive the world by a bunch of precious quasi-intellectuals, then BOY MEETS GIRL is your film..
NO, this film is not provocative, disturbing, well-acted, shocking, "artsy", or in any way entertaining.*spoilers follow* - what do we actually have here?
Well a movie were obviously the main actress had had enough and made the perfect choice to abandon this film half way through.
I'll forgive them the year of making - 1994 and their possible naivety, but come on - I was more shocked by the "squeal pig" scene in The Deliverance than any of this nonsense.Avoid this film: it's cheap, nasty, not shocking, terribly acted....oh yeah he dies in the end , and umm so what I don't give a s**t either as I wanted him to from the beginning anyway.Baaaaad 0/10