American Mary — Ann Hale
One of my absolute favorite films of the decade would have to be American Mary, the brainchild of directors Jen and Sylvia Soska. While you could simplistically list the film as a rape revenge, it is actually so much more, focusing on Mary’s rise to power and descent into a world of underground body modification.
Mary Mason (Katharine Isabelle) is a promising medical student struggling to pay her bills. When she interviews for a stripper position at a local club, a lucky accident in the form of an injured man lands in her lap. She is offered a large sum of cash in return for fixing the injured man on the down low. From here, Mary becomes an underground doctor of sorts to all of the misfits and body mod “freaks” who are willing to pay handsomely for surgeries they just cannot get done anywhere else.
Now that she can afford tuition, Mary is excelling in school and is even invited to a private party by her professor as the guest of honor. Mary believes that she is invited because of her talent as a student, but her professor has ulterior motives, setting Mary up to be drugged and raped at the party. From here, Mary drops out of school and takes on the body modification full time, even practicing new procedures on her professor, whom she has kidnapped and leaves suspended in a storage locker.
While it may seem that American Mary is a torture porn film, it is far from it. The real story is of Mary’s survival of sexual assault, though well hidden under a story of body modification. After the assault, we see Mary change from a happy, promising medical student to a darker shell of herself. We don’t see Mary establish any meaningful relationships because the darkness seems to have enveloped her, leaving only this emotionless woman. After being weakened by the assault, Mary has this newfound power, which I believe she thinks will equate to happiness, but it really only brings her more trouble.
American Mary is a beautifully made, Cronenberg-esque body horror film with amazing practical effects and a dark story line. If you haven’t sat down to watch it yet, there is no better time than now.
