American Fetish (2009)

 Directed by Michael Simmons

Starring Matt Jones and Charlie Lane

Runtime 90min. - Unrated

1 Star (out of 4)

"American Fetish" is part of the IndieRights collection and is available on DVD.

Couldn't find an embeddable trailer but you can view it HERE.

I'm pretty forgiving with indie films. Most of them are made by people looking to build a career. This can lead to some inspired performances. It's sort of like baseball. A player's stats increase during contract negotiations because their future depends on their performance. It's the same with actors and indie movies.


"American Fetish" is a rare exception to this idea. There's people involved who should be trying to grow their careers, but I get the idea they aren't. I can forgive those who are untalented, unpolished, or still learning. I don't think that's the case in this instance. I think it's simply that everyone is uninspired. The dialogue is terrible. The story makes little sense. The times that it does make sense are still awful. The dialogue is delivered with such monotony that it might put your kids to sleep. To battle this, the filmmakers have used liberal amounts of narration in a classic noir style. Unfortunately, the narration is no better than the dialogue and shares it's lullaby-like attributes.

The story follows some guy who runs some bar where girls dress in stockings and dance on tables. This guy's dad was a filmmaker who shot naughty flicks back in the 50's. The dad was convicted of manslaughter, but always maintained his innocence. He doesn't die in jail. He serves his time and is released. He actually dies during a lap dance. The old man never really had a desire to clear his name. It wasn't the last thought upon his death. His son decides that he will clear the family name for him. Why? I have no idea. Seems to me he could have just buried his dad and forgot about it. It certainly would have saved him a lot of trouble.

The son finds his father's old skin flicks. They are supposedly shot in the 50's, but the set and costume designs are so poor that there's no way you could have known the era without it being mentioned. Not only do they look modern, but they aren't erotic at all. None of the film is erotic. Occasionally a boob makes it to the screen and that's as far as the envelope is pushed. Movies don't need nudity to be erotic. I've seen many erotic films with no nudity at all. To pull that off you need some actors who are willing to sell the scene. You won't find them in "American Fetish". The screenplay may have had the potential for eroticism, but when it sounds like everyone is reading their lines off the back of their hands it's hard to tell.

The promotional material for the film makes constant mention of Eric Kroll. He's a renown fetish photographer and the alleged inspiration for many of the film's images. Those images are pretty easy to spot and are easily the best parts of the film. There are several scenes that would have made for interesting still shots. This is a movie though, and composition needs to be consistent. Actually, it may have done more harm than good by making obvious the flaws throughout the rest of the film.

There's not many redeemable aspects of the movie and I'm not sure that any changes would have saved it. A better lead actor would have made a huge difference. It would also help if the eroticism wasn't so watered down. I'll admit that some people may enjoy the film simply because of its themes. I'm not one of them. I like my boobs served up with a side of emotion.