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Five dysfunctional girls grow up in Margate; through a mishmash
of shots we follow the girls through some extreme experiences,
including rape and suicide...
Top
Spot (2004) is a film by Tracey Emin. The title refers
to both a nightclub, where apparently you could get fingered,
and the act of a man's penis hitting the womb during coitus
- an unedifying little piece of knowledge that is provided
by Emin at the start of the film.
One
of the problems with the film is Emin's participation as narrator
and off screen interviewer. Regardless of what you make of
her as an artist she has little talent as an actress, making
a lot of the dialogue at the beginning dull and flat. But
then this is the whole point of the film, Emin's work revolves
around an obsessional desire to display every fact of her
life in her art. This is her story split between the five
girls. The film contains no real discernible plot being more
of a montage of the girls' dysfunctional lives. Although the
film is shot on fairly cheap equipment it is unclear whether
this was for budgetary reason or to give the film a more personal
up close feel.
The
five actresses spend most of the time looking positively embarrassed
to be involved in the project. Whilst their performances are
naturalistic, it is a form that works well in a documentary,
but not so in a drama. Even when the girl's friend kills herself
they are more interested in painting their nails than experiencing
any emotion. What little emotion the film has is portrayed
in the soundtrack - as if the girls require this external
expression of emotion as they are ultimately dead inside.
Whilst
the film is interesting, it feels more like one of Tracey's
instillations that should be hanging on a wall in a gallery.
With little in the way of plot or character development this
work is best thought of as a series of vignettes rather than
a coherent whole. Even when one of the girls kills herself
we don't really care, as we never really get to know the girls
outside their obsession with the seedier side of life. To
be fair to the film, which was designed to appeal to teenage
girls rather than craggy reviewers, I played it to one. No,
I didn't just drag one off the street I sired one of my own.
Her impression was that the music was great and that the girls
were a bunch of uninteresting mingers. Can't argue about the
music as a film this makes a good compilation album.
I presume that the film has been cut. When it was first released
it gained an eighteen certificate, due mostly to the suicide
scene. This incensed Emin so much that she withdrew it from
circulation. I say cut as I really can't see why in its current
form it would have got an eighteen.
Sound is stereo and the picture quality is variable. The film
has subtitles for the hard of hearing. What redeems the DVD
is the extras. Emin provides a commentary which goes a long
way to making the film a lot more interesting, in fact as
the girls say so little the film is preferable to watch with
the commentary on. You also get another short film called
Riding for a Fall which is really more home movie footage.
There's a little piece on costumes which is fifty-four seconds
long. Next up is I'm a Believer which has more home
movie shots to the Monkees song, and a 2003 interview with
Tracey - it's not really an interview as she refuses to answer
the questions that her interviewer obviously wanted to ask
and goes off on one about her own life.
It's
hard to call Top Spot a coherent film, but it is something
that might grab the interest of anyone who is as interested
in Emin's life as she apparently is.
Charles
Packer
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