The only exposure I had to Giueseppe Andrews's guerilla filmmaking style before seeing Touch Me In The Morning, was a trailer for his other Troma release Trailer Town. I wasn't too impressed with the brief clips I saw and to be completely honest, I was downright dreading reviewing Touch Me In The Morning, until one day, I finally just popped it in. What I discovered was that though Andrews's content and subject matter may not be for my tastes, he certainly does bring a unique and fascinating look at the world to the table with the film.
Andrews plays the main character, who goes by the nickname Coney Island, but his real name is Ed Gardo, the "change of life baby" to a cokehead mother who eventually develops Alzheimers and his father, Daddy Bill, who just was released from prison. Coney Island is a nice trailer park boy who goes around singing songs to the elderly inhabitants of his environment. Also, he is having problems with his girlfriend and other life issues, which he tries to sort out with his parents, while telling stories of his life through the film.
Giueseppe Andrews's directorial debut is not a film that everyone will be able to appreciate. Andrews's has a lo-fi aesthetic and shoots his films like grainy old home videos, in this case a very washed out black and white shot-on-video image. Andrews's cast, which consists of the inhabitants of his trailer park, are all amateur, with some lines apparently learned verbatim through Andrews's coaching right before shooting a take. However, most of them are from being camera-shy and provide a bizarre touch of local color to the film. The film's star Bill Nowlin is especially fascinating with his filthy street poetry and unique persona. Touch Me In The Morning has all the eccentric trash-art ethics of Andy Warhol and John Waters, and manages to remain fascinating throughout its entire runtime.
The main problem with the film is that the camera focuses too much on imagery that quite frankly nobody wants to see. Bill Nowlin is a fascinating character, but that does not mean I want to see him in a thong, taking a shower naked, or defecating while Coney Island has a man-to-man conversation with him. There's a variety of sex acts during Daddy Bill's birthday party that I could have done without, quite frankly.
But to be honest, this "trash film" is worth checking out, I'd assume especially if you liked Andrews's first release, Trailer Town. While the imagery is a bit much at times and the quality is completely amateur, Touch Me In The Morning manages to remain fascinating throughout it's entire runtime.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
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