Directed by Amanda Kramer
Sissy St. Claire graces the small screen for her first ever television special, an evening full of music and laughter, glamour and entertainment! But Sissy's live event quickly begins to curdle into a psychedelic nightmare of vanity, insecurity and delusional ambition, provoked by the glowering presence of a mysterious masked man.
Odrobinę litości!, 나 좀 봐줘!
Netherlands International Film Festival Rotterdam 
Canada Fantasia International Film Festival 
Australia Melbourne International Film Festival 
UK Edinburgh International Film Festival 
USA Fantastic Fest 
Germany B3 Biennial Australia Screenwave International Film Festival 
South Korea12 UK15 USA Australia Canada Germany Netherlands South Korea UK USA 
Rewatched this absolute hidden gem and my precious 4.5 rating was abhorrent. This is an absolutely amazing film! Like Late Night With the Devil, it’s a live television show that slowly descends into a complete and total version of hell full of inner demons. In this case, a vapid celebrity named Sissy St. Claire (that name alone is perfection) puts on a network variety show that doesn’t go exactly as planned.
It’s the same idea as Late Night, but a very 80’s aesthetic instead of 70’s. Big hair, wild outfits, rudimentary special effects, and that whole “Vaseline smeared on the camera lens” look. The lead Sophie von Haselberg, basically carries the entire film solely on her shoulders and my lord…
A glorious and glittery retro throwback horror comedy musical. It’s bombastic and over the top, so maniacal and fun, what a ride. Amanda Kramer proves she’s one of the most unique and innovative directors working right now, I just want to watch 10 more movies by her.
Sophie Von Haselberg is electric, she possesses the exact same spirit of her mother, Bette Midler, screen presence infinite.
Also, the songs were so good. So catchy.
similarly playful and kitschy companion to Please Baby Please, proving further that Amanda Kramer is doing something that nobody else is right now, fusing together the idiosyncrasies of vintage TV programming, musicals and something altogether more nightmare inducing -- fully on board for whatever she does going forward
Wow! This was a really unique and lovely treat! I actually tried to watch it Friday, but I was just not in the best headspace and I couldn’t get into it, but it has so many good reviews so I did want to give it a try. I can now say I think the best mood for this is completely baked, but you do you!
This is supposed to be one of those star vehicle variety show deals that kinda peaked in the 60’s and slid down to a slow death by the mid 80’s which is about where this one is at. It’s a star named Sissy St. Claire and the name alone piqued my interest. This is a…
Soundtrack: based
Costumes: based
Wife Hooker: based
Aesthetic: based
von Haselberg: based
>tfw the cards won't have you: based
Started off on a high note with cheering for the Static Vision logo, and I quite liked the opening number, but my enjoyment fell off precipitously from there. I’ve been trying to put my finger on exactly what I don’t like or don’t respond to in most of Kramer’s films, because her aesthetic choices are undeniably cool, specific and well-realised – and I think I’ve come to the conclusion that the dialog is the biggest issue for me. It’s so affected and so stylised, and my brain just seems to tune it out to the point of disassociation. I guess I’m also not very interested in Kramer’s thematic concerns, so it all ends up becoming an extended wallowing in her visual world and that gets boring eventually. I really wish I felt differently!
oh my. another atmospheric, fashionable extravaganza of discomfort from amanda kramer, who is keeping the tradition of crazy woman cinema alive. (also thank u amanda for never being boring with makeup.) there's a monologue in here that feels downright shakespearean, and another at the end that had me frozen and engrossed as if i was in the space watching a play. straight to your heart on demand!
Give me Pity! is like an avant garde, slam-poetry The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel meets Party Monster, meets All That Jazz, meets Funny Girl, with the feminist themes open at full throttle and threats that you can’t quite put your finger on lurking in the background. And while that all seems like it would be something I’d be into, the dialogue isn’t very accessible and so I found myself wondering what in tarnation she was on about for at least half of the film. You get like the general gist, though.
The film is visually interesting and there’s lots of spunk in the performance. Both go a long way to establishing a clear mood. The mood in question? Distressed. But in…
does a panos cosmatos/john waters offspring performed by the wooster group sound interesting to you?
best 80 minutes i had in a long time
I love me some cheesy 70's variety specials. Mix in some surrealness, a foreboding sense of dread, and you've got Give Me Pity.
I LOVED the outfits, the make-up, the PERFECT Ad break bumpers. The Grand Ole Flag parody is bloody brilliant. Baseball, hot chicks, and guns!
Sophie Von Haselberg does a marvelous job. I can't wait to see what she and Amanda Kramer, come up with next.
Q&A with the leading actress Sophie von Haselberg at ICA
70s glitz, TV screen softness, girlboss disco jams. Like a disco ball undergoing a nervous breakdown. Obsessed with artificiality. Both admire it and mock it. The inner struggles of an actor. Insecurities and hidden neurosis show up, the moment success happens. Or was it always haunting her from the start?
80 minutes of grounded lunacy. It wouldn't work without a brilliant and tragicomic performance by Sophie von Haselberg. Big Barbra Streisand and glamorous diva vibes. And it starts crashing down as if it's Gena Rowlands in Opening Night or A Woman Under the Influence. Sophie absolutely owns this role. Her and Amanda manage to twist it from something reminiscent to…
