Leslie, My Name Is Evil

LESLIE, MY NAME IS EVIL largely focuses on the trial of Leslie Van Houten, a member of the infamous Manson Family, and a young male juror, Perry, who is seduced by her eyes and smile and feels sympathy for her plight. There are two worlds explored here: that of the typical middle-class conservative family of the 1960s and the underworld of Charles Manson and his cult followers. We watch Leslie being seduced into a cult of violence in one back-story while the other has Perry struggling with his desire to stay out of the Vietnam War against the wishes of his very overbearing and patriotic father. Perry then meets Dorothy, an attractive "All-American" Christian girl, who wants to marry him one day but also believes that Perry should serve his country in war first. The last half of the movie shows Perry, now a juror (better than going to Vietnam!), struggling about whether Leslie should be sentenced to death. Naturally, Perry's family expect him to sentence her to death before the trial has even begun. It's a hyper-artistic movie, for example the defendants sometimes show up to court dressed very provocatively, rather than in jumpsuits, nearly everyone behaves inappropriately and there is an enormous PATTON-style U.S. flag on the back wall during the trial. There are also many montages throughout the film that re-create the look & feel of the 1960s.

This film may offend some viewers for different reasons. First of all, the film obviously questions how conservative Americans can demonize those on trial for murder while simultaneously supporting an unpopular war, even after the My Lai massacre. This exploration of acceptable versus unacceptable violence is the whole point of the film. Secondly, it paints some of Manson's followers in a sympathetic light. I didn't get the impression that that was the director's intention, but it will probably receive some criticism if it ever gets wide distribution.

Leslie, My Name is Evil is an extremely stylish film with lots of montages, satire and quirky dark humour. There are very strong physical resemblances between all of the actors and the real people they portray, so the production team obviously searched hard for their cast; the quality of acting was overall quite good. The style and theme reminded me slightly of NATURAL BORN KILLERS, but obviously the subject matter is radically different. Unfortunately, this film won't get any of the marketing hype that an Oliver Stone movie would receive and these types of Canadian films always struggle at the box office. I really enjoyed this movie and plan to watch it a second time someday.

Leslie (Kristen Hager) is one of Manson family on trial and Perry (Gregory Smith) is interviewed to be one of the jury. He has to postpone his wedding as the jury gets sequestered. In flashbacks, the two characters journey through two different sides of America after the JFK assassination.

This is trying to be a surreal telling of the trial. It has some good potential but the director has no skills to pull off the surrealism. There is no style to it other than a faltering attempt at being off-kilter. It's clunky and poorly executed. This is like Oliver Stone without the filmmaking skills.

There's no indication anywhere that this film is a dark comedy, probably because no one would rent it. I don't personally feel like the subject matter should be made into a comedy, but some people might like that sort of thing. If I had known that this was a comedy, I would not have rented it. The acting is pretty atrocious, too.

This 2009 Canadian Movie attracted much professional criticism over its deceptive titles: (1) Leslie: My Name Is Evil; (2) Manson: My Name Is Evil; (3) Manson Girl. A title was finalised after its release, but its not clear what that is, as the movie is listed on other websites as one or the other. According to IMDb the movie is categorised as a Comedy Crime.

Comedy Crime? What is that? A ridiculous crime? A joke about the crime? A laugh at the rich & famous who couldn't use their wealth to save themselves? A laugh at the victims?

The movie is a kind of 'Abstract Art', that showcases the movie's music composer, Paul Kehayas, who literally adds volume to feature the great soundtracks and powerful lyrics of the movie - a bit like heavy metal music is associated with devil worship. The music in this movie desensitises the audience, whilst the lyrics uemphatically draws the viewer's eyes back to the screen.

The main subject is Leslie Van Houten - a murdering member of Charles Manson's 'Family'. However, there is a plethora of storylines, surrounding the 'era' of the Charles Manson Murders.

Whilst I Am still struggling to find the 'Comedy' in the IMDb's categorisation of this movie - the mood of the movie gave me the impression that it was in defence of the Charles Manson Family - 'not the crimes' - but the family members. There is definitely a bias towards the Manson Girls, particularly Leslie.

I found the ending & end credits surprising.

Leslie, My Name Is Evil told me the story of something I didn't know, or even care about. When making a film about the life of Charles Manson and his deranged followers, you'd except them to at least show some of the murders they committed, or detail how they came to devotedly pursue his weird teachings. WRONG. We only see the briefest of excerpts of the hedonistic life they led... and what is revealed is so crummily acted, written and directed most people with a smartphone camera and a few spare hours could do better. Check out the scene with the couple sitting in their car, while a 'sunset' in the background... a more obvious use of bluescreen you'll never see. Atrocious.

Nope, instead of highlighting on the more 'sensationalist' aspects of the Manson case, it chooses to focus on one of the jury members at the trial... a good Christian boy who's about to be married. He has a patriotic gasbag of a father, and a loving fiancée wanting to wait until after they're hitched before jumping into the bed. That's the problem... due to his lack of 'physical activity' he starts to fantasize over one of the accused, an attractive little she-devil called Leslie. His weird dreams about her and the way they stare at each other across the courtroom all have one thing in common: they are very, very boring. So are his escapades at home. And the little chats with his bride-to-be.

In fact, they seem to have taken everything of interest about this fascinating case, surgically removed it and left us with nothing but offal. Which stinks. As does this sad excuse for a movie. Coincidence? Probably not. 2/10