Dark Lady Blues

Dark Lady Blues
File:Dark Lady Blues.jpg
Directed by	Lola Morgan
Produced by	Lola Morgan
Screenplay by	Lola Morgan
Starring	Lola Morgan Meredith Casey Alexandra Warrick Michael Ford
Music by	Billie Holiday
Cinematography	Stephen Ohocinski Jr.
Edited by	Lola Morgan
Distributed by	Lola Morgan (2015) Made in NY
Release dates	December 31, 2015 (2015-12-31) (United States)
Running time	64 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$10,000

Dark Lady Blues is a 2015 American autofiction movie written and directed by Lola Morgan.

Plot summary

The story follows the relationship between Izzy Howard (Lola Morgan) and her roommates Selma (Meredith Casey) and Ursula (Alexandra Warrick). Out of either concern or envy the girls trick Izzy into believing she has a drug-induced hallucination in which she faces the Grim Reaper (Michael Ford), though he's really just an actor in pursuit of drugs and sex. The film explores the topics of female competition, the male gaze, and suicide.

Synopsis

The film opens on Izzy Howard (Lola Morgan), a girl in her early twenties who sleeps too much and never leaves her apartment. Her manic depression, addiction to liquor and pills, and hypersensitivity to the competitive energy of her roommates Ursula (Alexandra Warrick) and Selma (Meredith Casey) inhibit her from leading a functional life. Izzy and Ursula are both students in the same writing seminar at Columbia University. Selma is an actress in school at Juilliard.

In a writing seminar, Izzy and Ursula's professor, Greg Benson (Thoeger Hansen), tells a story about how he lived through a near-death experience because he was destined to be a writer. Izzy feels both frustrated with Greg’s ego and unimpressed with his work. Ursula, on the other hand, has a crush on Greg. After class Ursula gets a phone call from Selma, asking if she wants any pills because she has an appointment with a psychiatrist. During the phone call, Selma lounges in bed with Lenny (Michael Ford), an actor also studying at Juilliard who was recently cast as Jocasta in a gender-bending production of Oedipus Rex. Lenny overhears the phone conversation and asks Selma if she can get him Vicodin, because he has to wear heels for the role of Jocasta, and his foot hurts. Selma reluctantly agrees to get him pills.

Influenced by her professor’s story about fate, Izzy visits a Tarot Witch (Greer Morrison), who can tell right away that Izzy is sad and has always had trouble fitting in with kids her age. The Witch explains to Izzy that she’s an indigo child, which means she belongs to a chosen generation that will have to be strong when “heavy shit goes down” during her lifetime. The Witch asks if she wants a more elaborate reading for the price of $25. Izzy declines because it’s out of her budget. Instead she bargains for a $5 Tarot Special. The first card The Witch draws from her deck displays a skeletal figure holding a scythe, with the word “Death” written underneath.

Izzy returns to her apartment with two items: a bottle of Tanqueray and a book on Tarot. Her roommates seem shocked and judgmental of her. Izzy passes out on the couch, cradling her bottle of liquor. She wakes up to the sound of knocking on the front door. Through the peephole, she sees Lenny in his Jocasta costume. Izzy looks confused then leaves to go back to bed. Selma comes to the front door in a bathrobe and gives Lenny a canister of Vicodin in exchange for a wad of cash. She also invites him to spend the night. They have sex that sounds violent and awkward, which Izzy overhears from the other room.

The next day, Izzy lies asleep on the floor of the living room with the Tarot Book open on her chest. She is woken abruptly by Selma, who’s mad because Izzy stole some of her Valium. Izzy says the reason she stole it was because she was having night terrors. Ursula comes in the room and tells her to get dressed for writing class. Izzy tells Ursula she’s not going; she has decided to drop out of college and write a novella. Her roommates don't seem to support this. They leave Izzy alone to go have a private chat in the bathroom. Ursula thinks that Izzy might be schizophrenic. Selma says no—Izzy must have seen Lenny in his costume the night before. Then she tells Ursula she has a plan “to help Izzy.”

On campus at Juilliard, Selma asks Lenny if he’s willing to come back to the apartment disguised as the Grim Reaper, to trick Izzy into thinking she’s had a near-death experience. Lenny is reluctant to get involved because he thinks Selma is doing it just “to be a bitch.” Selma says that Izzy has a tendency to blend fantasy and reality, so this might be the only way to have an effective intervention and get Izzy to stop taking pills. She also insinuates to Lenny that if he agrees to do this, she’ll reward him with sexual favors.

At night, Izzy works on her book while Ursula attempts to write an essay for Greg that’s due the next day in class. Selma comes home with a bag from the drugstore containing various canisters of pills. She and Ursula leave the apartment together to go out to a restaurant in Brooklyn. They make a point of leaving Izzy by herself. Immediately Izzy takes the pills and blends them with Tanqueray. She passes out on the couch. In the middle of the night, Lenny—dressed as the Grim Reaper—climbs through the window. He and Izzy exchange few words, though they seem attracted to one another. A montage shows the Manhattan streets in the middle of the night.

The next morning, Ursula finds Izzy sleeping on the couch alone with pages from her book strewn around her. She picks up a few pages and brings them to her writing seminar, where she presents them to Professor Greg Benson as if she wrote them. Greg says he’s very impressed with her work and offers to give Ursula writing advice. He touches her gently on the arm. Ursula returns to the apartment and finds Izzy distraught because she can’t find the notepad that contains her writing. She asks if Ursula’s seen it; Ursula says no. It seems like they don't trust each other. Ursula goes into the hallway and calls Selma on the phone.

Selma answers Ursula’s phone call mid-hookup at Lenny’s place. It turns out that Ursula didn’t call for Selma, but for Lenny. That night Ursula and Lenny meet on an abandoned street. Their exchange is kind of awkward, and Ursula seems more interested in her own private film noir aesthetic than in Lenny. Ursula explains the situation: Izzy’s writing a book, and Ursula is eager to read the whole thing, so she wants Lenny to sneak back into the apartment and steal the rest of it. Lenny seems vaguely suspicious of Ursula’s motives. Then Ursula mentions something about Lenny getting laid. He says he'll do it and shakes Ursula's hand.

That night Lenny returns to the apartment in costume. He finds Izzy awake and waiting, having just taken a fresh dose of liquor and pills. He starts to kiss her but she pulls away. Izzy says she doesn’t feel like giving him a blowjob. Lenny says that’s OK, because he’s only there to talk about the pages of her book. Izzy seems relieved that he’s the one who took the pages—not her roommates. She asks if he read them; he lies and says yes, and that he wants to read the rest of it. Izzy says she’s never had someone ask to read her writing and that it seems too good to be true. She tells Lenny that she thinks he’s a hallucination—a projection of her own fantasies—and that’s probably the only reason he wanted to sleep with her. Lenny continues to feed her compliments. Finally Izzy gives in and hands over her manuscript. She says he doesn’t have to read it right there and then. They go back to kissing.

Back in writing class, where Izzy’s still absent, a heated debate takes place regarding “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath. One student named Jones (Gabriel Schwartz) holds the opinion that Plath only killed herself to be dramatic. Greg seems to side with Jones, while the girls in the class disagree with him. Ursula gives a passionate defense of Plath, saying that she was such a great writer that it doesn’t matter if she was "a cunt" to her friends. Greg looks shocked by Ursula’s choice of words.

Ursula goes to Selma to find out if Lenny’s handed over the manuscript yet. Selma says no, and asks Ursula why she cares so much. Ursula explains that she made a fool of herself in front of Professor Benson, and thinks if she hands over the manuscript, he might be more forgiving. She also tells Selma that she thinks she’s the main character of Izzy’s book. Now Selma is interested. The two of them wait outside of Lenny’s rehearsal to retrieve the manuscript. He exits holding the pages in his hand. Selma asks for him to hand it over; he refuses. Then Ursula just takes it out of his hand. She and Selma run away with the pages.

Izzy returns to the Tarot Witch to ask about her mysterious meeting with the Grim Reaper. The Tarot Witch says she’s never heard of that happening before. She thinks it means Izzy is clairvoyant. Izzy says it’s possible that she was just strung out on liquor and pills. The Witch says that anyone who calls himself the Grim Reaper might not have the best motives, and suggests that Izzy consider how much she’s willing to sacrifice for a boy.

On a park bench by the Hudson River, Ursula and Selma read pages of Izzy's manuscript and try to figure out which of them is the basis for a character named Selena. It seems like Izzy has intense feelings toward Selena. Ursula wonders aloud whether Izzy’s a lesbian. Selma notices that Izzy keeps obsessing about how beautiful Selena is. Then Ursula points out that she describes Selena as “slender,” which she thinks could only apply to her—not Selma.

That night, Selma binges on cheese; Ursula picks at a bar of dark chocolate; Izzy eats from a can of sardines. Selma says that she once read on a diet blog that a woman’s attitude toward food says a lot about her sex life. She and Ursula turn to Izzy and insinuate that what she’s eating—fish—means she’s a lesbian. Annoyed, Izzy goes into the other room, where she assesses her own appearance in a mirror. She seems really insecure.

Selma goes back to Lenny’s apartment. He tells Selma that sex with her is more satisfying than with Izzy. Selma appears both unconvinced by Lenny’s flattery, and suddenly guilty about the whole situation. She ends her involvement with Lenny; he seems mad. Then Selma asks if it’s OK for her to bring her roommates to see his production of Oedipus Rex that night. Lenny says "fine." Selma leaves him alone.

Izzy returns to writing class, where she shares a poem addressed to the Grim Reaper which implies she’s suicidal. After class, Greg hands her a card for a therapist and recommends that Izzy visit him. Ursula waits for Izzy in the hallway. On his way out of the classroom, Greg runs into the girls and asks Ursula about the book she’s writing. Izzy seems to figure things out, though Ursula doesn’t notice. Ursula tells Izzy that the guy the poem was addressed to sounds like an asshole. She invites Izzy to go see Oedipus Rex with her and Selma that night.

At the show Lenny delivers a monologue from Oedipus Rex, in which Jocasta tells her son to beware of the malignant goddess Ambition (“for she’s a foe to justice”). The girls wait for Lenny afterward and congratulate him. Izzy, looking especially worse for wear, tells him he was good. Lenny says thanks but acts like he doesn’t know her. Ursula and Selma invite them both to dinner in the Meatpacking District; Lenny says no. They leave without waiting for Izzy. By now Izzy feels so disheartened about her writing, so disgusted with her own looks, so scared of the future, and so hurt by the betrayal of Lenny and her roommates that she commits suicide by stepping into oncoming traffic.

Autofiction (genre)

The term "autofiction movie" first appeared on the theatrical release poster for Dark Lady Blues. It describes a form of filmmaking in which the line between fantasy and reality is intentionally ambiguous. It can be unclear whether actors are in or out of character, and fictional scenes are often shot alongside non-actors in live settings. In addition cuts may be sudden and jarring and audio/video disjunct. The style is derived from Bertolt Brecht's distancing effect.

So far the term autofiction has been used by literary critics to discuss essays and novels as opposed to films. In a piece for The Atlantic that discusses autofiction as a new trend, Nicholas Dames defines it as "a French neologism dating from the 1970s and denoting a genre that refuses to distinguish between fiction and truth, imagination and reality, by merging the forms of autobiography and novel."

Soundtrack

The film features a jazz score by Billie Holiday.

Cast

[Leads]

• Lola Morgan as Izzy Howard
• Meredith Casey as Selma Jacobs
• Alexandra Warrick as Ursula Evans
• Michael Ford as Lenny James

[Supporting]

• Greer Morrison as the Tarot Witch
• Thoeger Hansen as Greg Benson
• Gabriel Schwartz as Jones Liebman
• Miriam Pensack as Patricia Arnold
• Larry Sass-Ainsworth as Terrence Lawrence
• Eric Ingram as himself

External links

• Dark Lady Blues at IMDb
• Official US site