Do Aliens Know What They're Doing?

Tiny aliens land on the roof of a young woman's New York apartment and a disastrous confluence of drugs, sex, and alien technology results. 1982's Liquid Sky is a charming dive into a highly stylised version of the punk New York club scene filmed in spectacularly realistic locations. Shot on location in Manhattan, exterior shots of a penthouse apartment against the New York City skyline accompany beautifully garish '80s punk or post-punk fashion. There are sequences when the film indulges in prolonged shots of models just standing there, expressionless, covered with loud, bulky clothes and riots of vibrant makeup. The protagonist, Margaret, is played by Anne Carlisle, who also plays a male character, Jimmy. Jimmy is one of many male characters constantly trying to get into whatever weird garment Margaret's wearing for pants. To her shock and eventual glee, her sexual partners tend to wind up dead with glass arrows in their heads. A German scientist (Otto von Wernherr) across the street provides us with an almost coherent explanation that the aliens were seeking the human brain chemicals associated with orgasm. But maybe heroin is close enough. Of course, a lot of the characters do cocaine (it's the 80s club scene, after all) but Margaret also has a heroin habit. Her aggressive girlfriend, Adrian, is high on life and has trouble listening to anything anyone tells her, preferring to launch into loud, extempore diatribes or experimental performances. When the German scientist tries to warn her, she interprets his every word as an indication he's a cop and drowns out his warnings with shrieked rebukes. For all that, she's really attractive. A girl has to go a long way to overcome the appeal of her good looks. Why does Anne Carlisle play both Margaret and Jimmy? I'm not sure but there is an interesting scene between the two of them in which Jimmy keeps telling Margaret she's ugly and Margaret replies compulsively telling Jimmy he's beautiful--it's even more interesting because she has nothing but hate for every other man in the film. Is it a comment on feminine self-regard? On misogyny? On how women weaponise their sexuality? From the point Margaret figures out what the aliens are doing, none of her come-ons are innocent, after all. Liquid Sky is available on The Criterion Channel. X Sonnet #1873 To boil right, the apple needs a rib. Contortions built the human heart from bone. But stupid monkeys crowd the ragged jib. Aguirre wrote a letter flying home. Symmetric slashes drift to hold the eye. Concerned with murder, art, and hats, he acts. Where rising colours bleed beyond the dye. Contracted killers make with slackers pacts. Mi corazon contrived to film a wine. Commercials flatten love and fatten spite. Consorting maidens guard the shining Rhein. Contestants settle cards with Hoyle might. The common beard unites the manly face. Consuming prints would eat the runner's trace.