Give Me Pity (2023)

"Ambitious But Ultimately Unsatisfactory Oddity"

Older readers of this site will remember television specials, when popular variety entertainers of the day were given an hour of prime time TV in which to sing, dance and perform in little sketches, often with guest stars of equal talent. In the UK some of these personalities (usually singers) would sometimes get a whole series instead of just an hour. Examples from back in the day would include Cilla Black, Toni Basil, and Leo Sayer.

Amanda Kramer's GIVE ME PITY, which is getting a cinema and on demand release, takes the form of one of these old television specials from the 1970s, 4:3 aspect ratio and all, and uses it to give us 80 minutes of entertainment from fictional star Sissy St Clare (Sophie von Hasselberg). As the programme of songs, sketches and monologues proceeds things start to go a little bit strange and we gain an insight into Sissy's world.

Except we don't, not really. GIVE ME PITY takes a very good idea but squanders it, offering veiled and muddled references to what might be Sissy's past but by the end all the viewer is left with is a confusing and unsatisfactory mess. If you want to see this kind of thing done well check out Steve Coogan's TV Special spoof The Tony Ferrino Phenomenon, which contains more satirical barbs and disturbing subtext in 50 minutes than GIVE ME PITY manages in its entire running time. In fact, rather than a professional piece of film-making, GIVE ME PITY feels more as if you've stumbled into the end of year show of an especially pretentious drama school, featuring a central performance that's a cross between 1970s Bette Midler and a refugee from a John Waters movie, and a script that thinks it's far cleverer than it actually is. Here's the trailer:

GIVE ME PITY is out in cinemas and available on demand from Bulldog Distribution on Friday 10th November 2023