Desperately Seeking Susan

No matter how many times Mr Pinky watches this eighties gem he never gets bored of it. This is what smart film making is all about: well plotted, nicely shot, seamlessly edited. The movie cleverly blends screwball comedy and detective mystery genres. Add in the up and coming Madonna, with her sassy and funny performance as Susan, and you have something new altogether.

This film is also very much an ode to eighties New York, with its new wave punk fashion and street culture. Director Susan Seidelman with her canny eye has a great sense of detail, colour and design. Every shot is like a beautifully constructed image. There's lot of eye candy in this film, despite the novelty value of its subject matter.

What a shame that Seidelman could not come up with a another film of this calibre.

Full marks also to the director for insisting that the 25 year old Madonna play this role. Madonna's film work since Susan has been uneven, to say the least. In this film she seems to have a natural flair for playing the mischievous, 1930s style screwball gal, a la Jean Harlow and Carole Lombard. Madonna seemed a natural for this style of acting.

What went wrong for Madonna's acting career after Desperately Seeking Susan? It seems she was haunted by the ambition to become a 'great' actress. That's a shame, as she could have had a career as a comic actress, say like Goldie Hawn.

Favourite scene: When Roberta and her dove are taken in by the police after she has been mistaken for a prostitute. Another hooker in the back seat with Roberta asks wryly, 'How do you use the birds?'

Fix yourself a bowl of popcorn and enjoy one of Mr Pinky's Cinema Classics


















Check out Mr Pinky's review of Madonna's Confessions Tour.