Heathers, Michael Lehmann (U.S., 1989): Cool World

Film - Series | July 27 | 7 p.m. |  PFA Theater

Sponsor: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

Winona Ryder, late of Petaluma, could steal anything: makeup, Saks Fifth Avenue fashion, your heart. Her simple charm could disarm and beguile, almost too cute to be cool. Then she harvested Heathers. As the only non-Heather in the high-school power clique, Veronica wants out. The collected Heathers rule through contempt and conniving—everyone else is so two hours ago. Then she meets J.D. (Christian Slater), and they become a killer couple, literally. “Dear Diary,” she writes, “my teen-angst bullshit now has a body count.” No sweet-smelling flower here, Heathers was a pungent satire that reeked of sexual insecurity, peer pressure, and teen suicide. Gag me with a spoon.

—Steve Seid

• Written by Daniel Waters. Photographed by Francis Kenny. With Winona Ryder, Christian Slater, Shannen Doherty, Kim Walker. (102 mins, Color, 35mm, PFA Collection)

• Written by Bhanu Pratap. Photographed by Tara Dutt. With Ratan Kumar, Baby Naaz, David Abraham (known as David). (149 mins, In Hindi with English subtitles, B&W, 35mm)

Tickets required: $5.50 BAM/PFA members and UCB students,  $9.50 Adults (18-64),  $6.50 UC Berkeley faculty and staff, non-UC Berkeley students, senior citizens (65 & over), disabled persons, and youth (17 & under)

Event Contact: bampfa@berkeley.edu, 510-642-0808