A review of the dark comic noir, PERMANENT OBSCURITY: Or a Cautionary Tale of Two Girls and Their Misadventures with Drugs, Pornography and Death by Dolores Santana (as told to Richard Perez) A mock "cautionary tale" of drugs, death, and fame, PERMANENT OBSCURITY is a warped and funny novel in many ways.
Full of snappy urban dialog, kinky dominatrix scenarios, and a friendship gone awry, it tells a spiraling, madcap story of two drug-loving young women, Dolores and Serena who, in the pursuit of "making art," fall prey to their own terrors of failure and end up becoming famous because of it.
"Fame and Obscurity: an Ironic Tale" might have been another title for this story, because this is in fact what happens: it plays with the tabloid notion of fame sometimes touching the least deserving people.
Remember the film, TAXI DRIVER and the ending with Travis Bickle, the film's psychopathic protagonist, becoming famous in the newspapers? That's what I thought of when I got to the end of this novel.
In a way, this story is an exploration of infamy vs.
fame, which in this era of media obsession is hardly any distinction at all: as long as you get there.
It doesn't matter if it's through the porn star route or through some perverted crime involving murder.
The story of PERMANENT OBSCURITY begins with Dolores Santana, the book's narrator and "author," telling of how she met her best friend (and partner in crime) Serena Moon.
And -- as this is a story of two criminal artistes -- Dolores' explains that her "art" was photography while Serena's first love was "performance.
" Serena, a teenage model and wild child, fronted a series of rock bands and played the part of punk rock diva, drinking Maker's Mark and doing "yeyo" (coke).
It's through a love of partying that both women hook up and the seeds of their destruction are planted.
From the start, both women are struggling.
Dolores is recovering from a disastrous exhibit of her photography and Serena's band - the Sirens - is already on its last legs.
Dolores has taken a temp job at MTV and Serena is taking out ads on Craigslist for males submissives as a dominatrix.
From there, the young ladies dabble in fetish photography after meeting a kink magazine publisher and entrepreneur.
As a way to make more money, Serena pursues fetish porn, soon enough proposing that she and Dolores take up making movies of their own.
Dolores is reluctant at first, but after a disastrous episode when Serena is brutally assaulted on a set, the two bond over misfortune and agree that indie kink filmmaking may be the way to go: provided that they're "in control.
" The misadventure entails getting all the necessary elements together, starting with a script, which means bringing aboard a writer - another Craigslist "catch" - and lights, and a camera, etc.
The mid-section of this book, more or less, is a spoof on indie filmmaking, involving lying, blunt manipulation, and larceny; meanwhile the subplot of how unpaid drug dealers are finally and surely catching up with Serena and Dolores provides tension and suspense.
Will they make the kinky movie that will save their lives? Or will drug dealers kill them first? As mentioned earlier, these are two drug-loving partying women, and drugs are ultimately their undoing.
As the pressure and stress mounts, so does their drug intake.
And this is how the book approaches satire -- because the idea is pushed to comic extremes (think: FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS).
The most dramatic moment of the novel arrives at the end of their escapade to make this movie; and the turn of events is comparable to the second act climax of BARTON FINK.
Without giving the kinky specifics away (and an appreciation of why Serena's last name is "Moon"), the ladies go from being potential film-makers to tracked felons.
And just when you think things can't go any worse after that, they do.
PERMANENT OBSCURITY is a long book, one that might've used more condensing of scenes and compression, maybe some pruning of dialog, yet a story that plays out well -- and maybe one best enjoyed by film-lovers and movie buffs, best able to catch the many film references: TAXI DRIVER, SID & NANCY, KIDS, THELMA & LOUISE, FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAST VEGAS, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, BARTON FINK.
Perez writes in a style well suited to cinema, and this would make an interesting movie.
Independent, of course.
Or Underground.
Of course, that film would be highly anti-social and perverted, but stranger things have come around in Hollywood.