"The Drift is really quite
hypnotic and riveting. It's hard not to see the whole thing in one sitting but
once your caught in that web of decorated decadence it's impossible to budge the
buttocks toward more sacharine seating. Much as VINYL appears to be closer to
the novel on which it is based than does the Hollywood version of, so The
Drift strikes is as more to the point of Tennessee Williams' novel The
Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone than does the Tinseltown version. And the latter
is no mean competition for as you may remember it stars Vivein Leigh, a very
young Warren Beatty, and the redoubtable Lotte Lenya. But what that book is
really about or what it really is is not something Hollywood can put its finger
on easily. For it is not about the depravity of its own viewpoint and vision.
This Aes-Nihil captures admirably. And with a fraction of the effort that went
into the commercial venture. What is most elusive about The Drift and
perhaps it is the secret to what makes it work is that we are never certain of
Aes-Nihil's conscious intentions. But then again neither are we ever really
certain of Mae West's. What we can be sure of is their success. From the moment
that we gaze down the 'Spanish Steps' at young Paolo, gaze down through the
lecherous eyes of our transvestite matron the not-to-be broken concentration of
her eyes we know we are in sure hands. They they understood what this truly
sordid tale is all about. And just who is sordid in the whole undertaking. What
I'm saying is that Tennessee Williams was never more roundly denounced than he
is by The Drift and that that denunciation may be coming from a fan. And
that is the work's secret. And where in the world could one have come up wit a
better Countessa than we have in Goddess Bunny? Especially if you felt you had
to outdo and out perform Lotte? We are talking depravity that takes the luncheon
lobster right out of Lotte's yawning maw. The Drift understands the
significance of all the stars in this work and what it comes up is breathtaking.
Every setting as it relates both the book and commercial flick is hilarious. And
Michael Kleats as Paulo is making a statement on Paulos the world over that
needs no elaboration. Above all the films keeps its sense of good humor about
it. The actors appear to be enjoying themselves and since they are so are we.
The pay off comes when one of them gets truly picked off for we get to witness
something rarely captured captured on the screen: A queen's true fury. And all
the while we are watching Mr. Williams' yarn."
– Ronald Tavel, Feburary 1997
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