Saw Night of the Iguana (thanks, Anne!) It was a film based on a Tennessee Williams play, hitting on the favorite Williams themes of love and acceptance being of central, almost holy significance. The protagonist is a disgraced priest, reduced to hosting package tours of Mexico. After a series of misfortunes involving an under-age (ie 20 year old) girl turns the tour group against him, he strands them in a hotel owned by a lady-friend of his, to try and win them back. I was expecting to watch a straightforward, perhaps slightly ham-fisted take on the noble Man vs intolerant and judgemental Society, but the film is little more nuanced than that. The protagonist is associated with the titular iguana; an ugly, repulsive lizard who is in danger of being eaten by the natives, but is still one of God's creatures, as deserving of respect and dignity as anyone.
I thought the protagonist came off a little too blustery. He didn't have the bitter calm of the protagonist in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof, and seemed to splutter. His problems always stem from women with the arch-rival being revealed to be a lesbian. The message is sound but the devices used are inelegant. There's also some cabana boys who are always shirtless, dancing, and playing maracas, even when engaged in a fistfight. It felt campy and strange in a goofy, self-aware way, not at all the self-serious melodrama I anticipated. I dunno.
I also found the "underage" 20-year-old girl so annoying. She's supposed to be one of the tools of evil, intolerant society, so she's supposed to be annoying but I guess I got too frustrated. It's kind of a corny old picture, full of pleas for acceptance but also being kind of shitty to the women involved. I'm being a bit harsh but I guess I just sort of missed out on this one.
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