Pecker

The winning 10th feature from John Waters straddles a fine line between the eager vulgarity of his earlier works and the sloppy sweetness of HAIRSPRAY and CRY-BABY. Set, as usual, in Baltimore, the film stars Edward Furlong as Pecker, a sweet-natured young fellow who happily passes the days photographing his surroundings with a cheap secondhand camera. Egging him on are his Virgin Mary-obsessed grandmother (Jean Schertler), his sugar-addicted younger sister (Lauren Hulsey), his kleptomaniac best friend (Brendan Sexton III), and his girlfriend (Christina Ricci), who runs a Laundromat with an iron fist. When Pecker's works are "discovered" by a slumming NYC art dealer (Lili Taylor), his simple life is turned upside down, and he quickly realizes that he was happier as an unknown.
A valentine to--and satire of--the art world, PECKER makes strangely poignant statements about the nature of art and the value of fame. As someone with a foot in both the New York art scene and the earthiness of Baltimore, the title character obviously has more than a touch of the director in him. As with all other Waters films, those who are familiar with Baltimore culture will be even more richly rewarded.