A must-watch! You can currently stream for free the new short film Toxic Femininity starring esteemed New York performance artist Lypsinka (John Epperson) and directed by Chloe Sevigny but for a limited time only, so don’t delay! In this swooning psychodrama, Lypsinka portrays herself - a fiercely glamorous but troubled veteran monstre sacrée song-and-dance show biz diva (think: Susan Hayward as Helen Lawson in Valley of the Dolls) recovering from “nervous collapse” (gossip column lingo for breakdown). One particularly dark night of the soul, Lypsinka starts bitterly reciting her memoirs into a tape recorder (the voice of is actually Judy Garland) which only seems to further loosen her grip on reality. She’s repeatedly interrupted and tormented by an abusive doppelgänger. And Joan Crawford keeps materializing to offer maddening pearls of wisdom from My Way of Life, her ultra-kitsch 1970 book of tips on how to be an enchanting businesswoman, wife, mother, and hostess (“The world isn't interested in your problems!” and “Bitterness and self-pity are deadly poisons that cannot be hidden” she’s apt to declare). But most alarmingly, Lypsinka seems to be stalked by a cadaverous, white-robed angel-of-death figure, who keeps drawing ever closer … Epperson is a connoisseur of golden age Hollywood cinema, so part of the fun is recognising the snippets of dialogue via Olivia de Havilland in Lady in a Cage, Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest (“Please, Barbara! Barbara, please!”), Agnes Moorehead (the radio play Sorry, Wrong Number) and Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby (“This is no dream! This is really happening!”). Toxic Femininity is a tour de force! Link to watch. Read more about the genesis of Toxic Femininity here.
