Filth and Wisdom

All reviews of this film were terrible, but that’s because anyone handing out star-ratings to indie films is bound to poo poo Madonna’s directorial debut considering some of the embarrassing movies she’s gotten herself mixed up with in the past.  But don’t punish the pop princess for having Guy Ritchie has an ex-husband.  She wrote and directed this film, shot on a DV camera on an extremely low budget, not because she doesn’t have hundreds of millions to spend on the vanity project of her choosing, but because she was trying to be realistic about making the film, without dealing with big-name American stars and equipment she doesn’t know from Adam.  Instead she chose lesser-known actors with interesting faces and hot hot Ukrainian Eugene Hütz of Gogol Borgello, who is simply mesmerizing to watch.  The plot is slight but entertaining and I found myself genuinely enjoying watching it.  Madonna did her best to tuck her ego away–Filth and Wisdom features only one Madonna song to which an erotic dancer half-heartedly strips, and her name only appears at the top of the scrolling credits at the end.  This film is entertaining, sexy, and musically charged from start to finish, and if it had been any other first-time filmmaker in the world, Filth and Wisdom would have garnered Independent Spirit attention, but since it was Madonna who directed the press bashed it to shit, as is their calling card.  In 2008, Madonna also produced and narrated I Am Because We Are, a documentary about AIDS-riddled orphanages in Malawi that premiered at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival.  That’s an impressive amount of independent films to be released in a year by a woman who should “stick to singing”…

Director: Madonna

Writer: Madonna