Did you enjoy Hedwig and the Angry Itch, but think it could have used more aliens and sex cults straight out of a Stanley Kubrick film? Then have I got the movie for you: based on Neil Gaiman’s short story of the same name, How to Talk to Girls at Parties is the latest feature from John Cameron Mitchell, the director of Hedwig, Shortbus, and the Nicole Kidman-starring Rabbit Hole.
Speaking of the tallest of the little lies: she plays a punk Fagin (who looks like the Goblin King from Labyrinth) who rises up against the aliens invading Earth, including Elle Fanning’s Zan, who learns what it’s like to be human. According to How to Talk, that mostly means puking while kissing someone, which, fair.
Here’s the official plot synposis.
Under the spell of the Sex Pistols, every teenager in the country wants to be a punk, including our hopeless hero Enn. Crashing local punk queen Boadicea’s party, Enn discovers every boy’s dream: gorgeous foreign exchange students. When he meets the enigmatic Zan, it’s love at first sight. But these teens are, in fact, aliens from outer space, sent to Earth to prepare for a mysterious rite of passage. When their dark secret is revealed, the love-struck Enn must turn to Boadicea and her followers for help in order to save the girl he loves from certain death. When the punks take on the aliens, neither Enn’s nor Zan’s universe will ever be the same again.
How to Talk to Girls at Parties opens this summer.
