Girl 6

[StevePulaski]

Girl 6 (1996)
Directed by: Spike Lee

Spike Lee and Theresa Randle in Girl 6.

Rating: ★★½

At the time, Girl 6 was the first film Spike Lee directed yet did not write. That alone says something. Perhaps the film's female-centric protagonist reminded him of his debut, She's Gotta Have It (which is cleverly referenced here). Nonetheless, you can feel Lee's influence in the script, centered around a down-on-her-luck actress who pursues work as a phone-sex operator. No other moment feels more imaginative and quintessentially Lee than when our protagonist and her former lover kiss in the streets while corded phones rain down from the heavens above, ostensibly unseen by passersby. One inevitably wonders how Lee would've approached the material if the project was entirely his brain-child.

Written by playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, the film revolves around a young black woman (Theresa Randle) and her pursuit to become an actress. She makes it in front of a sleazy director (Quentin Tarantino of all souls), but leaves in embarrassment when she's forced to reveal her breasts before him and the casting director. While circling want-ads on a subway late on evening, she finds an opening as a phone sex operator, where her boss (Jenifer Lewis) refers to her as "Girl 6." As luck would have it, she finds the work enjoyable and easily immersive, becoming invested in her callers — some of whom concerningly depraved — much to the chagrin of her neighbor, Jimmy (Spike Lee). Jimmy hasn't appeared to work a day in his life. He's sitting on a mountain of autographed baseball cards he's banking on appreciating by the thousands in the coming years. Directionless as anyone you're liable to meet, Jimmy still has all the answers for his friend and her peculiar life-choices.

She, too, is recently out of a marriage with a petty crook (Isiah Washington), whom she still finds shoplifting fruit and other goods all around New York's metropolitan. The two wind up going out on coffee dates throughout the film, with him being in disbelief that his ex of all people has resorted to being the soul who answers those incessantly marketed 1-900 numbers.

We do get extended scenes with some callers. One banker masturbates at the thought of the money he is raking in on the job. Another man gets off to yanking his pubic hair with a wrench. And, of course, there's the caller who "just wants to talk" (Peter Berg, who went on to direct Friday Night Lights and Deepwater Horizon), and takes great pleasure in Girl 6 assuming the identity of the sultry-voiced "Lovely."

Girl 6 posits its lead as someone who gets invested in the sexual fantasies of men as much or more than the men themselves, which is inherently difficult to believe, if you ask me — moreso to the point the film was written by a woman. There's a conflict within Parks' script that sometimes wants to be rooted in reality, while at other times wants to sidestep the real-world and make something more fantastical. Lee and Parks never quite achieve a concrete balance, therefore we as viewers are swayed in different directions that require more suspension of disbelief than others. This is a story that would work best rooted in reality, I feel.

Despite the fledgling identity crisis of the project, Randle is a captivating protagonist; easy to like and sympathize with as a young person still trying to determine who she is in the world. She's self-assured enough that one wouldn't believe she'd so easily fall back into the arms of her criminal boyfriend. Liberation of one's self comes in all forms, but it's also a stretch to think that the same woman who felt it uncouth to reveal her breasts to a casting agent for a role requiring nudity would then become so swiftly entranced in the world of phone sex. Maybe it's the control aspect; the inherent dirtiness of the job that can be dialed down or enhanced by the direction in which she takes a caller's fantasy. Yet with how expedited Girl 6's employment and involvement in the job happens, the conceit raises eyebrows.

Lee adopts an intriguing stylistic choice of downgrading the HD quality of the male callers to that of conventional filmstock while capturing the call-center and shots of Girl 6 on the phone in crystal-clear video. It prompts a visual transition of power that keeps Girl 6 compelling. There is also palpable chemistry between her and Jimmy as Prince dominates the film's soundtrack, doing some of the narrative's emotional heavy-lifting without being too dictatorial with how we respond. Girl 6 is a mixed bag for Spike Lee. A decent film that had the potential to be great perhaps if Parks assumed directing duties as well, or if Lee had fostered the idea himself.

Starring: Theresa Randle, Isiah Washington, Spike Lee, Jenifer Lewis, Peter Berg, Madonna, and Quentin Tarantino. Directed by: Spike Lee.