A charming valentine to women born with a space between their teeth, ranging from lighthearted whimsy to a deeper look at issues like self-esteem and societal attitudes toward standards of beauty. Interviews were conducted with over one hundred women, including model Lauren Hutton and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.
Maureen Gosling Chris Strachwitz Lawrence Loewinger Luther Greene Chris Simon Susan Kell Harrod Blank Paul Cope Kazuki Kobayashi
USA
USA
I'm not sure if there's a better film at highlighting exactly what a good documentary can do and how it does it. This begins with a marginal premise and by determined yet casual focus on that premise at some point flips the tables on the viewer by firmly establishing the viewer within the context of the subject and thereby changing the viewer's impression of the subject. This has happened not so much by polemical argument or emotional appeal, but in the same way we come to love the things we love: by a consistent yet nonchalant immersion in the subject at hand. In many ways, this could be the key to Les Blank's filmography.
Proud to say that gap-toothed women are my kind of women.
🦷 the gap is beautiful 🦷
Both the intimacy and specificity of Les Blank’s Gap-Toothed Women are perhaps the strongest points of his documentary filmmaking style and these elements have rarely been as interesting and minutely implemented as they are here. Although, I think this film extends far beyond its titular subject—it is a moving statement on the acceptance and embracing of your body and your true self, and this is what gives it its power. Blank has a clear love and appreciation for his subjects and as a result, the picture does, too. These women are the focal point of a film that admires them and allows them to speak their individual and collective truths in their own ways. Great feel-good stuff; an ode to self-love and championing what makes you, you.
I loved this. Delightfully simple and simply delightful. A must watch for anyone with a gap in their teeth or rather anyone who’s self conscious about any aspect of their physical appearance.
*Taken from my last review Sep 27, 2022*
(New thoughts from recent watch are in section further below)
"Similar in vein to Les Blank's "Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers" (1980), "Gap-Toothed Woman" is not a specific travel documentary but rather is a dive into the context of a central theme and shows the widespread branching of its dynamic across it's reaching. Now the concept worked well with something like garlic, but now Blank went into a concept that really no one would dream of really making upon first thought. That concept is that of the gap-toothed woman, both in modern society and in historical context. With a concept like that, some might question what source material is fully…
2nd Les Blank (after Garlic Is As Good as Ten Mothers)
A charming tribute to a physical quirk often looked down on, Blank and his little crew (of only four people!) interview a series of women with various-sized gaps in their teeth, about their lives and loves, interspersed with a little history on gap-teethed women. Despite its sunny tone and lovely music, I can't help feeling a twinge of sadness from the some of what the women say. There's one particular closeup of a woman with incredibly blue eyes, sitting against a colourful textile background, who talks about how she probably doesn't want to see the film she's participating in 'because I don't want a 3D understanding of myself'. Maybe…
