Sarah Jacobson was a director that explored a lot of feminist themes in a less narrative driven style. Think of Richard Linklater’s less story focused work. While making a splash and generating interest in the 1990s, she died young due to cancer. Her body of work only includes one feature length film and a handful of short films. AGFA released a Blu-ray of what I assume is her entire catalog.

The main event is a 95 minute movie “Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore” about a high school senior that works in a movie theater full of unusual characters. The film is in grainy color, had rough audio, and starred inexperienced actors, giving the entire film a very low-budget feel. It felt like a feminist version of Clerks minus the in-depth pop-culture discussions. Instead, most of the characters talk about sexuality and relationships with deviations into philosophy, politics, and paying bills. While there is not much of a story, it is a compelling character study in a young woman learning what she wants and how to ask for it. This is primarily reflected in juxtaposing her initial sexual experience with one that occurs later in the film where she directs her partner, leading to a much more fulfilling encounter and her growing confidence in talking to other people. Mary Jane is the main character and her co-workers have enough of a personality to feel like they were real people but due to the lack of development, the audience never really gets to know them beyond the high level label. Despite many of the low-budget trappings, it does have a good soundtrack (AFI and Mudhoney). It also has some musical cameos: Davey Havok (AFI) and Jello Biafra (formerly of Dead Kennedys). Biafra also provides the funniest bit in the entire movie (playing a talkative and opinionated theater customer).

The next longest film is a 25 minute short called “I Was a Teenage Serial Killer”. This film also suffers from a non-existent budget and follows a young woman who starts murdering men for various offenses (catcalling, giving her lifestyle advice, and removing a condom during sex). She eventually finds a lover and accomplice in Henry, a fellow serial killer that targets straight men. She finally kills him as well when he targets a woman. The kills are not gory as the filmmaker could not afford the special effects to show anything. This film is even less narrative driven than “Mary Jane’s Not a Virgin Anymore” and floats from situation to situation in a way that invokes Richard Linklater’s “Slacker” or “Waking Life”. The version on this disc is from the only 16mm print in existence. This is also the only film in this release that has a commentary track (from the star of the film).

At this point, the rest of the special features are short films or music videos. “Sferic Waves” is a music video for the band “Man or Astroman?”. “Technical Yawn” is a music video and electronic press kit for an all girl band called “Fluffy”. It starts off with a full music video and then footage of the band touring in the United States. On the theme of music, there is a short documentary about a movie about a female band that was very influential to Jacobson, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains”. The last two shorts are both around 10 minutes. “Road Movie” is a black and white film about a female director driving around in a station wagon. “Bra Shopping” seems to be a movie of a woman who takes a camera with her into a clothing store while bra shopping. This was my least favorite short film. Finally, there is a slideshow collection of writings, reviews, and fliers regarding the career of Sarah Jacobson.

The case and disc are decorated with a pink, black, and gray motif that resembles the DIY punk aesthetic that was clearly very dear to Jacobson. The insert has many pages of writings from filmmakers influenced by Sarah Jacobson and makes for an interesting read. As to whether or not I would recommend this release, it is hard to say. I am not the target audience for this type of film. The closest that I came to really connecting with Jacobson’s work was the deep and loving influence of music running through all of her projects. However, if the reader is a feminist that would like to see some of the history of the movement firsthand, this release provides plenty of insight into one of the “riot grrrl” pioneers.