Tropico (2013 film)

Tropico
File:Tropicoposter.jpg Film poster
Directed by	Anthony Mandler
Written by	Lana Del Rey
Produced by	Heather Heller
Starring	Lana Del Rey Shaun Ross
Cinematography	David Devlin
Edited by	Jeff Selis
Music by	Lana Del Rey
Release dates	December 4, 2013 (2013-12-04) (Hollywood, California) December 5, 2013 (VEVO)
Running time	27 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Tropico is a short film "based on the Biblical story of sin and redemption", starring Lana Del Rey as Eve and Shaun Ross as Adam. Directed by Anthony Mandler, the film premiered at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California on December 4, 2013 before being uploaded to Del Rey's official VEVO account the following day. It features the songs "Body Electric", "Gods & Monsters", and "Bel Air", all taken from Del Rey's 2012 EP, Paradise. An EP of the same name was also released that same month to the iTunes Store; it includes the film itself along with the three aforementioned songs.

Production and release

Tropico was filmed in late June 2013; it was directed by Anthony Mandler, who also directed Del Rey's previous music videos for "National Anthem" and "Ride". Via social media platforms, Del Rey released several promotional images for the film, one depicting Del Rey in a mantilla as Mary, Mother of Jesus and another with Del Rey holding a snake and posing as Eve, the biblical wife of Adam from Genesis. In August 2013, Del Rey announced on Twitter that the film would have two premieres: one at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles and one in an unspecified location in New York; she referred to the short film as a "farewell". Critics noted that this contradicted other claims by Del Rey that she would release a third studio album, with a demo of the song "Black Beauty" leaking online. On November 22, 2013, an official trailer for Tropico was released; at the end of the trailer, it was announced that the film would be uploaded to Del Rey's official VEVO account on December 5, 2013. On December 3, 2013, Del Rey's official website announced that the film will premiere at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, California, prior to its VEVO release. Prior to playing the movie, Del Rey announced the title of her upcoming third album and explained to the audience what she meant when she said that the film is a "farewell", stating: "I really just wanted us all to be together so I could try and visually close out my [Born to Die/Paradise] chapter[s] before I release the new record, Ultraviolence".

Synopsis

Chapter I – Body Electric

The movie starts out with the original Adam (Shaun Ross) and Eve (Lana Del Rey) in the Garden of Eden. God (portrayed by a John Wayne character), Jesus, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley are all present with Adam and Eve – as "Body Electric" begins to play. The whole movie is intercut with scenes of Del Rey playing Jesus' mother Mary. At the end of the song, Eve – tempted by the snake – decides to disobey God and eats an apple from Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. After she eats it, thunder strikes, symbolizing God's wrath. Adam then decides to eat from the apple as well. As a result of this, all humanity subsequently inherits sin, pain, and spiritual death. They are furthermore cast out of the garden and thus never get the chance to eat from the Tree of Life, which would have made their bodies immortal. God could not allow imperfect human beings to become immortal unless they had gone through a process of repentance and purification first.

Chapter II – Gods & Monsters

Del Rey then starts to recite Walt Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric" as time flash forwards to a modern-day Adam and Eve living in Los Angeles; Del Rey works as a stripper while Ross is a gang member who also works as a clerk at a convenience store during the day. In this segment – "Gods & Monsters" begins to play. After the song ends, Del Rey recites Allen Ginsberg's "Howl" as a group of wealthy middle aged men are seen surprising their friend on his birthday by bringing him two strippers. A couple of minutes after the strippers enter the room, Ross and his gang suddenly show up with guns in hand and steal all their money.

Chapter III – Bel Air

God appears and begins to narrate John Mitchum's poem "Why I Love America" ("You ask me why I love her? Well, give me time. I'll explain. Have you seen a Kansas sunset, or an Arizona rain?"). Following this narration, Del Rey and Ross decide to repent from their sins in order to become Born again Christians. They then get in their car and end up driving to a country-side wheat field – as "Bel Air" begins to play in the sunset. Coincidentally, God decides to end the world right then and there and thus the Rapture occurs, resulting in Del Rey and Ross being "ascended up in the clouds" to meet "the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:17), as flying saucers appear in the sky.

Tropico (EP)

Untitled

Tropico is a 2013 EP by Lana Del Rey named after the short film of the same name, also starring Del Rey. The EP includes the film itself along with the three Paradise songs featured in it: "Body Electric", "Gods & Monsters", and "Bel Air".

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Body Electric"	Lana Del Rey Rick Nowels	Nowels Dan Heath	3:53
2.	"Gods & Monsters"	Lana Del Rey Tim Larcombe	Larcombe Emile Haynie	3:57
3.	"Bel Air"	Lana Del Rey Heath	Heath	3:57
4.	"Tropico"	Lana Del Rey	Anthony Mandler (Director)	27:00

Reception

Upon release, Tropico received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Jason Lipshutz of Billboard called the film "a work of overflowing, era-traversing passion" and called the climax of the film "pure bliss". Under the Gun took issue with the "somewhat nonsensical" narration throughout the film but said as a whole the film was "certainly something special." Similarly, Jimmy So of The Daily Beast also criticized the film's narration and compared it to "a campy arthouse movie" and described Del Rey's videos to this point as being "starved of creativity." In contrast, James Caterino of Examiner gave the film a 5-star review writing "The imagery is breathtaking and the voice-over narration so jam-packed with poetic prose that it sears into the soul... She is an artistic force who never fails to fascinate—and to make us feel." In a slightly more critical but equally optimistic review, Sal Cinquemani of Slant added "It's obvious from the big bang that opens the film that Del Rey and Mandler have zero interest in subtlety, but interestingly, Del Rey doesn't position herself among the film's icons of Americana the way, say, Kanye West or Lady Gaga might. Instead, her work continues to serve as both a tribute to an imagined past and a critique of contemporary pop culture." In an essay for Fader Magazine, Duncan Cooper highlights the questions she posits in her film: "she seems to be provoking conversation about that other form of power (or contesting power): the fist, the gun." He goes on to say: "This is Lana at her most modern, her most relatable. As the olden-times god is gone, we’re alone, but we hold the power of art within ourselves. We just have to figure out how to use it: after we abandon religion’s comforting narrative."