An Australian production, The Coca-Cola Kid (1985) represents Dušan Makavejev’s most traditionally narrative film since Love Affair, or the Case Of The Missing Switchboard Operator (1968) as well as the director’s first outright criticism of American Imperialism. The Coca-Cola Kid follows an eccentric executive of Coca-Cola named Becker (Eric Roberts) as he attempts to bring a soft drink monopoly to Australia while pursuing a love affair with his secretary (Greta Scacchi) and being mistaken for a CIA operative. The film is littered with comically surreal images indebted to Makavejev’s previous films (such as a love scene amidst white feathers from an exploded pillow case between Scacchi and Roberts while they’re dressed in Santa Claus suits). Trademark moments like these are augmented by expositional scenes that stress the cultural barrier between Australia and the USA, as well as America’s role as an invasive force of capitalism.
Eric Roberts’ portrayal of Becker is so highly stylized that it intentionally metamorphoses into caricature rather quickly, permitting Makavejev to create an emotional distance between the audience and the character, so that Becker becomes representative of America as a whole. Albeit this summation of American culture and political policy as signified by Becker is subjectively European in its world view. Strangely, it is Roberts’ outrageous performance that makes this film Makavejev’s most accessible to a mainstream audience unfamiliar with his prior works. Though The Coca-Cola Kid has never achieved the cult status or infamy of either Sweet Movie or WR: Mysteries Of The Organism.
