TARNATION -projekcja filmu (grupa LGBT Lublin) 9.10.2009

9października, piątek

godz. 20:00

WSTĘP WOLNY

Grupa LGBT Lublin zaprasza na pełen emocji film:

TARNATION
obsada:    Renee Leblanc, Jonathan Caouette
reżyseria/zdjęcia/scenariusz: Jonathan Caouette, muzyka: John Califra, Max Avery Lichtenstein
USA, 2004, 88 min

Fabularną część opowieści, historię Jonathana i jego rodziny, odczytujemy z napisów pojawiających się na ekranie. Obrazy, które oglądamy to kompilacja zdjęć, materiałów audio i wideo, nagrań z automatycznej sekretarki. Swój film wzbogacił o klipy z hollywoodzkich produkcji, piosenki i fotografie. Całość dała niebywały efekt, powstał jeden z najbardziej porażających dokumentów na temat życia dysfunkcyjnej rodziny. Historia rozpoczyna się, kiedy chłopak dowiaduje się, że jego matka przedawkowała lit. Poznajemy opowieść o Renee, która jako nastolatka uległa wypadkowi, co spowodowało poważne zaburzenia. Rodzice, czyli dziadkowie Jonathana, postanowili poddać ją terapii elektrowstrząsami. Od tej pory Renee w ciągu trzydziestu lat sto razy przebywała w szpitalach psychiatrycznych. Małego Jonathana umieszczano w kolejnych rodzinach zastępczych, gdzie był bity i dręczony. W rezultacie znalazł się pod opieką okrutnych dziadków, którzy nie potrafili zapewnić odpowiedniej opieki rozchwianemu emocjonalnie wnukowi. Jako młody chłopak Jonathan odgrywa rozmaite role. Przebiera się w damskie fatałaszki i zmienionym głosem opowiada, wcielając się w rolę kobiety, o przemocy i wykorzystywaniu, bywa w klubach dla gejów, występuje w horrorach. Mając kilkanaście lat poznaje swego pierwszego partnera. Wszystkie te poczynania rejestruje kamera. Wyznania Jonathana brzmią jak wytwór chorej wyobraźni i jednocześnie jak wołanie o pomoc.

Jonathan Caouette

Hace algunos años me aburrí un poco de ver siempre las películas hollywoodense y me decidí a visitar el lado “oscuro, intrigante y poco solicitado” de blockbuster: cine de arte.

En fin, paseándome por esta zona hace ya algunas semanas me encontré con un título que llamo mi atención y por solo medio leer rápidamente renté la película creyendo que se trataba de un filme de Gus Van Sant, que sólo me ha dejado buen sabor de boca con las únicas dos películas de su autoría que he rentado. Cuál fue mi sorpresa al abrir la película y me encontré con el nombre de otro director: Jonathan Caouette y leyendo mejor la sinopsis me di cuenta de que se trataba de un documental y me dije a mi misma: weeebaa los documentales. En los personal nunca he sido muy fanática de los documentales, pero ya habiendo pagado por la película me decidí a verla, ni pedos.

El resultado después de verla fue el siguiente: quedé realmente fascinada con el largometraje que hasta decidí subir algo de ella a este mísero blog. El nombre del documental??: “Tarnation”, ópera prima del director Jonathan Caouette, quien es también escritor, editor y protagonista (junto con su madre y abuelos) un proyecto fílmico que me parece que no dejará a ninguna persona indiferente, sea por el despliegue de colores, psicodelia, música, crudeza y corazón con el que está realizado.  Como plus tiene además como productores ejecutivos a John Cameron Mitchel (“Hedwig and the Angry Inch”) y a Gus Van Sant (“Paranoid Park”, “Milk”, “My Own Private Idaho” y varias más).

“Tarnation” logra mediante videos grabados durante 20 años con distintos formatos de cámara, videodiarios, fotografías, videos musicales, escenas de películas, mensajes de máquinas contestadoras,  psicodelia, música exquisitamente escogida, referencias a David Lynch, creatividad y honestidad lo que pocas películas logran en nuestros días: retratar las relaciones familiares sin tapujos ni tratando de hacerlas ver como el núcleo social perfecto, retratar los problemas entre ellos, las desgracias de una vida no afortunada y los miedos, inseguridades, anhelos, traumas de un ser humano que además de consumir drogas en una temprana edad, no contar con una figura paterna, ser homosexual, tener una madre con problemas psicológicos que se la pasa durante toda su vida saliendo y entrando a instituciones mentales y unos abuelos excéntricos pero cariñosos.

El director y protagonista contaba con 160 horas en videos y material que había venido grabando desde los 11 años de edad, todo esto para editar una reseña extremadamente real y apegada a lo que él había venido viviendo desde que era un pequeño (viendo a su madre ser violada frente a sus ojos, llendo y viniendo de instituciones para niños huérfanos y con un problema de “despersonalización” que hace ver su vida como si fuera un sueño ). El director nos abre una ventana para ver lo complicado que puede ser el ser humano, con sus oscuros momentos, sus depresiones, sus más profundos miedos y sus anhelos de alcanzar la felicidad ante todo. Es impresionante la empatía que logra despertar en el espectador y te hace cuestionarte muchas cosas sobre tu propia vida, relaciones familiares y proyectos personales.

Tarnation, es un collage fílmico de un ser humano fascinantemente optimista, a pesar de todo lo que ha vivido…es la única forma en que puedo describir rápidamente esta película que espero poder adquirir pronto, ya que merece la pena tenerla en la colección personal…siempre es bueno tener una película en casa que nos recuerde todos los sentimientos que un ser humano es capaz de experimentar.

En una de las escenas del film

Abajo les dejo unos videíllos como siempre, para que le den un vistazo y se animen a rentarla!

Tarnation Gentle creatures (1995, 4AD)

J’ai déjà évoqué au fil de mes différentes notes ce fantastique renouveau country-folk qui surgit des USA (et notamment de San Francisco) au mitan des années 1990 et qui déversa sur mes oreilles et mon coeur éblouis une cohorte de disques inoubliables. Je ne saurai exprimer à quel point ces quelques disques furent fondateurs, tant dans le rapport qu’ils fondèrent entre la musique et moi que par les splendeurs désolées qu’ils firent miroiter devant mes yeux. De Lambchop aux Red House Painters, de Mark Eitzel à Smog, de Vic Chesnutt à Palace, tous ces groupes et artistes bénis ont laissé des traces indélébiles en moi, par leurs albums ou simplement par la grâce d’une ou deux chansons.

Parmi eux, je n’ai jamais considéré Tarnation comme le haut du panier. J’appréciais leur musique, mais rien de comparable aux vertiges que me procurèrent Palace ou Vic Chesnutt par exemple. Aujourd’hui, en réécoutant cet album, je me rends compte qu’il vaut sans doute mieux qu’une simple admiration polie. Avec Tarnation, la country retrouve ses couleurs (gris, noir et bleu nuit) et quitte ses oripeaux ridicules que lui ont trop souvent fait porter les faussaires de Nashville et qu’on retrouve encore dans d’impayables festivals de fond de campagne, avec force exhibition grotesque de stetsons, de tracteurs et de santiags. Tarnation ramène cette musique à ses racines, aux anges en souffrance chantés par Gram Parsons, au souffle noir de Johnny Cash et aux ballades sépulcrales de Townes Van Zandt. Et le tout sans tomber dans un passéisme vain, en laissant cette musique faire montre de toute sa puissance émotionnelle. C’est ainsi une country déconseillée aux âmes sensibles, pétrie des effluves des romans d’Erskine Caldwell et des disques de Nick Cave, une country où rodent de sales petits secrets, où les coeurs brisés ne se réparent jamais, où la folie guette.

Derrière Tarnation se cache surtout le véhicule des inspirations de Paula Frazer, forte tête originaire d’un coin perdu de Géorgie, fille de pasteur, passée par le punk et la new-wave lors d’une jeunesse agitée à San Francisco avant de revenir vers cette musique qu’elle écoutait enfant. En 1993, la demoiselle s’entoure de trois compères pour fonder Tarnation et faire paraître un premier album (que je ne connais pas) intitulé I’ll give you something to cry about. Ce disque vaut au groupe d’être repéré par le prestigieux label anglais 4AD; celui-ci leur permet d’enregistrer ce Gentle creatures, qui reçut par chez nous un très bon accueil critique à l’époque.

Comme je le disais plus haut, Tarnation livre une country de la plus belle eau, évoquant les chansons tire-larmes des maîtres du genre mais parée également des teintes western des BO de Morricone. Portées par la voix de soprano de Paula Frazer, les chansons racées et désolées de Tarnation envoûtent et fascinent, au risque de nous perdre dans leur désespoir sourd. En guise d’introduction, Paula Frazer se présente d’abord seule avec sa guitare pour évoquer le douloureux jeu des coeurs brisés – “Game of borken hearts”. S’ensuit l’éblouissant “Halfway to madness”, morceau malade et magnifique, où la douleur et la perte conduisent à la lisière de la déraison. Puis, avec “The well”, Frazer et sa troupe nous font délicieusement sombrer au fonds du puits, à coup de steel guitar frissonnante. Au long de ce très bel album, Tarnation décroche d’autres sommets avec notamment la splendide ballade, “Two wrongs won’t make things right”, d’une pureté bouleversante qui écarte toute trace de sensiblerie. On retiendra aussi les volutes poussiéreuses de “Listen to the wind” ou le terminal “It’s not easy”, où la tristesse cède le premier rôle à davantage de sérénité, sans que les fêlures ne puissent pour autant disparaître.

Tarnation ne survivra guère à ce brillant opus, le groupe faisant paraître Mirador en 1997 dans une formation complètement renouvelée avant de disparaître. Après quelques années de silence, Paula Frazer est revenue en solo depuis les années 2000, avec trois albums à ce jour, dont j’ignore cependant complètement la teneur.

A 10-minute standing ovation at Cannes, for this?? And awards, really??

I guess I’m going to go out on a limb and be the only person on Earth to say that Jonathan Caouette’s 2004 documentary Tarnation is like watching someone masturbate for 90 minutes. The gay son of a small-town Texas woman suffering from schizophrenia (I’m not even sure Caouette ever tells us her diagnosis in the film. I remember one part in which he says his mother, Renee, was in and out of hospitals, but doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with her.), Caouette certainly has rich subject matter to work with. He was abused in foster care and mostly raised by his grandparents. And as a lifelong exhibitionist, evidently, Caouette has countless hours of film from when he was growing up, some of it in shirtless scenes at age 11. Dave and I wondered who the hell was filming this homoerotic footage? We never find out.

Who’s filming young Jonathan is just one of many questions that go unanswered in this thing. In the most annoying and frustrating scene, near the end of the film, Caouette confronts his grandfather (who I only found out was suffering from Alzheimer’s from one of the stories I read about the movie just now) about letting doctors give Renee shock treatments when she was a child and her charges that they abused her. It’s one jump cut after another as Grandpa isn’t given the opportunity to answer a single question. Maybe he didn’t answer, maybe he just stuttered or sighed or shook his head, but at least let us see that, don’t just cut over and over as though only your questions are important.

It wasn’t only the manipulative editing in the scene that bothered me, however. Jonathan is understandably angry that his mother endured shock treatment, but have some compassion for your grandparents given the era, for God’s sake. They were lower-middle-class Texas parents in the 1950s; a lot of people went along with doctors’ recommendations for such treatment then because they didn’t know any better. I think it’s unfair to judge their decision through a modern lens, as painful and unfortunate a decision as it was.

And some of the accusations Jonathan hits his grandfather with are pretty bizarre. Renee had told her son that her parents had beaten her and locked her in closets and that she suspected they weren’t really her parents at all. Paranoid delusions that your parents aren’t really your parents and are trying to hurt you are really, really common among people suffering from schizophrenia. Does Caouette know that? Who fucking knows. He appears to take what Renee has told him as fact. Since Caouette was raised by his grandparents, maybe his belief in her stories stem from abuse he suffered at their hands as well? Again, who knows?

I realize there won’t be pat or easy answers to Caouette’s question, “Why is my family so fucked up?” But he cold have at least let his grandfather try to answer his questions.

Also from the New York mag article: “Although Caouette admits to staging portions of Tarnation, he doesn’t feel like the dramatizations discount the emotional impact of the film. ‘Really, what is truth?’ Caouette asks. ‘I can say my truth from my point of view, but I bet my mother’s point of view is going to be completely different.’ Winter agrees. ‘Jonathan is able to composite drama into a narrative form that gets you right into the story.’”

Am I the crankiest person on Earth or is that last quote a load of shit? “…composite drama into a narrative form”? Jesus Christ. But anyway, I agree with Caouette’s statement here, but I think that the reason this film doesn’t work for me is that Caouette is too selective in what he chooses to reveal. He brings up all this crazy shit that happens in his family and then flits off into an artsy montage of pictures of himself. Like when he says that he called Adult Protective Services after he sees the conditions his mother and grandfather are living in but we never see them and never hear of this again. And while he leaves out a great many details, he lingers over old footage in segments that become pointless, tedious and even annoying.

New York magazine wrote “By all odds, Tarnation should have been an unwatchable, masochistic morass, but Caouette’s love for the broken Renee—which is the true subject of the film—is awe-inspiring.” No, you were right the first time, it is almost unwatchable. And Renee SHOULD have been the subject of the film, but she is merely peripheral in Caouette’s world view.

I am still reeling from the absurdity of the great reviews of this movie, but I should say that the most persistently annoying element of Tarnation is its self-indulgence, as I said initially. A preponderance of the film is a montage of stills in which Caouette poses. “Here’s me looking hot with a shirt on,” “here I am looking hot with no shirt,” “And here I am looking hot with long hair,” “And here I am in the backyard with short hair, note my piercing blue eyes…” Ok, you’re a good-looking guy, Jonathan, we get it. Gus Van Sant executive produced this and I kept thinking, “Thanks, Gus. I know he’s hot and all, but come on. Are you fucking serious?” Tarnation was three hours long at one point, before Gus and some other mentors gave Caouette a crash course in editing, so I guess I at least have to express gratitude to Van Sant for that.

Here’s a trailer for it. It does look interesting, doesn’t it? Some of it is. Maybe more of it will work for you than it did for me and Dave.

Θυμάμαι ήταν εκεί στο 1996 όταν έφτανε δειλά δειλά και στην Ελλάδα ο απόηχος για τον δίσκο Gentle Creatures των Tarnation. Οι κριτικές που είχα διαβάσει ήταν όλες διθυραμβικές και έτσι πείστηκα να αγοράσω το cd αυτού του νέου συγκροτήματος της 4AD. Τότε δεν ήμουν καθόλου συνηθισμένος σε ακούσματα της Americana και δεν εντυπωσιάστηκα από όσα άκουσα. Μου άρεσε μόνο το πρώτο κομμάτι του cd και τα υπόλοιπα με άφησαν σχετικά αδιάφορο. Έτσι το δισκάκι ξεχάστηκε μέσα στις στοίβες της δισκοθήκης μου και έκανα πολλά χρόνια να το ακούσω ξανά.

Δεν μπορώ να θυμηθώ πως αποφάσισα να το ξεθάψω και πάλι και να του δώσω άλλη μια ευκαιρία. Ίσως ήταν που άκουσα το “Your thoughts and mine” κάπου στο ραδιόφωνο, ίσως να έπεσα πάνω σε κάποιο link του συγκροτήματος στο Amazon, ίσως να ευθυνόταν η αγάπη μου για την Americana τα τελευταία χρόνια. Όποιος και αν ήταν ο λόγος πάντως, έψαξα και βρήκα το cd και το άκουσα ξανά. Και ξανά και ξανά… Και πάλι λάτρεψα το κομμάτι που ανοίγει το δίσκο, το σε τετρακάναλο ηχογραφημένο “Game of broken hearts”. Τώρα όμως αγαπάω όλα τα κομμάτια αυτού του cd και αναρωτήθηκα γιατί αυτό το συγκρότημα δεν έγινε τελικά γνωστό. Αποφάσισα λοιπόν να ψάξω την πορεία του γκρουπ από το δίσκο αυτό και μετά στους αχανείς διαδρόμους του Internet. Καταρχάς, επί της ουσίας πίσω από το συγκρότημα κρύβεται η εκπληκτική Paula Frazer, μια ασχημούλα σχετικά γυναίκα που το σουλούπι της μου θυμίζει γυναίκες περασμένης εποχής του Αμερικάνικου Νότου αλλά με μία φωνή αγγέλου. Ένα search query με οδήγησε στο τότε επίσημο site της τραγουδοποιού (που πλέον έχει καταργηθεί). Από εκεί μαθαίνω ότι η Paula έβγαλε το 1997 ένα ακόμα cd με τους Tarnation, το “Mirador”. Οι κριτικές πάλι διθυραμβικές. Το δύσκολο αμερικάνικο ανεξάρτητο site Pitchfork που δε χαρίζει εύκολα κάστανα βαθμολόγησε το δίσκο με 8.5 στα 10 έναντι 8.1 στα 10 του Gentle Creatures. Και πάλι οι Tarnation όμως δεν κατάφεραν να διευρύνουν το ακροατήριο τους. Η εταιρία δεν τους έσπρωξε, videoclip για τα singles δε γυρίστηκαν. Στη συνέχεια η Paula χάθηκε για 4 χρόνια και επανήλθε με τον πρώτο της σόλο δίσκο το 2001. Ο τίτλος του ήταν “Indoor Universe”. Αυτή είναι και η τελευταία δισκογραφική αναφορά στο επίσημο της site. Στην πρώτη οθόνη του site όμως παρατηρώ 2 links: το ένα παραπέμπει στη μουσική της ενώ το δεύτερο έχει τίτλο “weaving”. Κάνω κλικ και διαπιστώνω με έκπληξη ότι η Paula έχει ανοίξει μια επιχείρηση όπου πλέκει χειροποίητα κασκόλ. Από ένα τοπικό site του San Francisco όπου είναι καταχωρημένη η επιχείρηση της Paula, μαθαίνω ότι φτιάχνει 2-3 κασκόλ τη βδομάδα και το κόστος τους κυμαίνεται από 140 έως 300 δολάρια. Αυτό ήταν λοιπόν το τέλος της μουσικής της καριέρας; Τι αποδοχή είχε το cd “Indoor Universe”; Οι κριτικές που ξέθαψα στο internet ήταν πάλι με το μέρος της. Το Popmatters χαρακτηρίζει έγκλημα την ανωνυμία της Paula, αυτής της φωνής «που αποτελεί απόδειξη της ύπαρξης του Θεού», εξυμνεί το δίσκο και εύχεται να γνωρίσει την αναγνώριση που του αξίζει. Όμως, και πάλι δυστυχώς αυτό δεν έγινε. Ο δίσκος πούλησε σχετικά καλύτερα από τους 2 των Tarnation αλλά η επιτυχία δεν ήρθε. Τι και αν η Paula είχε συμμετέχει στο δίσκο των Cornershop που πούλησε εκατομμύρια εκείνη την εποχή (αλήθεια, που χάθηκαν και οι τύποι αυτοί;;;), τι και αν τραγούδια της συμπεριλήφθηκαν σε πολλά soundtracks όλα αυτά τα χρόνια;

Συνέχισα να ψάχνω για στοιχεία: η 4AD επανέκδωσε το Gentle Creatures με extra τραγούδια από τον ακόμα παλιότερο δίσκο της με τίτλο “I’ll give you something to cry about”. Από την άλλη, κατήργησε τελείως το Mirador το οποίο δεν υπάρχει σε απόθεμα σε κανένα online δισκοπωλείο. Επιπλέον κυκλοφόρησε μια συλλογή από τετρακάναλες ηχογραφήσεις με τίτλο “A place where I know” που περιλαμβάνει κομμάτια από τους 2 δίσκους των Tarnation και κάποια ακυκλοφόρητα. Παράλληλα, μαθαίνω ότι η Paula κυκλοφόρησε και νέο cd μέσα στο 2005 με τίτλο “Leave the sad things behind”. Ο δίσκος ηχογραφήθηκε στα Prairie Sun Studios στην κωμόπολη Cotati στην επαρχία Sonoma του αμερικάνικου νότου, στο στούντιο όπου ηχογραφήθηκε και το Mirador. Συμμετέχουν φίλοι από παλιά και μέλη των Kronos Quartet και των American Music Club. Όπως και να έχει, παρήγγειλα τα δύο cd της σόλο καριέρας από το Amazon ενώ παράλληλα ψάρεψα μια promo έκδοση του Mirador από το ebay. Κόστος αγοράς $3, ενώ τα μεταφορικά μου κόστισαν $6! Το Mirador ήταν πολύ καλό: εκεί που το Gentle Creatures είχε πολλές ακουστικές κιθάρες και ήταν πολύ επηρεασμένο από τον Elvis και τον Roy Orbison, το Mirador βασίζεται περισσότερες στις ηλεκτρικές κιθάρες. Μη φανταστείτε υψηλά decibels και distortion αλλά καθαρός ήχος με πολλές παύσεις και slides που θυμίζει έντονα soundtrack σε ταινία του Sergio Leone. Το Indoor Universe από την άλλη δεν ήταν καλό: οι στίχοι είχαν χάσει την περιγραφική τους δύναμη, δεν ήταν γεμάτες εικόνες από ξενοδοχεία και μοτέλ του νότου. Περισσότερο περιαυτολογούσαν με γενικότητες τύπου «σ’ αγαπώ, μ’ αγαπάς» ενώ τα καλύτερα κομμάτια του δίσκου ήταν επαναηχογραφήσεις παλιότερων τραγουδιών. Από την άλλη, το Leave the sad things behind ήταν σαφώς καλύτερο αλλά σίγουρα δε φτάνει στα επίπεδα των δίσκων των Tarnation. Είναι όμως μάταιη και αυτή η κυκλοφορία; Ακόμα και το Pitchfork που βαθμολογούσε γενναία την Paula δεν έχει δημοσιεύσει καν κριτική για το δίσκο. Δείχνει κάτι το γεγονός ότι η Paula κατήργησε το site της; Τελικά, η Paula επανίδρυσε τους Tarnation και μαζί το 2007 κυκλοφόρησαν έναν ακόμα δίσκο, το Now it’s time, δίσκος αυτός δυστυχώς και πάλι δε φτάνει στα επίπεδα των καλών τους κυκλοφοριών. Από τότε, άλλα δύο χρόνια έχουν περάσει και τα πράγματα φαίνεται να βαλτώνουν για ακόμα μια φορά. Κρίμα…

Βιογραφία και λοιπά στοιχεία:

• Ανάμεσα στους θαυμαστές της συγκαταλέγονται ο Nick Cave, οι Cornershop και οι Tindersticks.

• Γεννήθηκε στη Georgia και μεγάλωσε στο Αρκάνσας.

• Ο πατέρας της ήταν ιερέας και η Paula τραγουδούσε στην εκκλησία του. Η μητέρα της όμως ήταν η μεγαλύτερη της επιρροή, όντας καθηγήτρια πιάνου: της χάρισε την πρώτη της κιθάρα σε ηλικία 9 χρονών και τη μύησε στη μουσική της Billie Holiday, της Patsy Cline, του Gershwin αλλά και του Roy Orbison.

• Ένας φίλος την πείθει να μετακομίσει στο San Francisco το 1981 και εκεί κατοικεί ως και σήμερα: ως χωριατοπούλα, βρίσκει δύσκολη τη ζωή στη μεγάλη πόλη αλλά παράλληλα γοητεύεται από την ιστορία και την αρχιτεκτονική της.

• Πριν ιδρύσει τους Tarnation, συμμετείχε σε πολλά συγκροτήματα, ακόμα και σε μια χορωδία της Ανατολικής Ευρώπης που έψελνε Βουλγάρικους θρησκευτικούς ύμνους!

• Το 1992, κατά τη διάρκεια μιας επίσκεψης στη γενέτειρα Arkansas έγραψε το Big O Motel, ένα τραγούδι βγαλμένο κατευθείαν από την ατμόσφαιρα του νότου και των γοτθικών μικρών του ιστοριών.

• Οι Tarnation πήραν το όνομα τους από το γεγονός ότι η μητέρα της ήταν τόσο ευσεβής και θρησκόληπτη που δε μπορούσε ποτέ να προφέρει τη λέξη Damnation και χρησιμοποιούσε εναλλακτικά τη λέξη Tarnation: «Tarnation είναι ο αργκό όρος για την κόλαση. Πολλοί συνηθίζουν να το χρησιμοποιούν αντί του damnation, έτσι ώστε να αποφεύγουν να βρίζουν. Το διάλεξα γιατί είναι κωμικό και σκοτεινό ταυτόχρονα. Μερικές φορές μπορεί να υπάρξει χιούμορ στη θλίψη».

• H 4AD κυκλοφορεί τον πρώτο τους δίσκο με τίτλο Gentle Creatures που το Rolling Stones τον ανακήρυξε ως έναν από τους 10 καλύτερους Americana δίσκους. Αντίστοιχες κριτικές απέσπασε και ο δίσκος Mirador.

Great game but hard!!!!

5/10!

Montag, 05.01.09 | 23.40 – 01.15 | SF1 | USA 2004 | Regie: Jonathan Caouette

No-Budget-Doku, die am Heimcomputer für 200 Dollar entstanden ist und Gus van Sant so begeisterte, dass er als Produzent an Bord kam: Regisseur und Protagonist Jonathan Caouette verarbeitet seine chaotischen Lebensepisoden, die er seit seinem achten Lebensjahr auf Video festhält und setzt ein collagenartiges Panorama seiner Beziehung zu seiner psychisch kranken Mutter und der schmerzhaften Selbstfindung als Künstler zusammen.

Trailer:

Here is a round-up of five movies made for less than $50,000 that actually made money.

1. “Tarnation” (2004) — Shot for $218 with a U.S. gross of more than $500,000. Directed by Jonathan Caouette the movie is part documentary, part narrative fiction, part home movie, and part acid trip, according to the Internet Movie Database. A psychedelic whirlwind of snapshots, Super-8 home movies, old answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, snippets of ’80s pop culture, and dramatic reenactments to create an epic portrait of an American family travesty. The story begins in 2003 when Jonathan learns that his schizophrenic mother, Renee, has overdosed on her lithium medication. He is catapulted back into his real and horrifying family legacy of rape, abandonment, promiscuity, drug addiction, child abuse, and psychosis. As he grows up on camera, he finds the escapist balm of musical theater and B horror flicks and reconnects to life through a queer chosen family. Then a look into the future shows Jonathan as he confronts the symbiotic and almost unbearable love he shares with his beautiful and tragically damaged mother.

2. “My Date With Drew” (2005) —- Shot for $1,100 with a U.S. gross of more than $180,000. Directed by Jon Gunn and Brian Herzlinger the documentary follows Herzlinger’s pursuit of actress Drew Barrymore. Ever since the second grade, when he first saw her in “E.T. The Extraterrestrial”, Brian Herzlinger has had a crush on Drew Barrymore, according to the Internet Movie Database.  Now, 20 years later he’s decided to try to fulfill his lifelong dream by asking her for a date. There’s one small problem: She’s Drew Barrymore and he’s, well, Brian Herzlinger, a broke 27-year-old aspiring filmmaker from New Jersey. But that doesn’t stop Brian and his film school pals from doing everything they can think of to convince Barrymore to go out with him – and documenting their quest along the way. Equipped with a video camera they have to return to Circuit City in 30 days and the $1,100 Brian won on a game show (where the winning answer was, prophetically, “Drew Barrymore”), they’ve got one month to accomplish their mission. To succeed, they’ll need to negotiate an army of publicists, agents, producers and assistants who surround the star so Brian can pop the question. My Date with Drew is the award-winning, inspirational story of an ordinary guy who, despite incredibly long odds, puts everything on the line to pursue his lifelong dream. It’s also an astute and often hilarious look at contemporary dating rituals, the culture of celebrity and the power of passion.

3. “Clean” (2006) — Shot for $10,000 with a U.S. gross of more than $130,000. Directed by Olivier Assayas this low budget feature film landed known actor Nick Nolte.  Proof that a $10,000 movie can include a name actor.  According to the Internet Movie Database the story deals with the former successful forty-two years old rock star Lee Hauser. Hauser is decadent and his friends blame his girlfriend Emily Wang for the fall in his career due to excessive use of drugs. Their son Jay is raised by his grandparents Albrecht Hauser (played by Nick Nolte) and Rosemary Hauser in Vancouver. When Lee dies of overdose in a motel room, Emily is sentenced to six months in jail. She moves to Paris where she unsuccessfully struggles to keep clean. When she decides to retrieve the guard of her son, she is supported by her father-in-law and finds the necessary strength to rebuild her life.

4. “The Puffy Chair” (2006) — Shot for $15,000 with a U.S. gross of more than $190,000. Directed by Jay Duplass, this film follows the adventures of Josh Sager as he drives cross-country on a mission to deliver his father’s birthday gift – a giant purple LazyBoy.

5.   Cavite” (2006) — Shot for $7,000 with a U.S. gross of more than $70,000. Directed by Neill Dela Llana and Ian Gamazon the film focuses on Adam, a security guard, who travels from California to the Philippines, for his father’s funeral. He arrives in Manila. As he waits, a phone rings in his backpack; he answers it, and a male voice tells him that his mother and sister are captives and will be killed if Adam doesn’t cooperate. Over the next hour, the voice sends Adam by bus, taxi, motorized tricycle, and on foot through an urban landscape of busy streets, cramped apartments, a fetid squatters’ camp, a bank, a cockfighting arena, and a church. Adam’s conversations with the voice cover murder, Islam, jihad, rebellion in Mindanao, and his family.

The longest show EVER!

Just to be clear, we recorded this last Thursday, almost five days before a military fighter jet crashed into a home in San Diego. As a result, our discussion should be considered oddly fortuitous and not insensitive.

MOVIES WE TALK ABOUT!!!!!: The movies made by the guys at Asylum that are designed to look like other, more popular movies (you know what I mean…), Twilight, Laser Mission, Bratz: The Movie, Tarnation, Please Vote For Me, That Self Titled Joy Division Documentary That Came Out At The Same Time As Control (according to Alan), Night and Fog, The Sorrow and the Pity, Time Indefinite, American Movie, My Best Fiend and Bigger Stronger Faster.

AND MOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!

Critique du film Tarnation

Publié dans Main Blanche, automne 2007

Texas, 1973.  Naissance de Jonathan Caouette, fils de Renee LeBlanc et d’un père déjà reparti au New Hampshire.  Dès l’âge de onze ans, le petit garçon a une caméra vidéo à la main et filme tout ce qui a lieu autour de lui.  Le film Tarnation, complété en 2003, retrace sa vie entière à travers sa relation à sa mère, atteinte d’une sévère maladie mentale.

Le procédé narratif en tant que tel relève d’une structure classique : le film commence en 2003, dans un moment de crise, alors que Renee est hospitalisée suite à une overdose de lithium.  Puis, par un retour en arrière, on apprend son histoire : à l’âge de douze ans, un accident la laisse paralysée pendant six mois, à la suite de quoi ses parents lui feront administrer des années de traitements d’électrochocs.  On  nous dit qu’elle fut traitée dans plus d’une centaine d’hôpitaux psychiatriques depuis ; toutefois, son dossier indique qu’au départ, elle ne souffrait d’aucun problème en particulier.  Ceci est en quelque sorte un préambule au récit de l’existence de Jonathan, que nous découvrirons chronologiquement, jusqu’à ce que la boucle soit bouclée et que l’on apprenne l’issue de l’intoxication au lithium.

En cette ère de reality shows, on peut se demander quel intérêt présente les tribulations d’un illustre inconnu et de sa famille dysfonctionnelle.  Heureusement, le résultat dépasse l’anecdotique, en grande partie grâce à un travail visuel de tous les instants.  L’ensemble correspond à un collage de photographies, de films Super-8, d’extraits de films et d’émissions télévisuelles qui ont marqué Jonathan, d’enregistrements vocaux et de messages de répondeur, ainsi que de petits exercices de fiction réalisés durant son adolescence.  Le montage saccadé crée un rythme soutenu, et l’utilisation de nombreuses métaphores visuelles soulignant l’isolement et le désespoir, comme cette femme aux longs cheveux foncés frappant sur une vitre baignée de pluie, donne une dimension plus universelle à un récit au départ très personnel.

La primauté de l’image est ici patente ; nulle narration en voix-off ne vient expliquer le propos.  L’histoire est racontée par écrits surimposés à même les différents plans.  Ce texte est lui-même visuellement découpé, monté, de manière à créer des effets de surprise ou d’ironie.  De plus, toutes les prises de vue, les montages photographiques en particulier, sont étudiées et étoffées par une multitude d’effets, comme le ralenti, l’accéléré, le fondu enchaîné, la multiplication d’une même image dans un seul cadre, ou la saturation lumineuse.  À un point tel où on se demande parfois si cette œuvre ne quitte pas le domaine du documentaire pour entrer dans celui du film d’art.  Pour le spectateur, c’est une expérience esthétique garantie dans un univers fortement marqué par le psychédélisme.

Cela reste un film néanmoins touchant, où la mère sert de prisme pour appréhender le personnage principal.  L’ensemble des archives ne renvoie pas à une vulgaire représentation narcissique, mais bien à une quête d’identité qui pose les questions de l’hérédité, de l’inné et de l’acquis.  Pourquoi Jonathan connaît-il aussi des problèmes, bien que Renee n’ait jamais souffert de troubles mentaux avant les électrochocs ?  Le film est d’une honnêteté presque brutale, alors qu’est présentée sa première rencontre avec son père, à trente ans, et la réaction des membres de la famille qui refusent d’admettre leur part de responsabilité dans la tragédie.

Une réussite formelle, oui ; mais surtout une œuvre qui dépasse le pathétique de son propos pour établir une véritable réflexion.  Un des films les plus mobilisateurs que j’ai vu cette année ; à mon humble avis, du grand cinéma.

Tarnation, un film de Jonathan Caouette, États-Unis, une production Wellspring et Tarnation Films, 2005, 100 minutes.

Kabluey
[ 3 stars out of 4 ]

Every character in this movie is pretty high-strung but somehow it all works. I’ve never seen Lisa Kudrow so broken down, including her darker characters in other indie movies, so I absolutely loved her in this. Even though she did not get as much screen time as I would have liked, she made the most of her character in each scene and by the end I felt like I got to experience her complexity even for just a little bit. Scott Prendergast, who starred, wrote and directed this film, was very good as a slacker who ultimately cares for his family even though they’re not related by blood. He’s far from perfect but I ended by really liking his character because he’s the kind of guy who continues to go on living even though his efforts aren’t good enough time and time again. His bit with the blue mascot was creative, funny, and symbolic. I thought it was interesting when Prendergast is under that mascot, he gets all the (mostly) positive attention, but when he’s just his regular old self he never gets noticed or is often picked on. I also enjoyed the soundtrack because it was deflty used during the more sensitive moments. As for its ending, it’s touching but not sappy and well-deserved by the characters. Unlike “Margot at the Wedding,” this one actually had a glimmer of light at the end of the road so I felt like the characters’ suffering had a purpose. Lastly, I’d like to note that this is the kind of movie that thrives on its imperfections–little “pointless” things like people on the bus talking or rich mothers gossiping, made this movie more interesting and unpredictable. If one is in the mood for taking a chance with a small movie, I recommend picking this up.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The (1974)
[ 3 stars out of 4 ]

The attention to detail this film had impressed me because one doesn’t encounter that often in horror pictures. I can understand why this became a classic because it’s comedic and horrific, sometimes at the same time, and it’s inspired enough to dabble with the macabre. With its brisk pace of slightly under an hour and twenty-five minutes, the moment Leatherface appeared, the film refuses to let go of its audience. There were several highlights in this film and one of them I had mentioned already (Leatherface’s first appearance–the way he shut that door plays over and over in my head): the lead character’s (Marilyn Burns) chase from the woods to the house, Teri McMinn’s fall in the kitchen while the camera looms about and all we hear is the chicken, and the dinner scene when the grandfather was forced to hurt Burns. The last one I will never forget because the man looked about a hundred years old. Scenes like that made the movie really twisted and borderline sick. I can’t say I like the movie in a positive way but it does deserve my commendation because it’s unconventional but somehow all the disparate elements worked. Tobe Hooper, the director, knew what he was doing and his talent jumps out from the movie. All of that said, I still prefer the remake of this film because that one is more structured, had more scenes that made me jump, and it doesn’t abuse the use of women screaming. Moreover, the remake has a strong lead female (played by Jessica Biel) and a more satisfying (but less haunting) ending. The two movies are so different but comparable in many ways… and I respect them both.

Tarnation
[ 3 stars out of 4 ]

Jonathan Caouette made this film for about two hundred dollars. Not only do I find that amazing, I also find it inspiring. Caouette really got creative with his storytelling: from voice-overs and fonts to home videos and photographs, all of them serve to progress the story. In a way, I got the sense that Caouette had been planning to make this film ever since he was a boy. Although the crux of this documentary is Caouette’s schizophrenic mother, I argue that this is more about Caouette’s journey from childhood to adulthood. I found it interesting that his sexuality is not a hindrance in his life, which is so unlike most LGBT films, both in fiction and non-fiction. The scenes where he would take on a particular character starting from when he was eleven blew my mind because he could act so well. I’m surprised he didn’t pursue an acting career when he turned into an adult. Still, this movie is its own worst enemy. Even though I loved Caouette’s creativity, sometimes he becomes too creative with his images to the point where they get distracting and considerably slows the story down (near the end of the feature). I liked that there were some “truths” that may seem true one minute and false the next; the unanswered questions had the same effect on me. Casual moviegoers will most likely not find this movie impressive at all because it’s really kind of an acquired taste. You watch enough movies and you get sick of the same old style and when films like this comes out, it’s refreshing and interesting. This documentary, though flawed, has a lot of heart and I feel like I got a real peek at Caouette’s life even for just a little bit. It made me want to buy a camera and start recording moments in my life. Ebert and Roeper said that Caouette edited the picture masterfully. I could not agree more.

In my ongoing life as minor YouTube pundit, I’ve been asked to reflect on the phenomena that is Fred for Teacher’s College Record. Given that I had not seen the lad before the request, although I had skimmed Strangelove’s post on the ADD of the matter, I’m using this entry to commence reflections towards the final piece. The final version is published at TCR.

As you can see Fred’s hyperdrive parodies the hyperactivity borne of a life within media (or so says LA Time’s Web Scout), one proscribed to children of this generation, one already younger than the much-touted “digital native,” who can not ever ever ever think or watch outside the logic of new media. “Cruikshank’s generation is the first one never to have known a world without the Internet. These kids speak the language of computers and technology as well as they speak English — if not better.”

Although the videos are almost unwatchable (for those of the calmer generations, we geriatrics still capable of sentences in real time…almost)—largely because, beyond their egregious squeak, the “humor” is so stunningly juvenile—I must suggest that their popularity among the under 15-set has to do, counter-intuitively, with their artful if banal sophistication (note oxymoronic structure ). I would begin to mark the nature of this timely form of media savvy within three more realms of opposition where I think Fred enacts the live tensions which are defining our media moment:

Boredom/distraction: Fred (like his teen-viewers) makes these trifles because he is stuck at home with nothing to do. He’s BORED. And yet, Fred (like his adoring fans) is jumping from YouTube to IM-ing to friend’s house, too distracted, speedy, and hyperactive to have time to get really bored (like we used to in the oh-so media-pure past of hay rides and beer bashes).

Real/Parody: FRED is watchable, and lovable, as is true for all vloggers, because he is visibly himself. A regular, rural kid from Nebraska in a tract-like house with carpet made apparent through a consumer camcorder. And yet, this likably real Fred is notably and obviously playing the character of Fred: a guy with a prostitute/alchoholic/absent/mannish mother and a jailed/murderer father. Fred artfully mixes several familiar media languages of the moment: skewing only slightly younger while amping the juvenile pre-occupations (poop, pee) of the much-loved man-boy genre (inventing the boy-boy version, I suppose); and mixing this with the mundane boring nature of the vlog. Now, I’ve written on the radical potential of the known parody in the fake documentary, and it seems that once its gotten to FRED and his banal, if savvy minions, the cutting depth of this style of critique must have worked thin. Although he reminds me eerily of Jonathan Caouette playing the black crack whore welfare Mom in his bedroom a generation earlier, Fred’s parody has been drained of what makes Caouette’s work HURT.

Isolation/Community: Of course, Fred is alone in Nebraska, which contributes to the boredom which drives him to the web, and there he meets endless, interchangable youth, also so driven to the internet, and there they parody him, in less-worthy homages, and so meet, sort of, still of course, stuck in their bedrooms, but endlessly reflecting each other’s loneliness and boredom, ever the state of youth, or ever more so the state of today’s digital youth who don’t ever go out to play, perhaps because they’ve been somehow convinced that this “community” of dopplegangers has a value, allowing them to make another video…

Now what this means for educators, people interested in media literacy, and youth media, is what I must get to next. But for now, I must get my daughter (and myself) of the net, and go to lunch.

Tarnation

Gentle Creatures (4AD)

http://www.mediafire.com/?thfexd1gx9m

Around the time 4AD Records picked up Paula Frazer’s momentarily brilliant Tarnation for their roster the label was in the midst of a California awakening. There was that branch office in L.A., while that San Franciscan diary-rock band, Red House Painters, picked up the slack for the grinding bore that was the mid-90’s Pixies, and Heidi Berry unceremoniously made Joni Mitchell records. It was as if the blueprint Ivo Watts-Russell had laid with his canonical vanity project, This Mortal Coil, rose up in a moment of awkward transition and obscurity. Watts-Russell, with not so much time left for the label he started in 1979 (he officially split in 1999) seemed to enjoy a moment as the charioteer of that Laurel Canyonland which had been so integral to This Mortal Coil.

Gentle Creatures, when it works, does so for two reasons: sloppy grace and luck. Paula Frazer’s pristine Appalachian-style yodel has all the rusticated clarity of Patsy Cline, if not Ms. Cline’s jazz-like sensitivity with phrasing. Far from problematic, the sense of slackness grants the music a kind of unguarded warmth.

No doubt, Frazer carries this record over patches a lesser singer could not. Behind her plays a competent, if drowsy, alt country ensemble cooked up of the usual genetic stuff: Lone Justice, Cowboy Junkies, the Eagles, and Gram Parsons. It’s a modern honky-tonk approximation, and it tires along the way—that Frazer herself is such a natural makes some of the results all the more frustrating.

“The Game of Broken Hearts” opens the affair grandly. Reverberating hollow-body guitar and voice share the nickel-size spotlight. The production effects suggest it was recorded in a coffee can in 1945 rather than a studio in 1995—a rare instance of such contrivance working in the song’s favor. Nevertheless it does. Like the music David Lynch, Angelo Badalamenti, and Julee Cruise created for the tv show, Twin Peaks, it isn’t so much an imitation of early 60’s rock aesthetics (or early 40’s production values as the case may be) as it is a kind of time-warped invocation. The difference is, in both cases, there is a sensibility being channeled, as opposed to a sound being lifted.

And was it that a vintage aura, and the light in moving brine-rusted chrome were all it took this would readily be called a classic.

However, songs grow thin as Gentle Creatures proceeds, and certainly the high watermark of that first, rather astonishing, number is not met again. One notable exception is the Warren Defever-recorded “Big O Motel”, a California country weeper in the vein of Linda Ronstadt. It’s a pretty song, gilded by Frazer’s spiraling chorus. Her lover is but a peripheral shape, and the image of her lying beside him “in the Big O Motel/On the vibrating bed” has a terrific Loserville poignancy.

After finishing another record in 1997, the logical progression played out, Tarnation disbanded, or more accurately, Paula Frazer started professionally calling herself Paula Frazer. She scored some memorable cameos over the years (a smart duet on Cornershop’s When I Was Born For The 7th Time, and again on the Prince Paul/Dan the Automator project, Handsome Boy Modeling School). A solo career has yet to earn her the recognition a voice so intelligent and gifted deserves. And even if Gentle Creatures’ flawed magnificence becomes her legacy—which by all appearances it has, it is still a legacy worthy of a visit involving genuflection.

Music: I’ve been considering since yesterday the concept of ‘favourite albums’ following the Poptimist column on Pitchfork. It is a very individually definable phenomena and one that can change over time vastly. I’m going to write about it in full very soon. But this has prompted me to think about that exact deal and the two albums that I keep coming back to, Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth and Let It Be by The Replacements, have been getting a good chunk of play this week.
The Dodo’s Visiter album is growing on me and I got hold of Blue Cheer’s Vincebus Eruptum this week, a loud and slow proto-punk masterpiece. I’m still really unsure about My Morning Jacket’s latest which is a little too Prince-pastiche for me in places.
Camille remains on the playlist with her new record and I rediscovered one of my girlfriend’s favourite records this week, Joy Zipper’s American Whip. The album is among the most heartfelt and beautiful in the collection but avoids any sense of soporific lameness by maintaining a posturing cool and recalling the most dreamy parts of JAMC at all times.

Film: Lots of films watched this week. You can read my reviews of Bandit Queen and Alice in the Cities on Screenjabber. I’ll tell you in preview that I enjoyed one much more than the other.
I finally caught up with Tarnation this week, Jonathan Caouette’s amazing home-made documentary which is really about his mother and the lost generation of those sent to shock therapy by worried parents of the 60s. His story is pretty heartbreaking but what makes the film such a fascinating experience is his heavily underground-influenced visual style which includes many flashing montages of striking, Lynchian images and a wide palette of colours and music cues. It’s a nighmarish vision in places but really plays as a tribute to his damaged mother. Highly recommended.
Tom and I also decided it might be fun to re-experience the classic Twins, Ivan Reitman’s Arnie/DeVito comedy about the two playing genetically created twins who never meet. It’s a pretty average piece of rubbish but the overall concept – that Arnie is the absolute embodiment of perfect humanity and DeVito is all the dregs shlubbed together – is inherently funny. As I say, no classic, but it has a nice number of curio moments and a really odd, completely un-moody performance from David Caruso.
I promise next week will see me watching some better movies.

Books/Comics/Magazines: Great article in GQ about Errol Morris and his craft and a really nice profile of Obama in Esquire. I haven’t really taken in either yet.
Scott Pilgrim is on heavy reading rotation in our house now, loving that one. I’m also about to start reading Jeffrey Brown’s Clumsy, a painfully autobiographical tale of a young man attempting to lose his virginity.
I’m still on Generation Kill at the moment but I’ll finish that off today. It’s been a pretty harrowing read, particularly in the latter half where the real horrors of war seem to be seeping through the tough exteriors of the recon marines profiled. It certainly makes you at least question attitudes to war, particularly with regard to criticism of a world no-one who hasn’t experience it could ever understand fully. The TV series will be amazing.

Other: I’ve fallen head over heels in love with Tesco’s Finest Chicken Mulligatawny soup. Oh my god. The sheer amount of chicken in the thing. Fan-flipping-tastic.

Tarnation es una película por momentos imposible de soportar, aunque de a poco e increíblemente se las arregle para apuntar un final casi feliz. Nuevamente, en medio de esos juegos del posarte que últimamente tanto se utilizan para dificultarnos dictaminar si lo que vemos y oímos debemos llamarlo o no ficción, el filme más bien debería definirse como una especie de documental autobiográfico que tienen como figuras estelares al director y su madre, desde la dura Texas de los años cincuenta hasta la Nueva York del nuevo siglo.

La vida terrible de la joven mujer, Renée, y su historia de desequilibrio mental, violación y reclusiones en psiquiátricos, décadas de electroshocks y padecimientos a través de su internación en más de cien hospitales a lo largo de tres décadas; y el no menos cruel destino de su hijo, Jonathan, están retratados a la manera de quien recorre un álbum familiar de fotos. Así, sentados en el living, viendo las diapositivas que ilustran tal o cual escena mientras una suerte de narrador presenta y ordena el material con un exceso de cartelitos y efectos visuales mínimos como para que las imágenes que se repiten circularmente lo hagan siempre ganando efectividad en su dramatismo; y mientras se desea con todo el corazón que esa historia de amor que se comienza a mostrar permanezca y dure, o que Jonathan se distraiga contándonos esas películas de terror berreta que siempre tanto le gustaron…

Tarnation es ya un clásico del cine yanqui independiente de los últimos años y referencia obligada de muchos jóvenes realizadores de todo el mundo. Fue producida por Gus van Sant y distribuida en el 2002. Está llena de canciones de música indie, con sus guitarras suaves aunque por momentos chiyonas y las voces fáciles aunque oscuras y tristes, que tanto se emparientan con lo que el filme muestra. La dirección, guión, cámara y edición de Tarnation estuvieron a cargo de Jonathan Caouette; al fin y al cabo es su vida, ¿no?

Les Voyeurs #18
L’ambiguïté sexuelle
Émission diffusée vendredi 11 janvier à 16h
Rediffusée samedi 12 janvier à 10h

Actualité

-La guerre du DVD Haute-Définition est finie ! Le procédé Blu-Ray l’emporte sur le HD-DVD : Warner Bros, New Line et Paramount annonce l’arrêt des productions de leurs films sur le support HD-DVD. Autant annoncer la mort du support tout de suite.
-Garage de Lenny Abrahamson (actuellement aux Sémaphore)
-L’Année où mes parents sont partis en vacances de Cao Hamburger (actuellement aux Arcades)
-Cérémonie des Golden Globes du 13 janvier 2008 transformée en simple conférence de presse dû à la grève des scénaristes d’Hollywood débutée le 5 novembre 2007

Dossier : l’ambiguïté sexuelle

Dans la société, l’assignation de genres s’articule autour du seul binôme masculin/féminin, malgré l’existence d’hermaphrodites, de travesti(e)s et de transsexuel(le)s. Les Voyeurs se sont demandés si les cinéastes incluaient le « troisième sexe » dans leurs œuvres et s’ils rendaient l’ambiguïté sexuelle un peu moins ambiguë.

Ambiguïté physiologique :
L’héroïne hermaphrodite de XXY de Lucia Puenzo (2007)
Les physiques androgynes de Louise Brooks, Katharine Hepburn, Rudolph Valentino, Jane Seberg, Jamie Lee Curtis…

Ambiguïté psychologique :
La crise d’identité de Teena Brandon dans Boys Don’t Cry de Kimberly Pierce (2000)
L’incompréhension de Ludovic dans Ma Vie en Rose d’Alain Berliner (1997)

Ambiguïté physique :
Le travestissement de Patrick “Kitten” Brady dans Breakfast on Pluto de Neil Jordan (2005) et de Victoria dans Victor Victoria de Blake Edwards (1982) (actuellement à l’affiche).

La transsexualité du Docteur Frank-N-Furter dans The Rocky Horror Picture Show de Jim Sharman (1975), de Bree dans Transamerica de Duncan Tucker (2006) et de Bernardette dans Priscilla, Folle du Désert de Stephan Elliott (1994).

L’Ambiguïté sexuelle dans le cinéma de genre :
SF : Ripley contre la créature dans la saga Alien
Thriller : Le psychopathe veut changer de genre, par exemple dans Psychose d’Alfred Hitchcock (1960), Le Silence des Agneaux de Jonathan Demme (1991)…
Fantastique : Dr Jekyll et Sister Hyde de Roy Ward Baker
Western : Les deux femmes rivales dans Johnny Guitar de Nicholas Ray

Les Inclassables :
Tarnation de Jonathan Caouette (2003)
Orlando de Sally Potter (1993)

La bande originale de la semaine

« Le Mourant sur le Pont » de Jürgen Kniepper du film Les Ailes du désir de Wim Wenders (1987)

La Chronique d’Erik-qui-Râle
Les suites…Ça m’énerve

Extraits
Bernie d’Albert Dupontel (1996)
Le Silence des Agneaux de Jonathan Demme (1991)

Musique
« Sweet Transvestite » de la BO The Roky Horror Picture Show
« Are you a boy or a girl » de The Barberians