Ken Jacobs Movies

Avant-garde auteur Ken Jacobs received critical adulation for his 1969 work Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son -- an extreme experimental film in which he visually dissected a Biograph one-reeler from 1905. Anaglyph Tom (Tom with Puffy Cheeks) revisits the same material for additional deconstruction. Divided into two halves, it begins with a sequence where a group of circus performers, villagers, and harlequins assemble in a small-town square for merriment; though the original sequence lasted about two minutes, here it takes up 50 minutes of time. Jacobs extends it ad infinitum, manipulating the images with digital 3-D imaging, zoom-ins, flicker effects, removal of various portions of the image, and a number of other visual and spatial devices. The second half of the film deconstructs a sequence in which characters chase a pig thief; by using flicker effects to dramatically slow down the action, Jacobs forces viewers to study the framing and the staging and enter a purely analytical mindset. In the concluding minutes, Jacobs abandons narrative altogether, reducing the onscreen images to a series of kaleidoscopic abstractions and unintelligible gray blocks. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

The underground art of renegade performance artist, photographer, and filmmaker Jack Smith is explored through the images he created and the words of those who knew him best in filmmaker Mary Jordan's tribute to the man believed to have inspired some of Andy Warhol's most iconic works. A virulent utopian and anti-capitalist whose works spanned from the 1960s to the late-1980s, Smith gained notoriety early on in his career when he went battled the Supreme Court over the banning of his controversial work "Flaming Creatures." An enigmatic artist whose work remains on the fringes of the mainstream despite the praise of curators from the Whitney to the Louvre, the effects of Smith's powerful influence are explored in interviews with those who both loved and hated Smith. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

When Ken Jacobs, Bob Fleischner and Jack Smith were studying camera techniques at CUNY night school in the mid-1950s, Jacobs met Smith through the pair's mutual friend Fleishner. Though Fleischner and Smith would eventually part ways, Jacobs was stunned to learn that in October of 1989 the pair died within a week of one another. In this feature length film, Jacobs responds to his loss by adapting the 1990 Nervous System performance piece "Luminous Threnody." ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A documentary profile of filmmaker John Waters, Divine Trash focuses on the bad-taste pioneer's early years, especially his 1972 breakthrough Pink Flamingos, which turned the director of Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs into the king of midnight movies thanks to word of mouth about the film's gleeful taboo-bashing -- and a distribution deal with the fledgling New Line Cinema. Interviews with filmmakers who both influenced Waters (Paul Morrissey, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Mike Kuchar, George Kuchar) and were influenced by him (Steve Buscemi, Jim Jarmusch, David O. Russell, Hal Hartley) are interspersed with copious behind-the-scenes footage from the making of Pink Flamingos, including the infamous doggy-doo scene. Through it all, the witty Waters provides commentary, recollections, and one-line quips. Pete Garey, owner of the film lab where Waters learned the technical side of moviemaking, recalls his first meetings with the youthful auteur. Mink Stole and other Dreamland Studios superstars reminisce about growing up in suburban Baltimore with Waters, who as a youngster loved car crashes, puppets, and clowns. The director's strait-laced parents reminisce about the financial support they provided for Pink Flamingos, which they have never seen. Neither has Frances Milstead, who looks back on the career of her late son, drag terrorist and Waters muse Divine. Divine and late "egg lady" Edith Massey crop up in various archival interviews and film clips. The man who played the "talking asshole" in Pink Flamingos also appears, albeit anonymously and disguised. Various film theorists and critics debate the merits and meaning of the Waters oeuvre, while Baltimore critic Don Walls and former Maryland film censor Mary Avara express their incredulity about the director's success. Divine Trash won the Filmmakers Trophy for Best Documentary at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. Director Steve Yeager, a longtime friend of Waters, would go on to direct In Bad Taste: The John Waters Story and help Milstead write a book about her son. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi