Gary Indiana
- 2006
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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, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Based on a popular one-man play and filmed in a single day at the theatrical space the Kitchen in 1993, this avant-garde drama contrasts the lives of two famous homosexuals, both of whom died of AIDS in the 1980s. Both men are played by original castmember Ron Vawter. Roy Cohn was a gay-bashing right-wing lawyer and a steadfast protector of the "American Family." He was also a closet homosexual. Jack Smith was an openly gay experimental filmmaker who was credited as one of the fathers of performance art. In this film version of the play, the opposing lives of the two men are woven together, whereas on stage, they were profiled in two separate acts. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Vawter
- 1985
More of an underground experiment than an above-ground, straightforward drama, this stylized film is about Teutonic decadence landing in and spreading around the cocaine capital of the world, Colombia. Some of the German ex-patriots delineated here have all the warmth of a Siberian winter, while some -- such as a gay-blade babbler surrounded by beautiful people of his own gender -- have all the depth of a fruit tart, and some are just fruity tarts. As these types go on and on about sex, government, justice and the lack of it, audiences might end up as alienated as the characters in the narrative. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burkhardt Driest, Richard Ulacia, (more)
- 1984
In another avant-garde, underground film, director Ulrike Ottinger takes up the decadent, self-indulgent character of Dorian Gray (Veruschka von Lehndorff) and uses him/her to explore the seamier side of Berlin night and street life -- for 2 1/2 hours of running time. About half that time would have been more than enough, even for in-house, Berlin-based fans. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Delphine Seyrig
- 1984
French director Jackie Raynal recounts her own experiences in the Big Apple in Hotel New York. We first find Ms. Raynal busy editing gay-oriented films. Her real-husband husband Sid Geffen portrays a film exhibitor, who introduces Raynal to his gay son (played by Gary Indiana--we're not making this up) in hopes that the two will form a relationship. Instead, Raynal marries Geffen, at which point the film's photography symbolically switches from bright color to depressing black and white. The monochromatic portion of the 60-minute Hotel New York was originally a separate short subject. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sid Geffen, Gary Indiana, (more)
- 1981
Nadja Vidal (Tina L'hotsky) has arrived in New York City to avenge the murder of her sister Sasha, something that seems well within the grasp of her cool and remote personality. As the story unfolds, Sasha's murder in a nightclub is shown in flashbacks, and there are glimpses of Nadja's inexorable path to the killers before she takes the actions shown. Combining past and present, and scenes of violence captured without recourse to the usual focus on blood and guts, Nadja's immunity to violence becomes a chilling force in itself. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1980
This experimental drama comes from the avant-garde team Scott B. and Beth B. and is their last film made on Super-8 film. It is the story of a jobless man's attempt to find stability in his life. His life is a nightmare of darkness and oppression and during his journey, the man encounters an assortment of strange, intensely self-absorbed characters. The tale culminates with the hapless man being knocked in the head during a mugging. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
