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This film is about the life so far of one Jonathan Caouette. He's not anyone famous, or not yet anyway, so why should we care what happens in his life? Well, because it's very hosed up, really. Directed by: Jonathan Caouette Starring: Jonathan Caouette, Renee Leblanc, Adolph Davis, Rosemary Davis, At a glance: A homecut autobiography of one man, his family and all the mess in between. Summary: Jonathan Caouette has seemingly filmed everything that has happened to him since the age of 8, resulting in a huge collection of video in various formats. He also used Apple's iMovie program to make the entire film, both of these give it a gritty home-movie style that's very effective. As all the footage apart from the first scene and a few of his underground films is real it adds a ghastly edge to what would otherwise be a rather irrelevant journey. I found myself, as the film enters the 80's and 90's, thinking "Wow, that was when I was born. I was just 7 then. I was going to secondary school then..." and this context makes it all the more powerful. It's a pity anyone born today and seeing them film in a couple of decades won't have this to heighten their enjoyment of it. The film swings between its major 'characters'; Jonathan, his mother Renee and grandparents Adolph & Rosemary. When Renee was a small girl she fell off a roof and was temporarily paralysed, her parents then had the genius idea that the best cure would be intensive electric shock treatment. Unsurprisingly, this screwed poor Renee up a bit, and as she says "Sick parents have sick children". Jonathan is definitely sick in a few ways, and dealing with his weird grandparents, battshit mother and own issues drives his teenage self further down the rabbit hole than most of us have been forced to go. Sneaking into gay clubs aged 13, disguised as a petite goth girl is not something many of us can claim to have done. If you think you can handle uncomfortable scenes in films, try watching the five minute clip of Renee after she's brain damaged by a lithium overdose. The music/sound used is also very good, and I enjoyed the retro feel that the iMovie effects gave to the film. Highlight: Many, young Jonathan smoking a laced joint and going crazy in front of a mirror was the most shocking to me. Lowlight: Jonathan's later ramblings are vain and lack the horrible clarity of his youthful outbursts. Oh, and check the IMDB entry where 'Davidal00' defends his brother's movie in the accompanying threads. RATING: 4 PROS: Gritty and shocking CONS: Ridiculously egotistical ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0390538/
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Apr 26, 2005 17:31
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| # ? May 11, 2024 05:29 |
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http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1324376
Mike_V fucked around with this message at 22:52 on Apr 26, 2005 |
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Apr 26, 2005 22:49
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quote:Mike_V came out of the closet to say:
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Apr 28, 2005 03:44
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