While there hasn’t been an explosion of documentaries made about the great underground filmmakers, the fact that any have been made about these groundbreaking, but still mostly obscure to the general public, directors seems like a great accomplishment.
Plus, these seven documentaries listed below are all available for easy viewing on DVD or VOD, which is more than can be said for many of the subjects’ actual movies.
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis, dir. Mary Jordan. (Amazon | Netflix) Jack Smith is one of the most complicated figures in underground film history, but Jordan’s documentary provides an in-depth portrait of this reclusive artist who ended up alienating his closest friends and ardent supporters. Turning his back on the film world after directing one of the most notorious movies ever made, Flaming Creatures, Smith would go on to be an admired performance artist who would act sporadically in others’ art films.
Plus, these seven documentaries listed below are all available for easy viewing on DVD or VOD, which is more than can be said for many of the subjects’ actual movies.
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis, dir. Mary Jordan. (Amazon | Netflix) Jack Smith is one of the most complicated figures in underground film history, but Jordan’s documentary provides an in-depth portrait of this reclusive artist who ended up alienating his closest friends and ardent supporters. Turning his back on the film world after directing one of the most notorious movies ever made, Flaming Creatures, Smith would go on to be an admired performance artist who would act sporadically in others’ art films.
- 1/10/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Chuck Workman’s documentary Visionaries continues to receive mixed and muted reviews, but it’s really great to see the underground being discussed in such various venues. Wfmu has the best review I’ve read so far, written by someone who really knows and understands underground film history. This is this week’s must read link. It was also fun to read a review-slash-interview with Workman on Hollywood business-oriented website The Wrap. Of course, articles on websites like these don’t include links to references on its subjects — e.g. Mekas, Anthology, Anger, et. al. — so uninformed readers can learn more. C’est la vie. But Workman says something I truly believe and is a guiding principle behind Bad Lit these days: “there’s an audience among people who don’t know experimental film, but would enjoy it if they saw it.” A couple websites posted up late reports from...
- 5/30/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Journalist Alex Goldblum has posted an audio interview, embedded above, with actress Judith Malina about her experience appearing in Jack Smith’s seminal 1963 underground film Flaming Creatures. Although the film was made close to 50 years ago, Malina has a good recollection of the filming, including Smith’s more outrageous directions. Word of warning: Malina’s comments play over scenes of the actual film, which are Nsfw as they include male and female nudity.
The nicest part of the interview is the glowing terms with which Malina describes Smith, who was known as a very difficult person to get along with. But, Malina only speaks of him as a great artist who worked with actors the way painters work with paint. (That’s a somewhat paraphrase of her comments.) Even when Smith asks her to commit an outrageous act, Malina apparently didn’t hesitate.
I’m not enough of a scholar...
The nicest part of the interview is the glowing terms with which Malina describes Smith, who was known as a very difficult person to get along with. But, Malina only speaks of him as a great artist who worked with actors the way painters work with paint. (That’s a somewhat paraphrase of her comments.) Even when Smith asks her to commit an outrageous act, Malina apparently didn’t hesitate.
I’m not enough of a scholar...
- 5/18/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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