{image1}Jonathan Caouette's "Tarnation" is 90 minutes of absolute over-stimulation. It's like a crazy collage constructed from the cuttings of pornos, family photo albums and pop culture 'zines, and is quite possibly the darkest documentary to date.
But it's also heartbreaking and humorous, nostalgic and narcissistic, and completely sincere.
With a fashion-model mother turned lithium-dazed psychotic, abusive grandparents and foster parents, the accidental inhalation of two PCP- and formaldehyde-dipped joints and the fact he's gay in a straight-laced community, it's no wonder Caouette is diagnosed as an adolescent with depersonalization disorder, a mental illness that makes him feel removed from his body and trapped in an existential hell. (Hence, the name "Tarnation," which comes from the word "damnation.")
Caouette unravels all of this and much, much more through a stream of old snapshots, Super 8 movies, Betamax, VHS, campy television clips and warbled audio. Despite the traumatic events of his life, including actual footage of his mother's rape, Caouette was able to let art rear its beautiful head and deliver a piece of work that will undoubtedly shape-shift the structure of documentaries forever.
The harrowing film is stitched together with on-screen titles and perfect music selections from the Magnetic Fields, Low, Iron and Wine and more. It was tightly edited with a Mac desktop computer and iMovie editing software, and Gus Van Sant and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch's" John Cameron Mitchell tweaked it in its final stages.
Like the character of Hedwig, Caouette is self-obsesses, unashamed and -- despite a pile up of f-ed up relationships -- somehow still tender, funny and completely lovable.
"Tarnation" is a difficult film to watch, but well worth the journey beyond the comfort zone. It's a kaleidoscopic crash of a bad trip into a beautiful one. It will move you. Promise.
"Tarnation" opens Friday, Dec. 10 at the Downer Theatre.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
