Last night I saw "Tarnation" for the second time at the Dendy Newtown with a friend Ian. I saw it a few weeks ago at the Sydney Film Festival with Vera, and we were both blown away!
It's such an amazing documentary, totally original and personal and heartbreaking and the first time I saw it I was on the verge of tears. This is by far the best film I have seen all year, and the second viewing last night was equally rewarding as the first. The film is essentially a self-portrait, with director Jonathan Caouette bravely documenting the first 31 years of his life and his relationship with his mentally ill mother, Renne. What a troubled life, filled with tragedy, hurt and love. I really recommend that you see it!
"Tarnation" is constructed from years and years of family stills and home movie footage that Caouette took as a young boy and young man. All of the footage is amazing to watch. There's a scene of Caouette as an 11 year old, delivering one of many "testimonies" to camera. The character he is playing is a battered Texan wife, and it's both unsettling and hilarious to watch him as an child deliver a monologue to his video camera about being beaten by her drunk husband amongst other nasty things. This sort of stuff is priceless, and just something that you could never script.
One of the funniest scenes is of Jonathan and his high-school boyfriend directing a school play of David Lynch's "Blue Velvet" in the late 1980s. They decided to turn it into a musical using only Marianne Faithful songs! I think you have to see the scene to appreciate how side-splittingly funny it is.
The scenes with his mother Renee are really heartbreaking. Her story is very tragic, as she suffered emotional and physical abuse from her parents, was also institutionalized as a young age, and given electric shock treatment. Even though I found her scenes to be really difficult to watch, I thought she was incredibly brave and her beautiful personality still shone through the pain and sadness.
Apparently the film was edited on iMovie for $218 (US), but I suspect this is a bit of a marketing ploy. I mean, it certainly looks like the editing was started on iMovie - I checked iMovie on my lappy, and recognised some of the effects hehe - but I am sure Jonathan would have received lots of help from professionals. In fact, there is a professional editor credited as well as half a dozen or so assistant editors!
I was really impressed with his music choices, which had some beautiful original pieces by someone called Max Avery Lichtenstein. In fact, I'm listening to some of that now - it's got some really lovely guitar and piano bits in those tracks. Totally gorgeous, makes me want to cry. There's also a bit of Cocteau Twins, Marianne Faithful, Dolly Parton (!) and Glenn Campbell.
I was so inspired watching "Tarnation" - I think I will have to see it again :)
Check out the website http://www.i-saw-tarnation.com/
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