Customer Reviews

It Came From Kuchar

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about seeing this documentary. Even though I had seen only snippets of Kuchar films throughout the years, I just didn't feel that their artistic oeuvre was consistent with my own.

Fast forward a few months. A friend who took class with George Kuchar at the San Francisco Art Institute invited me to a screening of this film where George and Mike would be appearing afterwards. As I hadn't seen this friend in a while and wanted to spend time with him, I reluctantly accepted his invitation.

From the opening credits, which were amazing, I was hooked. Jennifer Kroot has done a skillful job of juxtaposing the canon of Kuchar films with a more personal and intimate look at the brothers' lives.

It's not easy to blend pathos with humor, especially in a documentary, without it being maudlin or camp, and I was pleasantly surprised at how seamlessly this conbination was achieved in this film.

I was also suprised at how many directors I have admired over the years were influenced by the Kuchar films. Wayne Wang, Atom Egoyan, John Waters, just to list a few.

Although the Kuchar films may not be everyone's taste, "It Came From Kuchar" certainly has something for everyone. I have now seen this film three times, and I learn something new each time. I give it my strongest recommendation.

Well. I see by reading some of the other reviews that some people just don't get it. If you like blockbuster movies, or all the commercial stuff made for the masses to make as much money as possible, then you cannot appreciate the no boundaries creativity of these two brothers. They both (and I like Mike as much as George) have come up with the most creative, outrageous, out of the box ideas that have inspired film makers such as John Waters and many others.
The documentary is beautifully done. I laughed out loud with many of their comments. They have a child like quality.
It's refreshing to know that there are human beings out there who still create without a materialistic agenda.

How come I'd never heard of the Kuchar brothers? They have had an incredible influence, and were part of the film underground in its heyday, celebrated by the likes of Jonas Mekas and screening alongside the likes of Stan Brakhage and Andy Warhol. Their films, for all their low-budget schlock-style filmmaking feel, nevertheless show a keen sensitivity to the ways that images work, and how they can be cut together and juxtaposed with music and sound to create feeling and impact. Yet they always continued, quite deliberately, to work with an ultra-low-cost vibe in ways that intensified feeling, and maximized the unusual, combining comic effect and naked self-revelation. It's strange stuff, but not hard to see why filmmakers like Wayne Wang, John Waters, Atom Egoyan, and Guy Maddin love their work and were inspired by it, even while they all moved closer to the mainstream. While Mike Kuchar's films seem to be a bit more artistic and serious explorations of erotic themes, George Kuchar's films are over the top cult classic style movies. He seems to combine something of the prolific inventiveness of a Lloyd Kaufmann with the gross-out sensibilities of early John Waters and a strong hint of guilt acquired from a Catholic upbringing. Still, it's intriguing stuff.

Apart from a few flourishes, such as the delightful 3-d cutout opening title sequence, the documentary itself is pretty conventional, combining talking heads with archival footage, as well as a depiction of the George Kuchar on the set with a class he teaches in San Francisco, creating his latest low budget wild affair, about a female Frankenstein-type character. Still, the subject matter is fascinating, and the brothers are both seriously out there and genuinely sincere and talented, and each has a unique auteur-vision that is clearly on display. Definitely worth catching for lovers of independent and inventive cinema, and for stories about unique American lives.

1 Disc Widescreen, released June 29, 2010

"It Came From Kuchar" is a documentary film by Jennifer M. Kroot about filmmaking twins George and Mike Kuchar. The brothers are famous for creating crazy, no-budget underground movies from cheap video cameras and making stars out of their friends and family in the 1950s, 1960s, and beyond with their B-movies.

They still make films today in their old style working on diaries, personal films, and films for class. Not only do they create, but they teach. As a professor, George Kuchar still inspires new film students today with this inventiveness and speedy cranking out of films. The Kuchars were the so-called "Mozarts of 8mm cinema" in their day and created such gems as "I Was a Teenage Rumpot", "Sins of the Fleshapoids", and "Hold Me When I"m Naked."

The twins were identical even though they do not look alike as much as they used to. When the camera cuts back and forth from them quickly while they are telling stories, they sound exactly the same and have distinctive matching Bronx accents.

This film really covers their history of how they got into filmwork, what specifically inspired their stories and techniques, and how their popularity grew. They started out making films together but eventually split apart and began new types of projects on their own, not because they were fighting, but because they had so many films in their heads to make and different lines along which they wanted to create them. Each had a unique style with recurring themes.

Not only were the brothers prevalent in sci-fi horror genre, but several of their films dealt with exploring sexuality, even if that means with a gorilla. Much of the acting can range from realism to more often being melodramatic and overly strange with the added on eyebrows, makeup, masks, and silly costumes. They paved the way for generations to come by putting no restrictions on their creativity and their ingenious tactics for working without a budget.

This is an interesting documentary for future filmmakers and people who just love seeing this type of far out imaginative material.

Bonus Features:

There is audio commentary with the Kuchar brothers and director Jennifer M. Kroot where you can enjoy more ramblings from their Bronx accents as they talk about where ideas came from and why they did certain specific things in the film clips being shown while they watch.

There is also 48 minutes of 28 deleted/extended scenes to get even more background on the wealth of film created by George and Mike Kuchar and would be fantastic for study for amateur film students who are inspired by and want to piggyback off these types of B sci-fi/horror movies. More of their films are brought up like "Portrait of Ramona" and "Prescription in Blue" among others.

Two months before the premiere of "It Came From Kuchar", an underground film contest "It Came From You!" was held for the chance to be featured at the screening and on this DVD, so the winning film "Egg Replacer" by Chrisjof Whiteman is an extra. It's...weird.

Bad movie about bad movies, made by bad people from an unfortunate time in underground film. Enough with the glorification of the losers around Warhol's 'Factory'. An inch deep by a mile wide unfunny misogyny. Knowing you're unfunny doesn't make it alright.