12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Rare Cult Classic, February 2, 2001
This review is from: Mondo New York [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This video is hard to find! If you can get your hands on a copy, get it! It is based on the underground world of New York City's experimental artists. Some scenes are shocking and may be too disturbing for those faint of heart. The opening number performed by the phenomenal Phoebe Legere is worth the cost of the entire video alone. Legere is said to have over four octaves and is able to play seven instruments. She has the body of a Playboy centerfold and has a brain too. She is a graduate of Vassar University in music composition. In this video she does a very provocative homage to Marilyn Monroe. The video also includes a lot of controversial acts including a man who bites off the heads of rats, cockfights, an authentic voodoo ritual with an animal sacrifice, and an assortment of other freakish performers including Lydia Lunch, Annie Sprinkle, and Joey Aria (all legends in the underground entertainment world). It runs about 83 minutes but feels like it is less than an hour.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
80's East Village NY Art Scene Documentary - Shocking Video, May 12, 2008
A shocking documentary with rare footage. Features Real artists in their enivornments during the late 80's New York / Lower East Side Art Scene.
The main premise of a young naive girl walking the city and stumbling upon various NYC underground art theaters and hang outs is a bit silly. The film-making isn't brilliant to say the least. However, the rare footage is amazing. Features real artists like Joe Coleman and other painters, performers, and shocking theater.
Lower East Side East Village and Alphabet City Performances, Artists, Poets, Performers Stand-Up Comics, Musicians, and much more wild weird and bizarre entertainers! - The bittersweet core of the Big Apple... The New York that pulsates at night. - Mondo NY is a perversely compelling tribute to the unsung antistars of the city... a circa 80's berlin cabaret. More than an eye-opening celebration of what makes the Naked City a one-of-a-kind metropolis. Many performers including: Karen Finely, Dean Johnson and Ann Magnuson lament the endangered status of their creative bastiona. - - It doesn't get much more subversive, outlandish and, sometimes, disgusting than the live acts displayed in this wacked-out New York City documentary from filmmaker Harvey Keith. Keith travels New York chronicling some of the cities more depraved souls, as well as an outrageous collection of performance artists, ranging from poetry readers to punk rockers to some acts that defy definition. Mondo New York is a raw, sexually and verbally shocking film that shows some of the Big Apple's greater--and, at times, more artistic--oddities.
This video is not available on DVD yet. There were two versions released. The one pictured here is an MPI home video release. There was a another release in the late 90's by POLYGRAM home video. Since Polygram video is no longer in business. This video is no longer available as well. It is well worth watching even if its a bit harder to find.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
East Village in the 80's, September 30, 2007
Mondo New York is a rare documentation of New York's East Village performance art scene when it was just about to boil over into the mainstream. Many of the performers went on to become stars while others unfortunately died way too young (Charlie Barnett, John Sex), shortly after the movie was produced. This film is a must-see for anyone who is interested in the New York underground art scene. It may be the only chance for one to witness the energy of a lost decade. The vitality of the performers is palpable. I highly recommend this film to anyone interest in either performance art or New York subcultures. Definitely a great snap shot of The City as it was in the 1980's.
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