Customer Reviews

Otto; Or, Up With Dead People

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I saw that there was a "gay zombie movie" being shown at my local film festival, it sounded hilarious and I knew I wanted to see it. Zombie movies have always scared and intrigued me , and are usually silly and campy to boot. However, this movie delivered much more than mindless thrills and gore. It's hard to go into too much detail about why this movie is so incredible without spoiling the ending, but this movie has heartwrenching commentary on homophobia, mental illness, societal alienation and much more. Many issues are brought to the surface and there will be at least one that will strike a chord with viewers. Not to say this movie didn't have screamingly funny or gory moments - it delivered in that department, too. Something for everyone!

This film is easily my favorite Bruce LaBruce work to date. Everything about it is more than I had expected and left me totally satisfied with my new LaBruce fix. A unique storyline and soundtrack - superb timeless costuming - beautiful locations around the city of Berlin - it all came together for a sometimes humorous and very touching gay Zombie story and their gay Zombie sexcapades. The bonus stuff include the Director's insightful commentary - deleted Zombie sex scenes (equal to those in his feature "Skin Gang") - alternative campaigns and the original theatrical trailer. What more could I want? Bruce has brought together a group of talented Bohemians to create this work of art as only Europeans can provide. Needless to say I love it. Six Gold Stars.

Bruce La Bruce film is a brilliant analysis of contemporary displaced people, individuals who live on the margins of society, groups that struggle to obtain validation of either legal or social nature.

"Otto" is the story of an outcast teenager. Now, there would be nothing original about this except for one detail: In a world in which the living dead are humanity's recurrent plague, Otto is a boy that defines himself as a non flesh-eating zombie with an identity crisis.

From the very beginning, the viewer is aware of a narration inside a narration, in a way that would be comparable to Propst literary models. "Up with Dead People" is the movie that lesbian intellectual Medea is filming, with references to Hélène Cixous views on the essential bisexuality of L'ecriture femenine, as well as Irigaray's Speculum of the Other Woman (the mirroring of the female body surmounts feminist theory in this film as Hella, Medea's girlfriend, can only appear on screen as a black and white image from old reels of 1910-1920 movies, thus enabling a parallel between these two women and even classic and contemporary cinema).

In the first scene Otto rises from the grave, a classic image that has transcended the 7th art and has forever become part of popular culture. Ever since Romero's Night of the Living Dead (30th Anniversary Limited Edition) (1968) filmmakers have toyed with one of humanity's most fierily rooted fears: death or rather the question "what happens after Death?". Romero and others have also explored the living dead as a metaphor of social marginality and the reification of the subaltern thus creating one of the most fascinating sub-genres in film's history.

This film proudly assumes this cultural heritage and builds upon it. As the narrator's voice tell us in the first scenes, these dead people have little or nothing to do with the classic flesh-eating, brain-devouring zombie. Those who are alive judge them as "An echo of their own somnambulistic conformist behavior". Normal society is exposed as a tyrannical Lacanian "Great Other", a Great Other that demands adaptation or extinction. Insofar heterosexual normative is carried out the Great Other is satisfied. The symbolic order, that which constitutes what one would perceive as "reality", can never suppress the "real" (id est, the obstacle of the symbolic order). But the real can only exist after the symbolic order (which relies greatly on language, the widest symbolization process known) has been fully inserted in everyone's mind. Then, it's only logical that zombies are finally able to reclaim language and reasoning. If zombies were the outsiders of past decades, they are now entities that can never fit in and that are constantly aware of their own situation. What can be more destabilizing for the heterosexual normative than homosexuality taken to the extreme?, in this case, a new wave of gay zombies that prey upon male flesh, in a very carnal and literal way.

Otto lives, or unlives, eating animals instead of humans. He runs away from those who would seek to harm him. And he finds a way to define himself thanks to Medea and her movie which is full of theory references. As Medea's brother so aptly confirms, here the subject is "the empty signifier upon which you could project any particular gender".

Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic theory derives from Levi-Strauss structuralism in Structural Anthropology (after Saussure and Jacobson linguistic studies). They would affirm that certain structures have invariably persisted in humanity's development. One of such structures is the dual nature of language. When Saussure defined langue and parole he decided that the entire language was nothing more than a system of signs, signs that had arbitrary value and that would only have meaning in their relation with other signs. If so, the human language can only exist in a dual system of opposition (signifier / signified: signifier as the acoustic image generated by an idea or object and signified as the word in any given language that is utilized to retrieve that acoustic image from our memory). This fundamental duality has its first manifestation in sexual gender (males versus females). And as Lacan explains, the first structure one encounters as one enters into the world is that of sex, one is either a man or a woman, no one can be both or neither. Or at least that's what heterosexual normative would have us believe. There is no place for a third sex and has never been one, hermaphrodites and other variants have been utterly discarded by psychoanalytic theory.

Lacan, nonetheless, accepts in his sexuation graphic that being a woman doesn't necessarily mean to occupy the female position or that being a man doesn't necessarily mean to occupy the male position. He also accepts that the male and female positions have evolved through history and adapted to social requirements, being a man or being a woman, as gender affiliated roles, is a sign of arbitrariness, in the sense that there is nothing human that can be defined as a masculine or feminine behavior. Everything is a social construction. And as such is an empty signifier. Gender roles are different now compared to recent centuries, or even decades, and they keep changing. Nothing is set in stone.

Does "Otto" attempt to disrupt the Lacanian structure? Otto has experienced idealized love (indisputably visible in his flashbacks as a living boy), savage and destructive sex with a costumed gay that thinks Otto is disguised as a zombie, and the possibility of a more complete relationship with Fritz, the movie star. He deals with the masculine position in his first love, he assumes sex as the ultimate manifestation of a consumer-based capitalist world (to consume and cannibalize are here synonyms), and finally accepts the failure to insert himself into society (after his brief relationship with Fritz) and wanders towards the north, hoping to find people like him, hoping to find, perhaps, a Utopian gay civilization in which the living and non-living can finally divert their basic and seemingly irreconcilable natures.

Not for everyone; part agitprop,part gay porn,part coming of age, "Otto,Or Up With Dead People" is for those of us who love scratchy,confusing,and haunting cleverness. The plight of poor sweet Otto,erstwhile vegetarian,now hungry for flesh: erstwhile lonely teenager,now searching for love and acceptance after death,is surprisingly touching. The sub-plot of a propoganda film starring zombie Otto is ultimately the richest part of the plot,i.e. what you'll ponder later; but strange lovely Otto should touch anyone who has been confused and lonely. A special mention for the music soundtrack...(I love COCO ROSIE). If this is your cup of tea check out filmmaker Bruce LeBruce's other films. He's wildly unconventional.

Ok, this was for sure a difficult movie, and I thought a lot if posting about it. For once the no under 18 rating is right, there are some scene that are really hard to digest, a mix of porn, blood and splatter. So be warned.

Are you ready to go over that? If so, the movie is more realistic than expected. Otto is a young boy searching for his path in life, and so, in the end, this is a coming of age movie. He is remembering his young love for Rudolf, and he is experimenting "adult" relationship with Fritz: what is better? what can quill Otto's thirst for love and stability?

I don't know if recommending this movie, I really had to cover my eyes during some scenes, but I was also enthralled by Otto and his search. I have to let you decide, don't hate me if you try it and it's too much.

If you know nothing about Bruce LaBruce's style of film-making, you should know this. Generally speaking, they all have their distinct charm but often are overly homoerotic & usually intend to shock even their potential audiences. LaBruce is well-known amongst underground circles for creating satirical independent, low-budget features which are held together by "meat 'n potatoes". When I say "meat 'n potatoes", his films often feature hardcore gay sex which may provoke or shock the uninitiated. Although Otto is not nearly as explicit or graphic as some of LaBruce's previous endeavors, I daresay it may very well be his quintessential masterpiece & perhaps his biggest step in the direction of crossover indie cinema as the film should appeal to a broader audience.

LaBruce claims that his inspiration for the movie came from a former boyfriend, a Shia Muslim. It seems that Shias are obsessed with death and they mourn the dead for the first six weeks of each new year and Labruce's boyfriend remarked that he felt that he was already dead. Naturally, Labruce wanted his zombie to be sympathetic and so he created Otto as a rebel and outsider who has legitimacy amongst an uncaring, often frosty society which shows little respect for the dead nor the homosexual community.

At times, Otto could be construed as a very silly zombie flick with minimal gore to satisfy fans of the zombie genre but somehow surpasses our expectations by lending a great deal of heart to what could possibly be labeled as a gimmick-y concept. LaBruce makes it clear from the very beginning that he isn't interested at all in being compared to any director (living or dead) but rather is dedicated to his craft.

In my honest opinion, this may very well be the best film I've purchased on DVD in 2009 & I consider this to be LaBruce's triumph. I must have stumbled across this gem of a film by accident but am I ever glad I did. I can only hope that indiscriminate zombie enthusiasts everywhere with open-minds will give this film a try as I was thoroughly impressed.

Through this film-within-a-film, LaBruce combines different kinds of media & genre bending concepts that I daresay have not been employed in any artsy or horror film before to the best of my knowledge but somehow it all works extremely well given the director's careful yet sensitive touch. LaBruce employs use of animation, soft core erotica, & some scratchy black 'n' white photography. Indeed, LaBruce is quite talented as well when it comes to genre bending & doesn't mind taking the experimental approach here.

In the near future, it's not uncommon nor unheard of for the recently deceased to rise from the earthly graves & wander the streets aimlessly. (Well, at least not for the homosexual ones.) As the film opens, Otto is rising from his grave. Unfortunately, Otto doesn't remember anything about his past with the exception of vague flashbacks filled with much static & has to rely on basic roadkill to satisfy his hunger as he cannot bring himself to devour human flesh. Through the flashbacks, we gather some clues which seem to reveal what Otto's life may have been like prior to his passing.

Most us at some point in our lives have suffered from an identity crisis although Otto seems to
have a very special case indeed. He cannot hold down a stable nor is he guaranteed a meal on the dinner table each day as his diet consists of only animals at this point. As fate would have it, Otto meets Medea Yarn who just may be the key to his survival by either casting him in her political-porno-zombie flick or creating a docu-drama starring Otto. It would seem that fate has smiled on this dead darling as he now has a job & Medea can also offer him a place to stay with Fritz, who plays the lead zombie in her feature film.

The elements of satire are pretty self-evident when it comes to Medea, the hyper-political yet rather pretentious film-maker with her indulgent diatribes against our capitalist, consumer-driven society. Much of the dialog in the film is presented as voice-over narration either by Otto or Medea, who address us via interview-type footage. We are also introduced to zombie-gay bashing later on at the end of the film & the sense of disdain that the general public regard Otto with.

Otto finally finds his wallet toward the end of the film which contains some information about his past including an ex-boyfriend's telephone number. He arranges to meet the ex where they'd initially met only to discover some unpleasant facts about what could have lead to Otto's demise. Is Otto in fact a zombie? If not, will Rudolph be able to answer all of our questions regarding the mysterious Otto?

Otto has not only secured a place in my heart but has also become a welcomed addition to my eclectic, yet ever-growing DVD collection. It's been a long time since one film managed to work so many of my emotions on different levels & leave me totally satisfied completely before the credits rolled. I laughed, I cried, & even found myself shaking my head in utter disbelief more often than not. If you haven't had the distinct pleasure of seeing this marvelous film, you must experience it for yourself & I highly encourage you to seek it out by any means possible.

I'm going to start off by saying that a gay zombie movie sounds amazing. But this is not really a gay zombie movie. Otto is a guy who thinks that he is a zombie in a world that hates zombies to the point of killing them in broad daylight. He has no memory of what happened before he bacame a "zombie" and auditions for a zombie film. While shooting the movie he has some sexual encounters with people but in his head he eats them. There's plenty of weird zombie sex going on and a story behind Otto.

*spoiler*
Otto got dumped by his boyfriend when he was sent to the psych ward for some psychological diseases. There's a list of them. Basically, Otto's crazy because his boyfriend left him after he was diagnosed.
*end of spoiling*

Otto is a story about finding love in a world of hate and discrimination. There is no hordes of undead trying to kill people, they just want sex.

disappointing, to much junk and not enough flesh. this is not a good follow-up to his last film, Raspberry Reich. worth a 3 for all the hard work his actors did.

This movie is brilliant! It crosses boundaries of Horror and Gay movies. It is extremely political and also fascinating. Mr. LaBruce has already proven himself to be an artist - this adds the explanation point. I was expecting...well, i am not sure what, but ended up being so involved, the time flew. I am watching it a second time now to pick up on all the subtle things I may have missed the first time.

It would have been great, except I paid 18 dollars for two-day shipping and the movie didn't arrive for a week. Halloween movie party didn't happen. Anyway, I enjoyed Otto. It is much slower paced and emotional than anticipated. It made me a little sad, but hopeful. It was funny and had some really great imagery. But, it was a little slow. Film- 3 and one half stars Two-day shipping- no stars