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Tarnation

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Tarnation is one of the most moving pieces of art that I have seen in a very long time. When I viewed it, I think everyone in my immediate vicinity had tears in their eyes, if not all over their faces. While Johnathan Caouette is gay, the movie is about much more than that, in the same way that any straight person's life is about much more than just being straight. It is an intense journey which combines audio and visual stimulation in such a way that makes you realize that it is very real...in that same way that a song from 1995 brings you right back to where you were at that moment. It's like a documentary. Like a journal. It is this realness in the film that makes me realize that the subject is more real than any of us would like to acknowledge. Tarnation claws at a number of topics that everyone faces in their real lives because it is a documentation of a real life. Many people find it cathartic in a very literal sense of the word. It helps relieve anxiety and tension by bringing repressed feelings and fears to consciousness. Watch it and you'll see what I mean. It's well worth it.

"Tarnation" is an unusual sort of documentary. On the face of it, the film tells the story of 31-year-old filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's lifelong relationship with his Texan family, in particular his difficult but loving bond with his mentally ill mother Renée LeBlanc. But, as "Tarnation" unfolds, it seems the film is a painful attempt to pay tribute to Renée, whose mind was destroyed by hundreds of electroshock treatments, without having much of Renée to get ahold of. "Tarnation" tries to paint a loving portrait of a person who must be reconstructed from the remnants of a shattered personality. It's disturbing and powerful. At the same time, "Tarnation" is a self-portrait of Jonathan Caouette that follows his emotionally tumultuous life from his childhood, through his youth, and finally to a more satisfying life in New York City, his character somehow bound with that of his troubled mother all along.

"Tarnation" is unique in its form as well as its content. The film was famously made for only $218 and edited on Jonathan Caouette's iMac. Caouette uses photographs, old home movies, audio recordings, old television and movie clips, and a few staged reenactments to tell his story. Emulating the style of underground film that its creator has loved since his teens, "Tarnation" makes extensive use of distorted film footage and quick cutting. This doesn't make for easy viewing. The film's grating style will unfortunately limit "Tarnation"'s audience. I found the Hi-8 video manipulated to look like old Super-8 particularly unwatchable. But "Tarnation" is a no-holds-barred self-examination and loving tribute to a woman who could have been. It's fascinating and moving, and sometimes its ugliness suits the subject.

The DVD (Wellspring 2005 release): Bonus features include a U.S. theatrical trailer, a French theatrical trailer, additional scenes, a gallery of 15 movie posters, and an audio commentary. "1983/1984 Rushes" are 5 additional or extended scenes. "Unreleased Tracks" (1 minute) are 2 sequences of clips set to music that were not included in the movie. In the audio commentary, filmmaker Jonathan Caouette talks about his decisions in putting the film together, including editing and music choices. He also elaborates on some of the events in the film, providing some more details of his experiences. Subtitles for the film are available in French.

I was looking forward to this movie as so many reviewers raved about it.
At the beginning I thought the execution of the material was original and fresh, but as the movie progressed I started to feel that the focus became lobsided and a bit self centered. Some moments even came across as slightly pretentious. The style also could alienate some viewers. This is not your run-of-the-mill documentary and I would recommend it to people with a vested interested in movies (given the creative way the movie was made), rather than people interested in the subjectmatter.
While I was emotionally involved in a documentary like "My Flesh and Blood", this one left me cold. Rather rent than buy.

Caouette takes an original approach to the autobiographical documentary, mostly eschewing hearsay and dramatic re-enactment for a more avant-garde, rock video aesthetic. Utilizing home video footage, some of which dates back to when the subject was barely walking age, he assembles an extremely haunting and stylized pastiche of childhood traumas and adolescent angst. Caouette took to the camera at a very young age, his nascent obsession with capturing images on film serving as his primary means of dealing with years of institutional abuse. But as we watch him grow up before our very eyes, and experience his trials and tribulations, which include sexual experimentation, frequent rages, time in a mental hospital, and a mind-altering experiment involving marijuana dipped in formaldehyde, it also becomes apparent that Jonathan has the soul of an artist, and no shortage of talent wielding his trusty Super 8.

At various points, "Tarnation" stares down the director/subject's Houston-based family, particularly his grandparents, whose unwavering belief in their normalcy blinds them to how irrevocably screwed-up they actually are. They could be brain-damaged; Caouette himself doesn't seem to know for sure. Meanwhile, these chapters of unflinching realism are offset by dreamlike sister passages, as if the great David Lynch, whose work Caouette clearly was a fan of (Indeed, the funniest montage in the film documents Jonathan's successful high school musical production of the 1986 classic, "Blue Velvet"), actually dropped in to personally direct his late night TV-viewing hours.

During these somnambulant interludes, which feature close-ups of television screen blizzards, ominous droning barely perceptible beneath the soundtrack, and the bright and shiny juxtaposed with murky darkness, the tone vacillates between calming fantasy and tweaker's nightmare. Like any dream, however, the sleeper's subconscious eventually finds its way into the fabric. If "Tarnation" represents a map of the director's subconscious, what preoccupies him most is his mother, Renee. Growing up, he never got to know the "real" her, the Renee LeBlanc before the depression, before the divorce from Jonathan's father, before those aforementioned grandparents, who were about as ignorant as they were morally self-righteous, had shock treatments administered to her, destroying her personality. The lynchpin of the movie is his enduring relationship with her, rife with wonder and frustration, which represents the impossible-to-sever umbilical connection that exists between all mothers and their children.

Renee's dilapidated, mentally gone existence acts as a mirror to Jonathan, reflecting a future he can envision for himself. Turning out the same world-worn way doesn't seem all that far-fetched, considering how their respective pasts are already very similar (physical and emotional abuse, drugs, burgeoning career based on physical appearances). During a "Big Brother," reality TV-style confession that serves as the denouement of the film, Jonathan admits his fears of ending up like Renee. It's just that, when she was his age, she seemed a lot better than she does now. But looking at things rationally, a similar kind of fate seems highly unlikely for Caouette. If his completed autobiography proves anything, it is his willingness to confront the past, to try and sublimate the pain and overcome the trauma. The mere fact that he attempts this, unlike his mother, who avoids talking about the worst times to the very end, confirms how different they really are. Yes, she is his mother; yes, like her, Jonathan Caouette may consider himself tarnished. But in truth, no one shines brighter than he, and this movie is strong evidence of that.

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Thoreau said "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." While this may be true of some, others are not so quiet. Caouette has unleashed a tidal wave of agony and angst, at times a shill scream of adolescent suffering, at other times a low moan of early adult-onset life affliction. Truly, many of us know the feeling of wanting to explode and fill the void with the screech of our own inner turmoils, but lack the voice, the means, the mechanisms. For want of a method we seeth silently, voiceless, castrated, invisible. We want to be known and loved and understood and instead we stammer and stutter and fall silent. We pack in our caring and seal our emotions and vulnerabilities behind high walls of rationality and apathy. Or we scribble in diaries or blogs and our hidden solitary torture goes wholly unnoticed.

Caouette has commendably captured in video and audio snippets, in stills and captions, a glimpse into the troubled past that haunts and harasses him. He has undertake a photo collage of his own life experience, himself as the subject matter and the material. I cannot know how much he left on the cutting room floor, what he felt necessary or desireable to expunge, but he seems to have faced it all with remarkable candor and vulnerability. He survived a rural Southern upbringing, a father-less household, poverty, a love of film, and homosexuality. To that potent melange, he added mental illness, abandonment, foster care, PCP, physical and sexual abuse.

I cannot say that I understand his life even after viewing it or that I can even relate to some of the events that shaped him. But through his art I feel that I can say I know a little of him and I can say that I empathize with his pain. I will never walk a mile in his shoes, but I don't think I have to in order to care about the tribulations and fate of another human being. It is his candor and vulnerability, his willingness to expose the deepest parts of his own psyche and say "Here I am, look at me." that makes me care about him. That gives me a reason to watch and wonder, How did he turn out? Seeing the first half of the project, one would be forgiven for thinking "This will end badly." That one of these stark text captions will announce his successful suicide and provide that closing parenthesis to his life: Jonathan Caouette (1975 - 200x). Ultimately, I think he redeemed himself and perhaps transcended his lot in life.

What I saw as the film continued was a man coming to terms with himself and his past. A man demonstrating that he is capable of finding love and connecting with others. A man who did not harbor resentments for the wrongs done to him and his mother, did not harbor a grudge toward his father or grandparents for abandonment or abuse. Rather, I saw a thoughtful, emotional, caring man, a creative artist, a loving partner and a devoted son. His journey is not yet complete, but as the film concluded, I felt a compassion and a sense of optimism, for not just Jonathan, but for all of us.

Jonathan Caouette has produced a remarkable film that may one day be remembered as a turning point in cinema. Using widely available software, he has produced a compelling documentary about his difficult childhood and his relationship with his mother, Renee, whose mind has been destroyed by shock treatments. He uses the home movies, photographs, and tape recordings with which he has documented his own experiences over the course of his life. Caouette's use of complex montages, color saturation, and many other film techniques is very assured and confident; this film delivers constant visual surprises and effectively communicates the pain and loneliness of the lives it chronicles.

Its only drawback is that Caouette sometimes comes across as self-indulgent and even self-aggrandizing in his victim status. While the majority of the material comes across as brutally honest, the sequences in which an older Jonathan addresses the camera directly were rather jarring and somehow seemed to strike a false note. I don't doubt for a moment any of the emotion he shows in those sequences, but I couldn't help wondering whether it was "heightened" for dramatic purposes. I suppose such questions are bound to arise when one is confronted with such an intense, personal work. At any rate, this is a very worthwhile film./

There is an old saying that a picture paints a thousand words. Well, if that's true then Director Jonathan Caouette has just smashed that into a million pieces and someone needs to invent a better term.

In my book, there are films..and then there are experiences (like 'Baraka' & 'Koyaanisqasti' for example) These films are rare and far-between, and this beautiful film most definately falls firmly into the latter category as Caouette immerses the viewer within his world for around 90 minutes of heartbreaking viewing.

Part Warhol, part Lynch, this film is nothing short of an emotional rollercoaster, never afraid to embrace and savour the real tough stuff as well as the more colourful feelings to be found within the emotional pallette. Intentional or not, Tarnation is about shared experience, whilst at the same time highlighting important mental health disorders and giving them the hard-hitting platform they deserve, and for that Caouette should be commended.

If that wasn't enough, it contains one of the most inpired soundtracks for a film I've ever heard. Tarnation is a unique film unlike any other you will see in your lifetime - a film that conveys the enduring strength of the human spirit, of love, and of hope with such ease that it will slam your life firmly back into perspective. As such, Tarnation will touch you deeply in profoundly surprising ways, and is guaranteed to stay with you for a very, very long time.

I defy you not to be moved.

Key Word review: Faultless.

This harrowing, yet tender ride through Jonathan's (real) life was like a blast of hot/cold air. The music was amazing.. so amazing that i went to "tindrum.com" and downloaded the music. Had to have it so then I went to i-tunes and bought the complete score. Lord, That last song as the credits went up. We just sat there in our living room paralyzed .

Jonathan Caouette's life is one in which the subject's will is truely tested. After being conceived Jonathan's father left with no knowledge of his girlfriend's, Jonathan's mother Renee, pregnancy after pressure from Renee's troubled parents. Renee was a child model and a beautiful young girl until a fall of a roof caused her a minor but serious leg injuries. She was lucky though the pain would subside and injuries would heal, but her parents were convinced Renee obtained mental damage and with doctors approval started shock treatments on young Renee which continued for years. She remained beautiful but began to become mentally damaged.

After giving birth to Jonathan, Renee escaped her parents control and left the state. The story only got worse from there though. Jonathan witnessed his mother being raped and after the authorities intervened Jonathan was put into foster care where he was subject to beatings by numorous foster parents. Soon thereafter Jonathan was given back to his grandparents who became his legal guardians.

Possibly to escape his pain and troubles, Jonathan began video taping himself and family. We see in the film this home footage including a disturbing but important scene where Jonathan dresses up as a woman and acts out as a young woman battling abuse. The scene is both fasinating and breathtaking. He continues piecing his life together with video footage and photos for the next 20 years, which would become this moving picture which brings us up to date with Jonathan and culminated in his first meeting with his father and interviews with his mother, now emotionally scarred and mentally disabled.

This film has moved me in a way that no other film ever has. It was heartbreaking and beatiful. What transcended was Jonathan's love for his mother and courage to survive. Several times I sat in disbelief at the tragedy Jonathan and his mother endured. This film was an out of body experience putting the viewer in another person's skin for an hour and a half. Every minute of the film I felt Jonathan's pain, his love, his overwhelming strenghth and exuberance. After the film I thought about my life and I realized how better I had it then him. But I also had mental problems and family troubles, so he not only touched me but inspired me as well.

Jonathan Caouette's "Tarnation" is a beautiful, mesmerizing, heartbreaking and inspirational film about the power of love and courage of one brave boy.

An extremely painful journey from childhood to adulthood, seen through the eyes of the subject, Jonathan Caouette, who could possibly be the next Stephen Spielberg. His unique mix of images, editing, presentation and style are far more than just colorful. He depicts his own life's extreme hardships without suffocating the viewer, amazing how well he is able to present the story yet keep one anxious to see the next scene and never are you able to imagine what the next scene will be. He is truly a geinus!