Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truth Rocks, July 24, 2000
Independent filmmaker Gregg Araki takes an everday look at several gay and lesbian teenagers (4 gay boys and a very cute baby dyke couple ) whose friendship provide a '90s-style family unit. This flick mixes together a head spinning/heart wrenching combination of queer teen angst, homophobia, AIDS, suicide, love and hope.. I really liked the parts where the the kids were just "talking" to the camera about issues and their feelings. It was so bitterly honest I just couldnt believe it. Very unusual, and touchingly rad. BRAVO! As you may remember, everday life for any teenager means crisis, loneliness, rebellion, and the search for love. Growing up gay adds another dimension to the angst and turmoil of teen life. This flick shares a rare, honest look at teenagers. They arent made out to be Clueless or given a Hollywood "treatment" to make them more glittery and sellable. This film will shock you, make you laugh and most likely make you remember the pain and desperation of being that 'alien' boy or girl who just didnt seem to fit in with barbie and ken..
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Araki is the God of Alternative Gay Teen Cinema, June 17, 1999
By A Customer
While his first feature "The Living End" (..which was actually made after this film,) may have more of a pasionate storyline and sexual brutality, "Totally F***ed Up!" is a worthy and important film in the Greg Araki opus. Sexually gritty, visuallly raw and stylistically juvenile, Araki is the Derek Jarman of the "alternative gay teen" set. Telling the tragic and self-important story of a group of troubled (yet, oh so normal) gay and lesbian teenagers, Araki has created a document for the hndreds of thousands of homosexual teens in the world that are not the stereotypes we normally think of. These are cool, tough, confident and fragile characters who echo the swarms of gay kids across America that listen industrial and hardcore music, skateboard, have sex and are just and likely to have a broken heart as the head cheerleader in school. More importantly, this film (like those of Jarman) provide the gay cinematic movement with grit and anger and joy and hate. It is a rich work of trash cinema that speaks volumes (in teen speak, dude) about a subculture that is far more like mainstream heterosexual society than we would think. In Araki's world, a broken heart is a broken heart, no matter who's it is! A real Gem!
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24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Disturbing and graceful.., February 23, 2001
I watched this movie not knowing exactly what to expect.. I had seen all of Gregg Araki's other films, and I am one of his biggest fans.. The movie is kind of slow moving at times, and it fumbles for words a lot, but at the same time, it shows a generation in turmoil.. the characters in this movie represent the teenagers of the current generation.. this movie tells the story of a group of gay friends who deal with the worst s**t a teenager has to go through.. it covers, aids, sex, homosexuality, love, drugs, and suicide.. During a time when these kids are just learning what each of these things are, they have something new shoved in their faces.. none of them really know what life is, or what is to come, but they all fell that they have nothing to do wirth it or no part of it.. Most of the people i knew when i was that age went through at least some of those same feelings.. the overall feeling i had in the movie was disturbed.. i wasnt sure how else i felt until i watched the last credit and i felt upheld and relieved.. i saw how bad my life could have been and what i could have had to go through.. this movie is one i think all indie film fans should see if not own.. watch it and love it for yourself..
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