he hates 3 Bewildered People i think, has suppressed it.
― Your Favorite Saturday Night Thing (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 17:35 (fourteen years ago) link
Great music critic, not as great filmmaker -- I appreciate the partial sense of 'John Waters for LA' yet not enough to get more involved than that.
And like Waters, he's a much better writer than director. But I didn't know he wrote about music. Where?
― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 27 October 2009 17:41 (fourteen years ago) link
I don't know about writer >>> director. The attempt at bitchy fag dialogue in the early movies is painful.
― lihaperäpukamat (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 27 October 2009 17:48 (fourteen years ago) link
But I didn't know he wrote about music. Where?
Regularly reviewed music for the LA Weekly in the late eighties, first noticed him when I went to school at UCLA in 1988. Combative, memorable, stood out, introduced to me to a lot of stuff in the months before I started working at the radio station there.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 27 October 2009 17:50 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Saturday, 31 October 2009 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
voted nowhere. love him. wish there were more like him. always thought if gus van sant and todd haynes and dennis cooper had a baby... (hey more music writers)
anyway i'll take all the flaws for the kicks and liveliness and general good clean fun.
― scott seward, Saturday, 31 October 2009 00:29 (fourteen years ago) link
I saw the first half of Smiley Face last week and it was odd. Not really funny but kind of sunny and pleasant enough to make me keep watching. I wasn't stoned tho, so maybe I was missing the point.
― Geir Hypothesis (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 31 October 2009 01:06 (fourteen years ago) link
nah its not really any better when hi
― johnny crunch, Saturday, 31 October 2009 01:12 (fourteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Sunday, 1 November 2009 00:01 (fourteen years ago) link
I voted nowhere, but haven't seen mysterious skin
My roommate in college played the skinhead ('hey you know what AIDS stands for?') in the living end. Gregg was a cool guy the two times I met him through my roommate, second time he vaguely offered me a part and I made fun of him being an indie filmmaker and he shot back 'Indie? I'm an internationally recognized cinematic voice!!' in a completely offended tone and I looked at him worried for a second and then he just smiled at me and said 'gotcha'
― Milton Parker, Sunday, 1 November 2009 00:36 (fourteen years ago) link
Roger Ebert gave The Doom Generation zero stars. Ha!
― Mr. Snrub, Sunday, 1 November 2009 01:58 (fourteen years ago) link
Mysterious Skin is not better than Nowhere.
― billstevejim, Monday, 2 November 2009 05:55 (fourteen years ago) link
who are the assclowns who voted for doom generation?
― crack?!? wow, maybe they can have china white later! (Eisbaer), Monday, 2 November 2009 07:40 (fourteen years ago) link
Roger Ebert gave The Doom Generation zero stars.
Yeah, he usta get em right now and then
― Your Favorite Saturday Night Thing (Dr Morbius), Monday, 2 November 2009 12:44 (fourteen years ago) link
Seriously. What a horrifying thing that movie is. That's like defending "Gummo".
― tie me up, dress in drag, and read to me from the bible (kenan), Monday, 2 November 2009 16:52 (fourteen years ago) link
</ intentionally provocative post >
― tie me up, dress in drag, and read to me from the bible (kenan), Monday, 2 November 2009 16:53 (fourteen years ago) link
weird how i was just thinking about how i have never seen gummo despite loving harkor as i clicked on this thread
― plaks (I know, right?), Monday, 2 November 2009 18:18 (fourteen years ago) link
Kaboom is uh, OK. I kind of agree with the critic (NYT?) who wrote he should be doing something else at his age.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 30 January 2011 16:19 (thirteen years ago) link
"It's a vagina, not a plate of spaghetti" is a good line tho.
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 31 January 2011 15:39 (thirteen years ago) link
I dug Kaboom.
― billstevejim, Monday, 31 January 2011 22:54 (thirteen years ago) link
mysterious skin is p awful
― plax (ico), Monday, 31 January 2011 23:50 (thirteen years ago) link
seems kindof mawkish and amateur, feels like a community arts collab. w/ high production standards. all the actors are unattractive in an irritatingly tv. clean way
― plax (ico), Monday, 31 January 2011 23:51 (thirteen years ago) link
i like the living end tho
the criminal queer is hot enough for me to buy it
― plax (ico), Monday, 31 January 2011 23:52 (thirteen years ago) link
The Living End was the first "gay" movie I ever rented. I had to make sure my parents didn't see it. I drew a breath at the scene in which the two guys are kissing and fucking on the bed.
― Rich Lolwry (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 31 January 2011 23:56 (thirteen years ago) link
Smiley Face was the only film of his I've made it through and it made me angry
― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Monday, 31 January 2011 23:57 (thirteen years ago) link
I kind of love Doom Generation. I just watched Mysterious Skin for the first time today, and I fully love that movie: the amateurishness and mawkishness are obv what makes it work.
This thread makes me want to check out Nowhere next.
― lacanthrope (Drugs A. Money), Sunday, 7 August 2011 02:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Kaboom, barring the presence of phones, could have dropped out of some tear in the fabric of spacetime caused in 1997. It's not good, but it's not good in some interesting ways - not enjoyable but interesting nonetheless.
Like the way computers get highlighted as all purpose can-do-anything plot points, ala most movies before 1990.
― An Andy Kaufman for the Four Loko generation (R Baez), Wednesday, 22 August 2012 00:56 (twelve years ago) link
So... White Bird In A Blizzard seems to have come out this year. Looking forward to it whatever it is.
Araki was one of the first directors that I sought out everything by. Really loved Doom Generation and Mysterious Skin. I feel like Slowdive in the credits of the former film was one of the most important moments in my life. Even though the characters were kind of obnoxious a lot of the time and often were miserable, the whole image of it really fascinated me, I don't know why it seemed so alien and exotic to me.
I saw an interview with him on The Guardian a few years ago and found it quite disheartening that in the comments section not a single person had a nice thing to say about him. Somebody saying Sofia Coppola is better (because of the similar soundtrack choices) and I find that sad because I think what he does is so much more special (don't really have anything against her though).
My ranking from best to least...
Doom GenerationMysterious SkinNowhereKaboomSmiley Face Totally Fucked UpLiving EndSplendor
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 9 May 2014 02:25 (ten years ago) link
White Bird In A Blizzard. Disappointing but okay.
I don't care that it doesn't convincingly show the time period but the whole thing looks a tad too artificial (Kaboom had this look too but not to the same extent). Some of the voiceover dialogue was pretty weak. I love all the music but the choices are just too predictable and its getting harder to believe that these kids are really into this stuff. Overall just not very compelling.
Eva Green is quite funny in places, Araki delivers on his usual showcase of great looking people with good sounds but I can't say much more for it than that. I get the feeling that the star is really famous but she's new to me.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 23 March 2015 18:23 (nine years ago) link
so, he did an episode of Riverdale
https://www.artforum.com/film/charlie-fox-on-an-episode-of-riverdale-74191
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 28 February 2018 19:55 (six years ago) link
Oh weird. But that makes sense. The episodes of 13 Reasons Why he did really felt like him but fit with the vibe.
― Yerac, Wednesday, 28 February 2018 20:06 (six years ago) link
is Now Apocalypse being discussed anywhere?
― Hakim Bae's TMZ (s.clover), Tuesday, 26 March 2019 16:56 (five years ago) link
― nathom, Tuesday, 26 March 2019 21:08 (five years ago) link
― nathom, Tuesday, 26 March 2019 21:10 (five years ago) link
guess not, its good tho
― Hakim Bae's TMZ (s.clover), Monday, 22 April 2019 18:40 (five years ago) link
Mysterious Skin is the only time he's ever made anything resembling a good film – and it's almost great.― lihaperäpukamat (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, October 27, 2009
This seems harsh... j0rdan and I saw Totally F***ed Up at MoMA last night (16mm, big theater, crowd of dozens). Araki's good in this one at delivering a vibe; that's his strength in the better early films. There was a young guy basically wearing James Duval's look (artpunk queer in a leather jacket) in the MoMA audience, along with people my age reliving the New Queer Cinema epoch.
One of the kids, Roko Belic ("I hate fucking Bette Midler"), went on to direct the wonderful music documentary Genghis Blues.
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 19 January 2020 16:21 (four years ago) link
I like most of his films. I doubt I'll be able to find Now Apocalypse any time soon but I'm glad he's still able to direct his own stuff.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 19 January 2020 17:09 (four years ago) link
It's been cancelled.
I guess I have to subscribe to a Starz streaming service to see this? Available in UK?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 19 January 2020 17:21 (four years ago) link
i saw nowhere when it came out and know that i LOVED it but don't now -- two decades later -- remember anything much abt it or what i liked abt it :(
― mark s, Sunday, 19 January 2020 17:26 (four years ago) link
I'll revise my decade-ago judgment.
― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 19 January 2020 17:34 (four years ago) link
lol i just watched 3 mins of nowhere on youtube to remind myself and it very much occurs to me that me loving it in 1997-98 was not unrelated to me in 1997-98 being deeply confused and miserable and nihilistic
i am still on the whole pro murderous dinosaurs with rayguns and wd probably enjoy it all over again, but in a much less intense FUCK EVERYTHING kind of a way
― mark s, Sunday, 19 January 2020 17:59 (four years ago) link
Now Apocalypse is on amazon prime in the uk.
― Good taste, bit Victorian but who isn't? (jed_), Sunday, 19 January 2020 19:29 (four years ago) link
Thanks. Somehow it didn't turn up in a general film&tv search (prime videos usually do)
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 19 January 2020 20:40 (four years ago) link
Yes it’s weirdly random the way things turn up or don’t. Did you get it? I can’t believe the degree to which streaming services are so ubiquitous but it’s so amazingly difficult to actually find out what’s on them.
― Good taste, bit Victorian but who isn't? (jed_), Monday, 20 January 2020 00:52 (four years ago) link
― Good taste, bit Victorian but who isn't? (jed_), Monday, 20 January 2020 00:57 (four years ago) link
No idea why that posted twice.
My preferred tv viewing is to turn on the tv and see what’s on. I hate the streaming tv model.
― Good taste, bit Victorian but who isn't? (jed_), Monday, 20 January 2020 01:17 (four years ago) link
My preferred tv viewing is to turn on the tv and see what’s on.― Good taste, bit Victorian but who isn't? (jed_), Monday, January 20, 2020 1:17 AM
I'll happily never do this again and wish I hadn't in the last 20 years. Successes were so few and far between. I hate regular tv so much.
I'll need to schedule this series, maybe in a few months. Looking forward to it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 24 January 2020 22:18 (four years ago) link
Now Apocalypse - I wasn't expecting much, quite a lot of people were complaining that Araki is just repeating himself, the soundtrack doesn't have many surprises, it is a lot like Nowhere and Kaboom, I almost felt like I was watching a remake at times (perhaps there was some things intended for his 90s tv series that never taken off) but even then just being firmly in Araki-land is a welcome breath of fresh air to me. It was lovely being in this space again for 5 hours and I'm really sad it was cancelled because I'd love to stay there for longer and there's a greater emotional connection because of the length and character development. I'm not optimistic for there being more Araki films any time soon.
There's more sex than ever (maybe a third of it being gay?), I wonder if he's always wanted to do this but only been able to now (on television that's nothing like the television he worked on in the 90s) or if it's just the nature of this story. No genitals except for the alien reptile but we do get one of the main characters ejaculating all over his own chest.
I liked the book titles "Bernie Bites: A Bernie Sanders Cook Book" and "A Big Green Alien Ass Raped Me"; the wall poster that says "Circle Jerk: A Support Group For Men".There's a lot of digs at woke-isms that might have been grating if it were in a different context, but probably would have been controversial if a big enough audience was watching it.
Kelli Berglund was particularly good. Other favorites were Avan Jogia (adorable smile too) and Desmond Chiam as Jethro (a classic Araki himbo). It's a really short appearance but Monica Cho as Worm's Assistant was really fun.Surprised to see RJ Mitte (Walter Jr from Breaking Bad) and Henry Rollins as the Alex Jones/David Icke guy.
Please watch it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 19 April 2020 21:38 (four years ago) link
Thought I had mentioned some of his controversial opinions. I think he really disliked some of the indie directors of 00s and Scorsese. Said he would never do a gangster film because it's just "a bunch of fat guys saying motherfucker".
This is a fashion advert from 2015https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cLW5aMd3nQ
Shopping trip from 2009https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS4LNAhBxd0
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 19 April 2020 22:40 (four years ago) link
This Is How The World Ends - Never aired mtv pilot episode, a lot of the story was later recycled into Kaboom. Michael J Anderson appears as a robber, Chemical Brothers and of course James Duval. I doubt Araki had a lot of choice in which bands he got (though The Creatures are there) because it has some of the biggest tunes of the era. This might be the most 90s thing that ever happened.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTvVcXFjlogMicronauts music videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XH4Nr6mcNIU
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 7 August 2020 19:12 (four years ago) link
watched The Living End again after many years. From the opening scenes I thought I remembered that it was going to be really nihilistic, but it ended up being a love story
― Dan S, Tuesday, 21 February 2023 01:35 (one year ago) link
My students loved Totally F**** Up!
― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 12 July 2023 14:09 (one year ago) link
I remember it looking conspicuously less polished than the others (even The Living End which preceded it) and I'm guessing that was a choice?
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 12 July 2023 18:14 (one year ago) link