Little Joe No2 Launch at LLGFF

Frank Ripploh's TAXI ZUM KLO (1980)

QUEER FILM: LLGFF, FRINGE! and LITTLE JOE
The annual London Lebian and Gay Film Festival is in full swing. We reveiew the first night and celebrate the second issue of the wonderful queer film magazine LITTLE JOE...

 

Out There Associate Editor Alex Hopkins reviews Kaboom, Greg Araki the opening feature  of the LLGFF.

Cut was the word on everyone’s lips at the opening of this year’s London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. And we are not talking film terminology here, but the sad reality of arts cuts. The lack of significant funding has meant that this year’s program is half the length of previous extravaganzas. It’s certainly not the way that anyone wanted to celebrate the extravaganza’s 25^th anniversary.

Yet as the invited audience filed into NFT1 the aura of excitement was still palpable. And rightly so. Undaunted by the austere economic climate, programmers had chosen legendary queer cinema icon Greg Araki’s new film Kaboom to open the proceedings.

Araki is probably best known for directing 2004’s Mysterious Skin, an unsparing account of paedophilia. Yet aficionados of queer cinema will also be familiar with his mid-90s Teen Apocalypse Trilogy of Totally F***ed Up, Doom Generation and Nowhere. He has a formidable reputation and even counts movie icon John Waters as a fan.

Indeed it was Waters who prompted Araki to make his latest feature. At a film festival a few years ago, the Hairspray Director asked him when he was going to make “old style Greg Araki movie” again. A flattered Araki went away and gave it some thought and came up with Kaboom, which touches upon his earlier work, but with a greater maturity.  The same themes are there - teen torment, unbridled sexuality and an unrepentant madness. It’s a nostalgic take on the fragility and  uncertainty of youth and, like his earlier films, it is fraught with confusion and insecurity.

The main protagonist is Smith, a college freshman who after tripping on some hallucinogenic cookies at a party becomes convinced that he has witnessed a brutal murder. The realisation sends him on voyage of self-discovery. Aided by his arty Lesbian friend Stella he embarks on a rollercoaster ride in which he learns secrets about his past that threaten the destiny of the entire world.

Along the way he lusts after his impossibly gorgeous roommate Thor, meets a mysterious red-haired girl and hooks up with an insatiable British nymphet called London. If the actors seem to be chosen more for their aesthetic qualities than their acting ability, they nevertheless do a credible job in enveloping us into Araki’s crazy world. As their stories and psyches unravel dramatically before our eyes it is impossible to turn away. 

Araki was heavily influenced by David Lynch’s infamous Twin Peaks and one can certainly see the references to it in this vibrantly chaotic film. Emotions are larger than life as the story unfolds in a series of improbable events which are by turns hysterical, yet also profoundly disturbing.

There is a sinister under-current to the narrative which juxtaposes gruesomely unsettling scenes with angst fuelled eroticism. Araki is a Filmmaker who clearly delights in playing with and confounding his audience’s expectations. He has an unwavering eye for the ludicrosity of every day events which effortlessly lurch from reality to the supernatural in the blink of an eye. The net result is enigmatic and thrilling.

 

LITTLE JOE No2 launch

We are thrilled to announce that our friends over at queer film magazine LITTLE JOE are launching their greatly anticipated second issue at two screening events this week. The first is at the BFI as part of the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (LLGFF) and the second at FRINGE! an alt queer spin off that follows on it. Below are the details for both events. 

LITTLE JOE – No. 2 LAUNCH AT BFI LLGFF
Tuesday 5 April, screening at 6.20pm, party from 8.00pm
BFI Southbank, Belvedere Road, South Bank, London
LITTLE JOE, a magazine about queers and cinema, mostly, is proud to unveil their second issue and invite you to its launch as part of the 25th BFI London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Join LITTLE JOE for a screening of THE FORGOTTEN FILMS OF CHARLES LUDLAM on 5 April 2011, 6.20pm at BFI Southbank followed by drinks in the atrium from 8.00pm, where copies of the magazine will be on sale.

SCREENING INFO: Charles Ludlam, legendary leader of the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, brought hysterical high camp, satire and melodramatic parody to the New York stage. His two films, left unfinished at the time of his death in 1987, are affectionate gender-bending homages to the golden age of silent cinema. In 'The Sorrows of Dolores', Ludlam's lover Everett Quinton plays a hapless creature who, having witnessed the abduction of the Gorilla Girl from a carnival freak show, is hoodwinked into white slavery and ravaged by King Kong. Failing to find her salvation in a convent, Dolores makes her fortune in a bordello before realising there's no place like home. 'Museum of Wax', is a rarely seen treasure starring Charles Ludlam as an escaped prisoner who seeks refuge in a Coney Island sideshow.

TICKET INFO: Booking is now open online, by post or by phone 020 7928 3232. Price: BFI Members £8.00/concessions £5.25. Public: £9.50/concessions £6.75.
 

LITTLE JOE and FRINGE! present: TAXI ZUM KLO
Saturday 9 April, 11.30pm
Rio Cinema, 103-107 Kingsland High Street, London
As part of the FRINGE! The London Gay Film Fest, LITTLE JOE presents a late night pre-release screening of Frank Ripploh's TAXI ZUM KLO (1980). Ripploh's debut film is a humorous autobiography, chronicling his dual life as Berlin schoolteacher and sex “hunter”. A former cult classic, the film fell foul of the Video Recording Act of 1984 and its circulation dwindled. Now after 30 years, TAXI is back, fully restored, remastered, uncut and waiting to be rediscovered. FRINGE! The London Gay Film Fest is from 7 - 10 April 2011 at various venues. TAXI ZUM KLO will be released by Peccadillo Pictures in cinemas from 22 April and available on DVD from 23 May. Little Joe - No. 2 will be on sale before the screening. Tickets: £7.50, on sale now online  or by phone 020 7241 9410.