VIFF 2009 | It Came From Kuchar at Schema : more than ethnic

VIFF 2009 | It Came From Kuchar

It Came from Kuchar
USA/Canada, 2009, 86min
DIR: Jennifer M. Kroot

It Came From Kuchar_main.jpg

Need some inspiration for your next Halloween party? Look no further,
It Came from Kuchar is your direct source for spooky, cheap DIY
solutions. This documentary takes us into the Kuchar brothers' mad
scientist experiments in film making, an approach that emerges purely
out of play, spontaneity and temperamental imagination. Using 8mm film
cameras, the Kuchar brothers created a campy aesthetic all their own,
blending over-the-top characters with outrageous makeup and costumes,
and hand-done DIY special effects.

The NYC underground film scene emerging out of the early 1960's
thrived off the experimental works of the Kuchar brothers alongside
Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger, and Stan Brakhage. While Warhol nosed out
a tactic of combining art and business, the Kuchar brothers had no
interest in commercializing their creativity and never cared to expand
their shoestring budgets. Their home-brew productions mutated the
glitz and glam sensibilities of Hollywood into cheap and short monster
mash fantasies. With overblown titles like "The Wet Destruction Of The
Atlantic Empire", "Sins of the Fleshapoids", "Lust for Ecstasy" and
"Thundercrack", their 'low-fi' shorts gained a cult following amongst
the fey crowd of gay artistes, bohemians and snotty beatnik thinkers.

Director Jennifer Kroot was both George Kuchar's student at the San
Francisco Art Institute and an actress in his films during the '90's.
While Kroot's documentary style lacks flare, it does a nice job
balancing out the raucousness of the Kuchar brothers' film clips.
Along the way, audiences gains an appreciation for the method in their
madness. The brothers (well, mostly George) spout out enthusiastic
accounts of their DIY filmmaking process and their use of themselves,
friends and family members as actors in almost all of their
productions. Never interviewed together, the one-on-one time with
both George and Mike help contrast the twins' opposite personalities.
George is clearly the quick talker and extravert; brimming with
awkward honesty and earnest affection. Mike, on the other hand, is
anti-social, soft-spoken and has zero on-camera presence. Naturally,
Kroot's doc devotes more of its homage time to George Kuchar's life
than his brother's.

It Came from Kuchar offers a deep look into the Kuchars' inexhaustible
commitment to play through filmmaking. Kroot could have built more
texture around the 60's Underground and the Sexual Revolution that
were both in full swing in America at the time, but she does touch
upon issues around the brothers' sexuality and their use of film as an
outlet for their angst. Overall, this doc is not to be taken too
seriously, much like a Kuchar classic.

Upcoming Screenings:

Thur. Oct. 8, 9:15pm, Pacific Cinematheque

Schema Magazine's coverage of VIFF 2009 is sponsored by the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival