The personal documentary has become a vibrant part of the non-fiction movie scene, with filmmakers such as Ross McElwee (“Sherman’s March”) and Steve James (“Stevie”) mining their own lives and family histories for material. The low cost and easy access of video cameras and computer editing programs will make this form even more common.
There has probably never been a documentary as intimately personal as “Tarnation.” Produced out of home movies and edited on Apple iMovie software, this is a raw but poetic story about filmmaker Jonathan Caouette’s life.
Caouette has had it rough. But he wanted to be a filmmaker from an early age, and began using a video camera to document his life (and, by extension, keep his sanity) in Houston at age 11. So he has plenty of footage to create his emotional mosaic.
The central figure in his life is his mother, Renee, who began exhibiting signs of mental illness in adolescence. Caouette tries to pin a cause to her unbalance, citing a fall from a roof and his grandparents’ decision to have her undergo electroshock therapy as a teenager.
Because of his mother’s illness and father’s absence, Jonathan spends time with abusive foster families and his grandparents. Video footage at age eleven shows him to be an astonishingly, almost eerily accomplished mimic and actor.
He knew he was gay from a very early age (and, from the on screen evidence, did nothing to hide it), and he knew he wanted to be part of movies. He mixes TV obsessions (“Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Little Prince,” the PBS kids’ show “Zoom”) with video of his family. He includes footage of a high school musical he directed based on David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet.”
All of this is framed around Jonathan’s adult efforts to help Renee find her balance. In his mid-20s, Jonathan moved to New York, but kept reaching out to his struggling mother.
As fascinating and heart-wrenching as much of the footage of Renee is, there is also a troubling sense of the movie invading her life (although Caouette says she loves the film). Caouette’s focus on her, and on his own photogenic face, is as obsessive as his other video fixations.
The movie unfolds chronologically, but in wild bursts of color and pure rhythm, as well as songs (such as “Wichita Lineman”). It’s as though we’re watching the violent thought processes of an overly sensitive person.
“Tarnation” made a splash at Sundance, not least because its initial budget was apparently under $1,000. But that’s not the reason to be moved by this film. “Tarnation” is a weirdly compelling look at life gone wrong, and the fight to make sense of it.
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