Week 4 (July 12 – 18) – Roots of the Underground: Film-makers’ Coop
The Film-Makers’ Cooperative is a non-profit dedicated to experimental and avant-garde cinema; almost all of the most well-known American experimental filmmakers have had works in their catalogue at some point.
John Waters claimed that this movie showed him what an underground movie was, so we have Mike Kuchar to thank. This is the first film he made without his twin brother, George and was financed by his day job as a photo retoucher. It actually paid off well enough that he became a filmmaker.
A million years in the post-nuclear war future, androids called Fleshapods fulfill every human desire, making them even lazier than they are now. Two of them, Xar and Melenka, have decided to fall in love, and woe be to any human who gets in their way. Also, there’s a prince and a princess who have fallen out of love just as our heroes discover that robots certainly can find romance.
Keep in mind that all of this futuristic magic is being told inside an apartment, with a soundtrack of slowed-down records predating the chopped and screwed aesthetic, with word balloons appearing on screen for some of the dialogue. Space pilots with football helmets, nude princesses with Christmas ornaments, male on male longing, snack food that somehow makes its way to a million years from now, neon everything and the gaudiest makeup this side of a drag show.
The end of the world has never looked so fabulous.
You can watch this on Tubi.
