Jason KingKaboom (8/10)
April 11th 2011 00:13
:
Gregg Araki is back WOOT!!!
Category: Reviews
Kaboom (8/10)
I am biased of this film - I just love Gregg Araki - he is so visceral and twisted in his films and ever since I was much younger and saw that he believed in a world of bisexuality where it was possible to have sex with who I liked and that all the people he and I liked were incredibly hot - he sold me right then and there. He is a gay icon for cheaply made but highly effective pop sensationalism that is just damn sexy and slightly twisted. His sets are defintely sets and he has this unique style that just screams Araki - most would hate his work but you have to give it to him - he is original and provocative and my god his cast is always easy on the eye
He is infatuated with the end of the world and most of his films appear to all be made while under the influence of heavy narcotics and hallucenigens. I love it
Kaboom follows his end of the world genre and is somewhat similar but slightly tamer than Nowehere from (1997) - my god was it really 14yrs ago - crap - it felt like yesterday and I still love that movie. Araki is a film hero of mine, his 1992 film The Living End about a HIV positive dudes was a hit and made for about as much as I make in a month. He brought a gay world into my home when I was scared and unsure where it was out there - he provided a much more entertaining form of sexual entertainment and fantasy than Neighbours or 90210. He then made Totally F**ked Up and began his twisted pop masterpieces followed by one of my all time favourite films The Doom Generation in 1995. Nowhere hit the screens in 1997 - I have to watch it again this week - it is just pure GOLD. I wasn't a huge fan of Splendor (1999) or Smiley Face (2007) but he hit the mainstream and critical acclaim with his extremely confronting Mysterious Skin in 2004 starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt in one of his best roles. The majority of his films feature James Duval (the kid from Independence Day) and he even makes a role as The Messiah in Kaboom, he was one of my younger idols - he was artsy and not mainstream and so involved in Arakis characters - his famous scene in The Doom Generation still makes me cringe and whimper. The one thing about Araki that is slightly disappointing is that he only ever evolved from his style of film making with Mysterious Skin - it was more big budget, less poppy and incredibly brave to make. This one sees him return to his older style that I love to death but after Mysterious Skin I was expecting him to rise to new heights and push the conventional boundaries of Hollywood.
With Kaboom writer and director Gregg Araki revisits the day-glo universe of sex, drugs, and random perversity that informed his early films in this over-the-top dark comedy. Smith (Thomas Dekker) is an 18-year-old film student who is bisexual and has a ravenous erotic appetite; his best friend is Stella (Haley Bennett), who prefers the company of women but is just as enthusiastic about pursuing new lovers. Smith has been haunted by a series of recurring dreams featuring two beautiful women, one dark and enigmatic, the other similarly spectral with flaming red hair. This wouldn't bother him, except that the women from his dreams have begun appearing in real life -- Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida), Stella's new partner, is a magic aficionado who's a dead ringer for the dark-haired woman, and the red-haired girl (Nicole LaLiberte) is being pursued by a gang of masked assassins. Has Smith stumbled into a plot with possible world-changing consequences? Or is this all just the product of some hallucinogenic cookies he was served at a party? Kaboom received its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Kaboom is a reworking of Nowhere and could nearly be the same story accept this is about a man with a finger on the button as opposed to Alien Invasion end of the world but the end story of the characters and the absolute twisted style of the tale is pretty much the same. Araki describes his film as a bisexual 'Twin Peaks' in college. But it also has some XFiles (on acid), a lot of Donnie Darko and some school like show - maybe what the Glee kids would be like if they all snorted crack?? Or let's go with Gossip Girl as there is no singing.
All the characters in most of his films live a life of sex, and most of them are always at school and at their peak of adolescent beauty. The characters are mostly black and white - and bluntly told. No more so than Stella (Haley Bennett from Marley and Me) - she is a loud mouthed opinionated arrogant sassy slut that you just LOVE. I always fall in love with the lead characters of his film and Smith (Thomas Dekker) is no exception - he just eats the camera. The typical Araki lead character - someone that thinks too much, appears to be a psychology major and is so messed up trying to work out how they fit in the world. Dekker is best known as John Connor from The Sarah Connor Chronicles and was also in My Sister's Keeper and the only good thing in the reimagining of A Nightmare on Elm Street. He is superb and fits the mould of an Araki lead character perfectly. There is also some "great" Araki styled performances from Chris Zylka and B grade at its best with Kelly Lynch playing Smith's mum - she is still stunning.
Most people will hate this film but I don't care - it is cinematic joy for me and a guilty pleasure (just like the Easter eggs I am scoffing while writing this) - it is a payout of all teenage soap operas and amps them up to the next level and gives us probably a more realistic version of teenagers in the world - it is Skins and Beverley Hills 90210 with all restrictions removed and has dialogue that is more real than most would imagine and not the fluff studios try and stuff down our throats. Think a David Lynch directed version of Donnie Darko while suffering from a sugar coma on acid and you have Kaboom down to a T.
The one thing that annoyed me while watching was the ending but the more I thought about it the more I liked it - it was a Catch 22 ending. Was the button pushed because of what happened? Was his father really a visionary that set everything up because he knew what he set in motion would occur? It is a thought provoking mind fuck and I recommend it to no one, unless you love his work, or want to see something a little edgier than normal and a lot more crazy.
Kaboom is out now on the most limited release imaginable - I am pretty sure it is only playing at The Chauvel in Sydney. Maybe track down some of his older films and watch them on DVD also - they are a beautiful mess Worth a glossy 8 out of 10.
I am biased of this film - I just love Gregg Araki - he is so visceral and twisted in his films and ever since I was much younger and saw that he believed in a world of bisexuality where it was possible to have sex with who I liked and that all the people he and I liked were incredibly hot - he sold me right then and there. He is a gay icon for cheaply made but highly effective pop sensationalism that is just damn sexy and slightly twisted. His sets are defintely sets and he has this unique style that just screams Araki - most would hate his work but you have to give it to him - he is original and provocative and my god his cast is always easy on the eye
He is infatuated with the end of the world and most of his films appear to all be made while under the influence of heavy narcotics and hallucenigens. I love it
Kaboom follows his end of the world genre and is somewhat similar but slightly tamer than Nowehere from (1997) - my god was it really 14yrs ago - crap - it felt like yesterday and I still love that movie. Araki is a film hero of mine, his 1992 film The Living End about a HIV positive dudes was a hit and made for about as much as I make in a month. He brought a gay world into my home when I was scared and unsure where it was out there - he provided a much more entertaining form of sexual entertainment and fantasy than Neighbours or 90210. He then made Totally F**ked Up and began his twisted pop masterpieces followed by one of my all time favourite films The Doom Generation in 1995. Nowhere hit the screens in 1997 - I have to watch it again this week - it is just pure GOLD. I wasn't a huge fan of Splendor (1999) or Smiley Face (2007) but he hit the mainstream and critical acclaim with his extremely confronting Mysterious Skin in 2004 starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt in one of his best roles. The majority of his films feature James Duval (the kid from Independence Day) and he even makes a role as The Messiah in Kaboom, he was one of my younger idols - he was artsy and not mainstream and so involved in Arakis characters - his famous scene in The Doom Generation still makes me cringe and whimper. The one thing about Araki that is slightly disappointing is that he only ever evolved from his style of film making with Mysterious Skin - it was more big budget, less poppy and incredibly brave to make. This one sees him return to his older style that I love to death but after Mysterious Skin I was expecting him to rise to new heights and push the conventional boundaries of Hollywood.
With Kaboom writer and director Gregg Araki revisits the day-glo universe of sex, drugs, and random perversity that informed his early films in this over-the-top dark comedy. Smith (Thomas Dekker) is an 18-year-old film student who is bisexual and has a ravenous erotic appetite; his best friend is Stella (Haley Bennett), who prefers the company of women but is just as enthusiastic about pursuing new lovers. Smith has been haunted by a series of recurring dreams featuring two beautiful women, one dark and enigmatic, the other similarly spectral with flaming red hair. This wouldn't bother him, except that the women from his dreams have begun appearing in real life -- Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida), Stella's new partner, is a magic aficionado who's a dead ringer for the dark-haired woman, and the red-haired girl (Nicole LaLiberte) is being pursued by a gang of masked assassins. Has Smith stumbled into a plot with possible world-changing consequences? Or is this all just the product of some hallucinogenic cookies he was served at a party? Kaboom received its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Kaboom is a reworking of Nowhere and could nearly be the same story accept this is about a man with a finger on the button as opposed to Alien Invasion end of the world but the end story of the characters and the absolute twisted style of the tale is pretty much the same. Araki describes his film as a bisexual 'Twin Peaks' in college. But it also has some XFiles (on acid), a lot of Donnie Darko and some school like show - maybe what the Glee kids would be like if they all snorted crack?? Or let's go with Gossip Girl as there is no singing
.
All the characters in most of his films live a life of sex, and most of them are always at school and at their peak of adolescent beauty. The characters are mostly black and white - and bluntly told. No more so than Stella (Haley Bennett from Marley and Me) - she is a loud mouthed opinionated arrogant sassy slut that you just LOVE. I always fall in love with the lead characters of his film and Smith (Thomas Dekker) is no exception - he just eats the camera. The typical Araki lead character - someone that thinks too much, appears to be a psychology major and is so messed up trying to work out how they fit in the world. Dekker is best known as John Connor from The Sarah Connor Chronicles and was also in My Sister's Keeper and the only good thing in the reimagining of A Nightmare on Elm Street. He is superb and fits the mould of an Araki lead character perfectly. There is also some "great" Araki styled performances from Chris Zylka and B grade at its best with Kelly Lynch playing Smith's mum - she is still stunning.
Most people will hate this film but I don't care - it is cinematic joy for me and a guilty pleasure (just like the Easter eggs I am scoffing while writing this) - it is a payout of all teenage soap operas and amps them up to the next level and gives us probably a more realistic version of teenagers in the world - it is Skins and Beverley Hills 90210 with all restrictions removed and has dialogue that is more real than most would imagine and not the fluff studios try and stuff down our throats. Think a David Lynch directed version of Donnie Darko while suffering from a sugar coma on acid and you have Kaboom down to a T.
The one thing that annoyed me while watching was the ending but the more I thought about it the more I liked it - it was a Catch 22 ending. Was the button pushed because of what happened? Was his father really a visionary that set everything up because he knew what he set in motion would occur? It is a thought provoking mind fuck and I recommend it to no one, unless you love his work, or want to see something a little edgier than normal and a lot more crazy.
Kaboom is out now on the most limited release imaginable - I am pretty sure it is only playing at The Chauvel in Sydney. Maybe track down some of his older films and watch them on DVD also - they are a beautiful mess
Worth a glossy 8 out of 10.| 10 |
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