What Is It? (2005)

What Is It? is a bewildering, unnerving, surreal, blackly comic film from the visionary mind of Crispin Glover that tells the inner and outer struggles of a young man facing villains and demons on multiple planes.

Director:

Crispin Glover

Writer:

Crispin Glover

Stars:

Michael Blevis, Carlos Richardson, Lisa Fusco

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Blevis	...	The young man (as Michael Bleviss)
Carlos Richardson	...	The young man's alter ego
Lisa Fusco	...	The young man's fantasy girl
Steven C. Stewart	...	Dueling Demi-God Auteur / The Young Man's Uber Ego (as Steven Stewart)
Crispin Glover	...	Dueling Demi-God Auteur / The Young Man's Inner Psyche and Id
John Insinna	...	The Young Man's Outer Sanctum Friend / Inner Sanctum's Choked Victim
Kelly Swiderski	...	Inner Sanctum Concubine / Outer Sanctum Snail Collector
Robin Adams	...	Inner Sanctum Concubine / Outer Sanctum Girl Who Recognizes Burning
Adam Parfrey	...	The minstrel
Rikky Wittman	...	The minstrel's nemesis (as Rickey Wittman)
Lynn Conley	...	The Minstrel's Concubine / Mocking Tormentor / Ultimate Outer Sanctum Victor
Cheryl Brown	...	Outer Sanctum Mocking Tormentor / Walkie-Talkie Grabbing Woman That Cries Later
Tom Carroll	...	Grave Digger / Mocking Tormentor
Eric Yates	...	Inner Sanctum Puppet Show Audience Member / Outer Sanctum Victim / Inner Sanctum Victim
Mary P. Hayes	...	The young man's mother

Storyline

What Is It? is a bewildering, unnerving, surreal, blackly comic film from the visionary mind of Crispin Glover that tells the inner and outer struggles of a young man facing villains and demons on multiple planes.

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Plot Keywords:

cult director | swastika | female nudity | unsimulated sex | vengeance | 

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Taglines:

Being the adventures of a young man whose principle interests are snails, salt, a pipe, and how to get home. As tormented by an hubristic, racist inner psyche.

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 January 2005 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Volcanic Eruptions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

82 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Originally intended to be short film, "What Is It?" expanded out to be a feature over the 9 years of its production.

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Quotes

Dueling Demi-God Auteur and The young man's inner psyche: Good. He's dead. Now we can have a good time.

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Crazy Credits

This film has not advocated the assassination of Steven Spielberg in any way.

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Connections

Featured in Into the Night with...: Juliette Lewis und Crispin Glover (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Some Niggers Never Die (They Just Smell That Way)"
by Johnny Rebel
Keyboard music for end credits by Anton LaVey

User Reviews

A breathtaking masterpiece of incalculable magnitude

Crispin Glover has presented a monumental film that what will surely change cinema forever. Not only does it trace and honor the Afro-American roots that preceded Lumiere by almost a hundred years, but proudly restores that tradition and provides a very subtle critique of the modern movie business.

Profits are nowhere to be found in this low budget homage to Capra and Selznick. Hats off to to Glover for not pulling any punches whilst showing a decadent sequence involving a naked gentleman being ejaculated whilst laying inside a giant oyster. No expense - including excess pubic hair - has been spared.

On another note, I know what you must be thinking in the back of your mind: "wait, I think I have seen a graveyard sex scene before." Perhaps, but was it in the first five minutes? Did involve two fully clothed people with one too many chromosomes (each)? Crispin Glover proves that we have moved beyond the tired old traditions of repetitious childhood storytelling and myths and entered into a new realm wherein we are free to recreate and reimagine what it means to be a theater-going experience.

My long-time partner of two months, Brenda Velasquez, who recently left me, agrees with me. We might be like oil and water and sulfuric acid in the bedroom, but when the curtains go up, we are united before the grandeur of moviedom. Congratulations, Mr. Glover. We love your deliberately ratty film.