Tarnation (2003)

Director:

Jonathan Caouette

Writer:

Jonathan Caouette (written by)

Release Date:

10 November 2004 (France)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Tagline:

Your greatest creation is the life you lead

Plot:

Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life.

Plot Keywords:

Video Diary | Schizophrenic | Answering Machine | Lithium | Home Movie

Awards:

8 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Renee Leblanc	...	Herself
Jonathan Caouette	...	Himself
Adolph Davis	...	Himself
Rosemary Davis	...	Herself
David Sanin Paz	...	Himself
Joshua Williams	...	Himself
Michael Cox	...	Guy cussing in short film
David Leblanc	...	Himself
Stacey Mowery	...	Herself
Michael Mouton	...	Himself
Greg Ayres	...	Himself (as Bam-Bam)
Vanda Stovall	...	Herself
Dagon James	...	Himself
Vivian Kalinov	...	Herself (as Girl in Student Film)
Steve Caouette	...	Himself
Lisa Berri	...	Blue Velvet cast
Kelli Brisbane	...	Blue Velvet cast (as Kellie Brisbane)
Mike Smith Rivera	...	Blue Velvet cast (as Apocalypse Clown)
Miek Coccia	...	Blue Velvet cast
Caity Creitz	...	Blue Velvet cast
Daniel Letterle	...	Blue Velvet cast
Sterling Price McKinney	...	Blue Velvet cast
Michael Sillery	...	Blue Velvet cast
Layard Thompson	...	Blue Velvet cast

Directed by
Jonathan Caouette

Writing credits
Jonathan Caouette		(written by)

Produced by
Vanessa Arteaga	....	executive producer
Jason Banker	....	associate producer
Jonathan Caouette	....	producer
Marie Therese Guirgis	....	executive producer
John Cameron Mitchell	....	executive producer
Gus Van Sant	....	executive producer
Ryan Werner	....	executive producer
Stephen Winter	....	producer

Original Music by
John Califra
Max Avery Lichtenstein

Cinematography by
Jonathan Caouette

Film Editing by
Jonathan Caouette
Brian A. Kates		(co-editor)

Production Management
Robert Warmflash	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Jonathan Caouette	....	sound
Sean England	....	digital archivist
Lora Hirschberg	....	sound re-recording mixer
Brandon Proctor	....	sound mix technician
Daniel Sperry	....	stereo sound consultant: Dolby (as Dan Sperry)

Visual Effects by
Jason Banker	....	digital effects

Editorial Department
George Bunce	....	on-line editor: high definition video
Don Ciana	....	color timer
Michael Haertlein	....	post-production assistant
Peter Heady	....	on-line editor: HDTV
Florence Holdeman	....	assistant editor
Brian Patchett	....	assistant editor: high definition
Jamila Qazi	....	editing coordinator
Shelby Siegel	....	additional editor

Music Department
Jim Black	....	music supervisor
John Califra	....	orchestral score producer
John Califra	....	orchestrator
Milan Cimfe	....	orchestral score producer
Milan Cimfe	....	score ProTools operator
William David Fastenow	....	music copyist
Pavel Karlik	....	assistant to score recording engineer
Pavel Karlik	....	orchestral score producer

Other crew
Mickey Cottrell	....	publicist
Tristan Cowen	....	assistant to producer
Peter Cross	....	legal counsel
Mayur Deshmukh	....	production assistant
Don Farber	....	legal counsel
Tenley Gillmore	....	production assistant
Michael Haertlein	....	production assistant
Roberta Morris Purdee	....	rights and clearances
Troy Nuyens	....	production assistant
Joe Pagano	....	plant manager
Wade H.W. Rudolph	....	production assistant (as Wade Rudolph)
Tracey Soast	....	video coordinator
Joe Violante	....	technical advisor

Thanks
James Bolton	....	special thanks
Tristan Cowen	....	thanks
Roger Ebert	....	thanks
Krystal Kennedy	....	thanks
Paul Morrissey	....	thanks
Dolly Parton	....	thanks
David Sanin Paz	....	special thanks
Michael Sillery	....	special thanks
Stephen Sprouse	....	special thanks
Michael Thornton	....	thanks
Dany Wolf	....	thanks

Distributors

• Filmmuseum Distributie (2005) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Herald Film Company (2005) (Japan) (theatrical)
• U Talkin 2 Me (2004) (France) (theatrical)
• Wellspring Media (2004) (USA) (theatrical)
• BBC Storyville (2006) (UK) (TV)
• Four Films (2006) (Chile) (all media)

Other Companies

• F.I.L.M. Archives  archival film
• Home Movie Project  super 8 transfers
• Karmic Release Ltd.  rights and clearances
• Postworks New York  digital intermediate
• Skywalker Sound  post-production sound
• Sono Recording Studios  score recorded at (as Sono Studios)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

88 min | Argentina:88 min (Mar del Plata Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:M18 | UK:15 | USA:Unrated | Norway:15 | Japan:PG-12 | Australia:M | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:14 (video rating) | Portugal:M/16

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Trivia:

It cost $218 to make but the budget rose to $400,000, once music and video clip royalties were included.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Renee Leblanc:[singing] This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine.

Movie Connections:

Features The Devil's Rain (1975)

Soundtrack:

This Little Light of Mine

Some Experiments Fail Miserably

Dinking around on I-Movie with footage of yourself and airing your unsubstantiated gripes about your family doesn't impress me.

Despite the orgasmic gush of praise from EBAN & CHARLEY director Jimmy Bolton on this board, TARNATION is a languishing Narcissus Apocalypse.

As a documentary, it's frivolous. As an "experimental film," it accomplishes nothing. As a movie, it's just another cheap drama queen's primal screech for attention.

One of the laziest things a filmmaker can do is narrate. That's what Mr. Caouette does. He simply dinks around with footage of himself and types his "life story" as subtitles over the screen most of the time. Unfortunately, all we get is a vague impression of ways Caouette feels he's been a victim his whole life, without ever confronting his perpetrators satisfyingly.

By the end of the film, he confronts his mother and grandfather about their mentally questionable conspiracy theories, and they do seem to be crazy, but TARNATION never commits to or resolves any single question it asks. Mr. Caouette obviously has many deep resentments, but we never get the whole story by seeing the witnesses, alternatve viewpoints or details.

Caouette's narration and hearsay is completely useless to the audience. We don't learn a damn thing. TARNATION is just therapeutic venting for him. What's in it for us?

How about people that accuse TARNATION of being an experimental film?

Experimental films manipulate their mediums in exciting ways. TARNATION is merely a few command keys on I-Movie, not some innovative, new technique. It stretches thin footage out with Mickey Mouse editing gimmicks and adds music. So what?

A lot of "independently minded" filmmakers in the U.S. think that it's cool to be different.

They're wrong. It's only cool to be different if you have something exciting, functional and compelling to show for it.

That's why it's no surprise that John Cameron Mitchell and Gus Van Sant co- produced the film. Half the movies these guys make are trashed by critics and ignored by audiences, if not distributors and film festivals, too. Jimmy Bolton's movies were also complete crap that critics vanquished and audiences passed on.

Why does a queer clique with such quasi-famous people adore Jonathan Caouette and his vanity project TARNATION so much?

The answer is simple: Misery Loves Company.