| 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) | |
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 | |
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| Running with Scissors | Rent | Howl | All Good Things | Persepolis |
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| Full cast and crew | Company credits | External reviews |
| News articles | IMDb Documentary section | IMDb USA section |
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.