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"Even the dull and ignorant, too, have their story to tell,” says the distant voice of
Renee LeBlanc at the beginning of
Tarnation, telltale of
Jonathan Caouette’s debuting documentary. The cinematic revolution of a do-it-yourself masterpiece has finally transpired with
Caouette’s intensely personal and subjective autobiographical filmmaking of
Tarnation.
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Jonathan Caouette's debut documentary entitled "Tarnation" (2004)
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It is an incredibly powerful soul clenching film that beautifully depicts the human spirit.
Caouette explores the boundaries where unadorned raw experience is transformed into fine art.
Tarnation is an emotionally draining avant-garde homemade documentary directed and edited by
Caouette himself.
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A young Renee LeBlanc
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An existential “Alice In Wonderland” fever dream of sorts and fractured narrative, alternately devoid of the theme of escaping one’s reality. Its basis is one of a tell-all encompassing recount of
Caouette’s inexorable survival, heavily focusing on his mentally-challenged mother,
Renee LeBlanc. For those who have not yet heard about
Tarnation, the story originates when Renee fell off the roof of her home at the meager age of 12, paralyzing her for six months. Her parents,
Adolph and
Rosemary Davis admitted her to a local clinic for electroshock treatment, believing that her paralysis was all in her head. This therapy triggered Renee into a downward cycle that led her to slowly lose touch with reality and contributing to a lifelong mental illness, later resulting in a lithium overdose. Along the way she married, split up, conceived
Jonathan, was raped, did jail time, lost her cover-girl good looks, and also makes claims that her parents have sexually abused her.
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Caouette begins videotaping his life at the age of 11 (film still)
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The success of
Caouette’s work is in his achievement of having re-created his own state of mind spanning over 20 years of living in a warped reality, with a lesser focus on the exact precision of sequences. As
Caouette describes it, “I conceived the film as a new way of looking at documentary, as though it were imitating my thought process, giving the audience the experience of seeing what it was like to be inside my head.”
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Caouette learns about his mother's lithium overdose (film still)
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Tarnation is a true one of a kind, giving us the impression that we are simply watching “found art.”
It is so alive with
Caouette’s energy that it feels like a free-form improvisation, where one can almost expect that in watching it again, it will be different. Like watching a wounded animal chronically suffer, the film is deeply upsetting and you oftentimes wish
Caouette would just put down the camera and spare us of his recordings. But all the same, the film ends with a grand sense of hope, having made it all the more worthwhile.
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Caouette's grandfather Adolph Davis making a statement (film still)
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His documentary is mainly assembled of video footage of which he himself shot the bulk of using varying cameras over the years, including Super-8, Betamax, VHS, Hi-8 and Mini-DV. In addition, he compiled still photographs, archived answering machine messages and audiocassette diaries – all of which documented the details of his unconventionally tumultuous life, using iMovie, a free editing software on a Macintosh computer. From there,
Tarnation went on to be viewed at Film Festivals as
Sundance and
Cannes.
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Renee LeBlanc in her son's New York apartment (film still)
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Tarnation is a must see for anyone wanting to feel an empathy of emotions, intertwined with vivid depictions of a turbulent life, delving deep into another soul’s tribulations of mental anguish. It has been supported by
Gus Van Sant and
John Cameron Mitchell as executive producers, with positive acclaims from
Roger Ebert.
The making of
Tarnation originally cost a whopping $218 while engrossing well over half a million at the worldwide box office, as a result, the film ranks as the second highest in return on investment ever made (the highest being
The Blair Witch Project).
The soundtrack is remarkable.
Caouette harmonizes dazzling visual storytelling with an inspired blend of music from artists such as the
Cocteau Twins, Dolly Parton, Iron and Wine, Lisa Germano, Low, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Magnetic Fields, Red House Painters, and many more. Bringing it all together are original instrumental pieces written and composed by
Max Avery Lichtenstein.
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Tarnation poster
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I rate
Tarnation with 5 vibrantly shinning gold stars, in addition to having it make my top ten most favorite films of all time.
Thank you
Jonathan Caouette, for giving us the privilege of entering your unencumbered world of mental angst, abuse, desperation, fear, filth, love and pure hope!
Caouette is currently working on a documentary about
All Tomorrow's Parties (the music festival).
For more information, visit the
Tarnation Website http://www.wellspring.com/movies/movie.html?movie_id=56
Or check out
Jonathan Caouette's Blog http://jonathancaouette.blogspot.com/
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