|
 Abnormal:
The Sinema of Nick Zedd (1979-1999)
R1 / NTSC DVD
Rubric Records / 2002
Directors: Nick Zedd, Richard Kern
Writer: Nick Zedd
Cast: Nick Zedd, Lydia Lunch, Annie Sprinkle & Rockets
Redglare
Review by James Garfield
Twelve underground films embodying actor/filmmaker Nick
Zedd’s notion of the “Cinema of Transgression”, avant-garde
films that avoid the bland academic approach of prior
experimental cinema, and depict action that pushes the
limits of what is conventionally tolerated in movies, the
things that Hollywood won’t show. transgressive films,
heavily influenced by splatter and porno, pile on the sex,
violence, and drug use, and depict deformed and otherwise
“abnormal” looking people, challenging their usual
marginalization. Watch as these ideas play out in “Tom Thumb
in the Land of the Giants”, “Ecstasy in Entropy”, “Why Do
You Exist”, “Whoregasm”, “War is Menstrual Envy”, “Police
State”, “The Bogus Man”, “Go to Hell”, “Thrust in Me”, “Kiss
Me Goodbye”, “The Wild World of Lydia Lunch”, and “I of K9”.
These short films, made over a span of 20 years, maintain a
fairly consistent level of interest, with Zedd constantly
sticking to his transgressive guns (well, not ALL of the
films are offensive). The one time I really flinched was the
footage of eye surgery played over the credits of “War Is
Menstrual Envy” (which here is actually just an excerpt of a
longer work). The territory we see is the more dilapidated
areas of New York, and the hardened inhabitants (Zedd’s
friends). Nearly every character has a chip on his/her
shoulder about something. Highlights for me included the
condemnation of police brutality in “Police State”, the
vague science fiction conspiracy plot of “The Bogus Man”
(the cloning of Jimmy Carter), and “Thrust in Me”, where
Zedd plays both a woman who commits suicide and a man who
comes home to her and has oral sex with the corpse. Lydia
Lunch fans will enjoy “The Wild World of Lydia Lunch”, even
though it’s mainly home-movie footage of her in the UK,
accompanied by her voice reading letters on the soundtrack. |
