KABOOM
US, 2010, 86 minutes, Colour.
Thomas Dekker, Juno Temple, Hailey Bennett, Roxane Mesquida, Chris Zylka.
Directed by Gregg Araki.
Gregg Araki back to his former style of small-budget, heightened slices of life, focussing on young adults and their fears, indulgences, sexuality and identity problems. But, now he is older and has the fine Mysterious Skin as part of his CV, giving him a certain recognition and respectability.
He is not after respectability here but would not be against recognition (as he has been by John Waters). This is one of those midnight movies of the past where sense and absolute credibility are not the order of the day – or night. It is a concoction of campus drama, sex exploration, science fiction, apocalyptic madness and more than a Kaboom ending than we might have expected.
Thomas Dekker (one of the dispatchees in the new Nightmare on Elm Street) is Smith, an undergraduate, gay, with a confidante, Stella (Haley Bennett), who keeps him in line with her sardonic quips but who is herself engangled with vamp Lorelei who may or may not be a witch. There is an ‘end is nigh’ character, Messiah (James Duvall from Araki’s films of the mid-90s) who suggests warnings and doom. There are also pursuers with animal masks, a secret sect, abductions and various spies and agents.
It is all tongue in cheek and happy in its silliness.
1. The title, the tone, audience expectations, the Ka Boom ending?
2. The work of Gregg Araki, small-budget films, slices of life, aspects of spoof, sexuality and identity, horror, the blending of all these elements for a midnight show?
3. The introduction to Smith, his initial dream, the corridor, naked, passing his friends, the mysterious women, room nineteen and the dumpster?
4. The importance of dreams throughout the film, hallucinations? Dreams contributing to the plot, Smith’s psyche, the jokes?
5. Smith and his sexuality, gay, aged eighteen? Thor as his roommate, the dream about Thor asking about sexuality? Thor’s relationship with women? His lewd tone? Wrestling with his friend in the room? Smith and his sexual behaviour, at the beach and the encounter, Oliver and the computer video? His friendship with Stella, her struggles with Lorelei? His encounter with London, her needs, friendship?
6. The irony of the ending and the New Order? A sect, agents and spies? Echoes of Jonestown and other sect leaders? Prophesying the end of the world, nuclear destruction, the survival of the New Order? Agents and counter-agents? The role of Smith’s father – and the irony of his having many children, including London?
7. Smith and his relationship with his mother, the phone calls? His study? Interactions with Thor? Going to the party, the redheaded woman vomiting? The encounter with London? Her personality? Sexuality? His sexual experience with her? The dreams, the men with animal masks? Getting the memory stick? The agents disappearing and appearing? His friendship with Stella, her character, ordinary, cynical, helping him? The contrast with London? The computer search for the woman? Finding her in the toilet? The beach and the man, Oliver and the video, the encounter in real life, Smith’s reassurance? His birthday, the sexual experience?
8. His mother, going to her house, the warnings, her abduction?
9. The character of the Messiah, his notes, drugs? The pose, the warnings, his being the agent? With Oliver?
10. The build-up to the chase, the various identities in Smith’s life, their all being agents or counter-agents of New Order? The chase, the crash?
11. The father, his waiting, Smith’s nineteenth birthday, no sun and his pushing the nuclear button? Kaboom?
