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MUFF NeuDonald Cammell: PerformedMini MUFFLarry WesselPeter "Sleazy" ChristophersonGiallo One...MUFF RealAvant MUFFSome PsychopathologiesSexy MUFF
In an age in which film is characterized by rapid fire edits designed to sate the briefest of attention spans Larry Wessel makes movies that demand the audience sit down and watch. While some contemporary documentarians maintain a didactic narration, and even an on-screen presence to guide an audience, Wessel’s work is characterised by long takes that seek to render - to quote Mel Lyman – “something as it really is”.
Influenced at an early age by Robert Flaherty’s homage to the Inuit existence already disappearing into memory Nanook of the North (1922) and Fredrick Wiseman’s 1967 grim asylum documentary Titicut Follies, Wessel – in the majority of his films – occupies the role of passive observer, letting the world unveil itself before his gaze. Wessel takes his camera to the kind of places most people don’t get to see and meets the individuals most people don’t get to meet. In Tattoo Deluxe (1998) the camera presents life in a San Pedro tattoo studio, while Sugar and Spice (1995) depicts the Los Angeles transgender and drag communities, and features the legendary Goddess Bunny amongst others. Letting the camera roll and giving his subjects the time and space to be themselves Wessel enables the audience to maintain a degree of empathy with the various personalities that populate his films.
Wessel’s obsessive nature ensures that his work pursue uniquely personal interests unwaveringly. Each shot, each frame, each edit building upon and revealing his own fascinations. Best seen in Taurobolium (1994) his masterwork, created from footage from more than 200 of Tijuana’s corridas, the film captures the Duende of the bullring with a relentless rhythmic intensity that only ends in the gore of the slaughterhouse.
In 1997 Wessel began working on Sex, Death and the Hollywood Mystique. Loosely based on the historical writings of cult LA noir author John Gilmore, stardom intermixed with sleaze, decadence, and other tales of the Hollywood Dream gone bad. The film marks a break with the director’s previous direct cinema style instead. As Wessel wrote, the movie has “a more Felliniesque approach to the documentary form” which includes a scene depicting Gilmore shovelling dry soil onto a naked female. Michael Moore never did this.
Wessel’s 1999 documentary feature Song Demo For A Helen Keller World sees the director watching prankster legend John – ‘Blind Man’s Penis’ - Trubee working with the band the Ugly Janitors of America. Once again the emphasis is on paying witness, as the band rehearse and record in front of Wessel’s camera.
The films chosen for this MUFF retrospective cover Wessel’s work throughout the ‘90s, and offer a glimpse into the world of Wesselmania. In addition to Wessel’s documentaries MUFF will screen Lip-Stick Liz a prize-winning music video by Wessel. Also included here is the short Disinfo Nation documentary about Wessel. Currently directing a documentary on Boyd Rice, Wessel promises that it’ll screen at MUFF in the future, but in the meantime a teaser will be screened before each session.
Taurobolium (1hr 45min)
+ Lip-Stick Liz (3mins)
7pm Fri 21 Sept Glitch.
Sugar and Spice (2hrs)
5pm Sat 22 Sept Glitch.
Tattoo Deluxe (1hr 42min)
+ Disinfo Nation (3mins)
5pm Mon 24 Sept TOFF.
Sex, Death, and The Hollywood Mystique (2hrs 35min)
7pm Mon 24 Sept TOFF.
Song Demo For a Helen Keller World (2hr)
9pm Thurs 27 Sept LOOP.
