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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This really is something this film. It has taken over 20 years to put together.
Essentially a biography of a family told using photos, videos, audio recordings taken over the years.
These images and movies are cut together with a soundtrack from the likes of Low and Iron and Wine and are 'narrated' by stark overlaid text.
The film was apparently produced for next to nothing using nothing more than an iMac and it's stark simplicity simply hypnotises you.
It is the story of the film-maker (Jonathon Caouette), his mother and his grand-parents. He was raised by his grand-parents whilst his mother underwent years of barbaric treatment in psychiatric wards - all sanctioned by her parents. A terrible tale of a woman who, initially, had nothing wrong with her and was subjected to hundreds of electro-shock therapy sessions and eventually a lithium overdose. This radically changed a beautiful, ex-model into a disturbed, yet still vibrant women.
Her son shows her the kind of love that really hits home. Incredibly touching displays of his commitment to her.
Overall, it is a very sad story which warms the heart. You can not look away from the screen for a second as the perfect cadence of the film beats on. It'll upset you and make you feel great all at once. And you will ring your mother at the end of it.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The fact that this allegedly cost around $260 dollars to make is incredible and gives great hope for the future of cinema and also great dread that any old fool with a video camera will soon be clogging up our already limited arthouse cinema screentime with their introspective woes. This is an extremely heartbreaking story of a mother possibly misdiagnosed with mental problems and subsequently driven to madness by the 'treatment'. And that is the only problem with the film. My sympathies lie firmly with the director's mother and not the director whose crying in front of camera seemed rather more self-pitying than genuine. Call me hard-hearted (you may well be right) but would someone that filled with grief really wait to set up a camera in a bathroom before breaking down in front of it? Regardless, the film deserves to be seen by as large an audience as possible.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Jonathan Caouette's highly personal film lends itself more to installational video art than to cinema or even documentary. Its frenetic visual style, using splices of camcorder and digital video footage taken over a twenty year period, often detracts from what might be of interest on camera itself. There is too much lo-fi trickery for the viewer to become especially involved in what is undeniably an extraordinary family history. This is frustrating because footage obviously exists that would be able to comprise a fantastic documentary - think of Capturing the Friedmans or Grizzly Man. But unlike those films Caouette is often preoccupied with convincing the viewer of his drug-damaged worldview (we are told he became "depersonalised" after smoking PCP) through a maddening bombardment of imagery, rather than letting the real people and emotions doing the talking.
Some of the imagery is interesting, but much of it derivative and excessive. Caouette is obviously trying to achieve something more subjectivised and abstract than a straight-forward documentary, but then the effect - as with much of the gallery-based video art it resembles - is more alienating than perhaps is intended. The more he experiments with video form, the more the content is debased to sheer spectacle. Moreover, when Caouette turns the camera on himself in the film's present - willing himself to confront his family - it seems contrived, as if he can't find a way to create closure for his film without forcing an ending. Highly overrated, and not to be confused with the current renaissance in documentary cinema (including some of the films I have mentioned above).
Some of the imagery is interesting, but much of it derivative and excessive. Caouette is obviously trying to achieve something more subjectivised and abstract than a straight-forward documentary, but then the effect - as with much of the gallery-based video art it resembles - is more alienating than perhaps is intended. The more he experiments with video form, the more the content is debased to sheer spectacle. Moreover, when Caouette turns the camera on himself in the film's present - willing himself to confront his family - it seems contrived, as if he can't find a way to create closure for his film without forcing an ending. Highly overrated, and not to be confused with the current renaissance in documentary cinema (including some of the films I have mentioned above).
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not what I had expected
I have to admit this guy Jonathan started to get on my nerves after about 10 minutes... I got fed up looking at him every 2 seconds on the screen... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Balloon :)
Self indulgent and overwrought
The problem with 'Tarnation' is it's a journey which begins as original and spontaneous, but ends as staged, contrived, and at times downright disturbing; not the least of which is... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Ernie
Narcissism and little else.
Tarnation is a product of its time. In a world of reality TV and voyeurism as entertainment garbage such as this garners critical acclaim. Read more
Published on 12 April 2009 by Denis Joe
Fantastic
This film is a work of art. Through a variety of mediums Caouette has created something beautifully devastating. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2007 by t.s
Unique
This is a film that you don't watch for entertainment. Its a painful story that you have to absorb yourself into. Read more
Published on 3 May 2006 by John
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