Daliesque scene from El Topo (1970).
Without Ben Barenholtz, would Pink Flamingos, Night of the Living Dead or Eraserhead be rotting in someone's basement in a dusty film can, forgotten experiments created by kooky rebels and students? Barenholtz, owner of the Elgin Theater in New York, seems possessed of an innate ability to identify a special quality in a film, films that either tanked when shown in commercial venues or worse would never in a million years have been offered this opportunity. In 1970, Barenholtz began the practice of showing offbeat films at midnight. His theater found the perfect audience for these strange offerings, being located within close proximity of a number of universities and colleges. Without his young audience, maybe nothing would have come of these films. But Barenholtz's patience and willingness to show a film for weeks on end, confident that over time the word would get out and an appreciation would build, proved necessary in allowing these works to flourish.
Midnight Movies focuses on ten films shown in the 70s, movies too weird to be shown during daylight hours. (The Harder They Come seems to be one exception, this sincere Jamaican film untouched by a major distributor got its foot in the door by being a Midnight Movie). This documentary also celebrates the joyous relationship between films and their fans -- all except that for Eraserhead which, as Barenholtz notes, is a film that produces a sense of isolation and loneliness. Midnight Movies includes interviews with each of the filmmakers, each of whom had completely different motives for creating their works. I love that John Waters just wanted to "shock hippies"! With the now very mainstream Sundance Festival being in the news these past couple weeks, this film is a fun look at what really is independent. Oh, and guess what? Independent can also be the same thing as fun! Riotous, cross-dressing, coprophagial fun!
Divine and pal smelling their stash.
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