Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available on the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Walk Away Renee (2011): Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette takes a cross-country trip with his bipolar/borderline schizophrenic mother Renee; along the way she loses her medication and her behavior becomes erratic. After the trip, Caouette illustrates some of his mom’s delusions with trippy paranoid fantasy sequences in this indie documentary/fiction hybrid. Playing IFC Center in Manhattan this week, future venues uncertain. Walk Away Renee at IFC Center.
NEW ON DVD:
The Experiment: Who’s Watching You? (2012): A financially desperate stripper agrees to serve as a pharmaceutical company guinea pig and falls into what the press materials call a world of “drug induced madness and surreal sensuality.” It looks like Ken Russell‘s grandson decided to shoot a Skinemax movie on a webcam, or something like that. Buy The Experiment: Who’s Watching You?
“Serial Experiments Lain: Complete Series”: An introverted girl follows a suicide classmate into a virtual reality world where anything can happen in this mind-blowing 13-episode cult anime series. This one is currently in our reader-suggested review queue. Only available in a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack. Buy “Serial Experiments Lain: Complete Series”
“Visions of Ecstasy: The Films of Nigel Wingrove”: Visions of Ecstasy (1989) was an 18-minute film interpretation of the visions of St. Teresa of Avila that brings the notorious erotic subtext of the mystics visions of the nun to unsubtle life (i.e. she has sex with Jesus). It’s mainly notable for being the only film ever to be banned in Britain solely on the grounds of blasphemy. Also included on this disc are Wingrove’s full-length softcore nunsploitation feature Sacred Flesh (2000) and the short Axel (1988) (about which we could find no information). Wingrove later went on to direct the Satanic Sluts series, and, more importantly, to found Redemption Films (which restored and re-released the movies of Jean Rollin and other Eurotrash auteurs). Buy Visions of Ecstasy: The Films of Nigel Wingrove
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
“Serial Experiments Lain: Complete Series”: See description in DVD above. Buy “Serial Experiments Lain: Complete Series”
FREE (LEGITIMATE RELEASE) MOVIES ON YOUTUBE:
Black Biscuit (2012): Experimental punk documentary focusing on… well… the director’s manifesto suggests he strives to make films that are “bewildering, vague, self-indulgent, plotless, risky, egotistical, limpid, raw, ugly, and imperfect.” If that aesthetic appeals to you, then by all means give this a chance. Watch Black Biscuit free on YouTube.
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.