At the gay film night organised by our partner Edition Salzgeber there is a top gay film in numerous cities every month. In May, a wild fairy tale by cult director Greg Araki is on the programme: "Kaboom" is incredibly sexy, very funny and quite violent
Director and screenwriter Greg Araki says of "Kaboom" that the film is "my most autobiographical work to date". Somehow you wouldn't wish that on him.
The plot: 18-year-old Smith goes to college in an idyllic town in California. He wants to become a filmmaker. One night, on his way home from a party, he believes he has seen three men in animal masks kill a young, red-haired woman.
Our hero embarks on a search for victims, perpetrators and motives but, as is the case in puberty, is constantly distracted. From his incredibly attractive but also incredibly stupid flatmate Thor, who tries to give Smith tips on how to suck his own cock. Of his clever, cynical best friend Stella, who is being slept on so intensely by a lesbian witch that she can see stars. Of London, a girl he met at the party before the murder and who doesn't mind that Smith is probably gay as long as the orgasms she gets from him relax her before exams. From his mum, who looks better than mums should, and always calls at exactly the wrong moment.
Lead actor Thomas Dekker ("Heroes", "Terminator: S.C.C.") calls this film Araki's "greatest hits movie" and hits the nail on the head. Because in his oeuvre, Araki - despite the diversity of his films - repeatedly gives 16 to 25-year-olds space to discover that the world is different from what it pretends to be and to explore themselves.
With sex and drugs and rock'n'roll to realisation
To do this, they use the tools available to them at their age: sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. Araki shows the contrast between the system and the individual in a very practical way: many of his films are relatively violent.
As a fan, you know immediately whether a film is by Araki. As with all good directors, this is due to his view of the world and his approach to sexuality. What ice-cold blondes were to Hitchcock, Araki sees young people sitting on the landing between puberty and adulthood, first making out and then snogging for half an hour so that the rest of the climb isn't quite so boring. You can have sex, but if you do, you should do it properly and regardless of the consequences. As a result, there are scenes in all the films that Araki himself has written that stay with you because they are like the echo of a desire or a fear that you know very well yourself (unless you were too reserved as a teenager).
In "Kaboom", Juno Temple (Julien Temple's daughter) as London explains to one of her lovers that her cunt is not a pizza, and then candidly explains how to do it properly with girls and oral sex.
(Araki tells us in interviews with obvious pleasure that adult women come up to him at film festivals just to thank him for this scene. And that Juno Temple's mother, the film producer Amanda Temple, told her daughter that she had to make this film, if only because of this one monologue - she owed it to the women of the world).
As thanks for the training, he agrees to tie Smith to his bed on his birthday and, together with London, ensure that it is an unforgettable day.
The body as an adventure playground
For Araki, sexuality is not limited to something as silly as identities and is queer in the best sense of the word: your own body is a big adventure playground where you can learn a lot about yourself and others.
Another building block in Araki's universe is the constant suspicion that the world as a whole is on the decline. He also takes this idea to its logical conclusion in "Kaboom" as never before. In the words of REM's Michael Stipe: "It's the end of the world as we know it ... and I feel fine".
You leave the cinema with this feeling. A beautiful thing.
(pasch)
"Kaboom" (USA 2010) will be shown on 16 and 20 May on Gay Film Night in many cinemas throughout Germany. Exact dates and further information: http://gay-filmnight.com
