Institute History
Description
What becomes a legend most? The haute-sleaze effect is particularly fetching on diva Bruce LaBruce (No Skin Off My Ass) in the only film that can honestly be described as the “feel good” movie of the year. LaBruce also stars in this vaguely autobiographical look at a triple-X star/director caught in the downward spiral of his career. Remarks Googie, the art-house auteur who’s either exploiting LaBruce or launching his comeback, “He was actually attempting to break down the whole subject-camera relationship. . . . It was as if he was an existentialist trapped in a porno star’s body.”
Well, almost. Just as LaBruce’s scrawny, hangover aesthetics challenge the conventions of gay porn’s Wonder Bread desire, his newly adroit camera unsettles narrative assumptions. A dense weave of self-reflexive
interviews, cynical vignettes, and outageous cameos by “Kid in the Hall” Scott Thompson and drag goddess Vaginal Creme Davis—along with moments stolen almost verbatim from films like Fellini’s 8 1/2 and Play It as It Lays—Super 8 1/2 still manages enough rude sex to keep the whole unruly narrative in your face.