Review of Tarnation (2003) by J. Peter S — 20 Jun 2007

Part reflexive documentary/part avant Guarde nightmare, Jonathan Caouette's first feature film makes for very difficult viewing. Tarnation explores the psychological trials of both Caouette and his mother Renee LeBlanc, the pain each have suffered and the difficulty of a strained relationship.

Mixed with disturbing footage of Jonathan (sometimes in drag, sometimes sporting Robert Smith hair and sometimes caked in movie blood), footage from several of his early, unreleased shorts and narrated by subtitles dictating the course of Jonathan's 31 painful years.

The film draws on a myriad of sources with presence which seems little more than coincidental. The footage of grandmother Rosemary Davis loosing her mind to degenerative brain disease was particularly torturous, particularly since I too have had to bare the harrowing burden of watching a loved one slip away into obscurity.

No mere 100 or so words can do justice to Tarnation. The film is such that whatever is said about it will only scratch the tip of the iceberg. Personal stories have that heavy quality to them (I know having done one myself) and the only people who deserve the right to speak of the issues they carry are those who know what its like.

Rather we should view Tarnation for all that it is, was and ever will be: the epic struggle of a troubled though sensitive artist who is not afraid to admit his dark past and who always speaks from the heart.