Tag: Bruce LaBruce

The Visitor

Posted on by victorfraga

Bruce La Bruce is no stranger to visiting controversy. In; in No Skin Off My Ass (1991), he subverted Nazi ideologies and principles; LA Zombie (2008), he created a gay zombie thriller, and in Ulrike’s Brain (2017), LaBruce inserted the brain of a far-left revolutionary in a contemporary setting. But whatever LaBruce’s flirtations with other genres, he has always maintained true to the trappings of his career, which is why it shouldn’t come as a surprise that The Visitor – the director’s most overtly political work to date – ripples with sexual energy from the opening shot to the last.

The film opens on a homeless man standing beside the Thames, who is surprised to find a virile man (Bishop Black) resembling a Black Adonis tucked up inside the bag. Determined to bring chaos to the bourgeoisie (in this case, a domicile containing an affluent white family), the Adonis treats them to their sexual desires, and in doing so, draws a parallel to the ordinary people situated across England. Bolstered by an inspired marketing slogan (“Fuck for the many, not the few”), the film carries on in such an abstract manner until every member of the family is brought down by their decadence.

Inspired by Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Theorem (1968), LaBruce attempts to bring the struggle between the classes headfirst into the 21st century. No, it’s not as magnetic or as lush as the Pasolini original, but is not to say there’s not a huge amount to admire here, not least in the manner in which LaBruce uses race in order to illustrate the film’s emotional undertones. It is no coincidence that the central Adonis – the harbringer of lust – is played by a black man, typically a central fetish in the world of pornography. But this Adonis has more to offer the family than his cock: It’s a chance to bring the upper classes down from the inside out, using love,not hate, as his central tool.

Soundtracked by Hannah Holland’s intense techno beats, the individual coitus scenes are driven by animal lust, pushing the boundaries of sexual norms. And that’s how the scene between the Adonis and the Mother (Amy Kingsmill) plays out , beckoning viewers to “Join the new sexual world order” through a series of moans and dry humps. Naturally, the visitor in question takes a more dominant position, pushing the boundaries of his sexual instrument forward into the system (a tidy metaphor for a vagina. The camera slowly introduces viewers to the narrative, by opening in a natural environment, before closing in on more intimate quarters. By the time the film closes, there isn’t a sense that the audience has visited the ornate house, but lived in it.

As a political drama, the mood is induced early on by the Union Jack flag that flits over the Thames, reminding audiences of the region where the drama is unfolding. We hear the dulcet tones of a man crying out that there are too many refugees coming into the area, in an effort to destroy family unity. The film makes a jab at the Empire Britain has spent close to a thousand years building from the ground up. LaBruce has a liberal view on immigration, pitying those from poorer countries who must travel by uncomfortable means (a bag in this instance) in the hope of gaining meaningful employment. This very left wing in its resolve.

DOP Jack Hamilton shoots mostly static, although he makes sure to pay close attention to the erotic devices used by the participants in their journey to sexual fulfilment. Some of it feels recognisably propulsive, lit up by a latent desire to capture the devil inside each and every respectable person. Like much of his filmography, LaBruce lets the taboo wash over the proceedings, but there’s a frisson to the fornication, because there’s a rationale behind the debauchery,. This is one of LaBruce’s most polemical and most inventive movies. Nobody is going to leave the cinema thinking that the comments about immigrants are unfair. Fuck for the many, not the few.

The Visitor just premiered in the Panorama section of the 74th Berlin International Film Festival.

Disclaimer: this film was produced and co-written by Victor Fraga, publisher and editor of DMovies (alongside Alex Babboni).

Bruce LaBruce inside Pasolini: transgressive filmmaker is in London this April

Posted on by victorfraga

London-based arts organisation a/political presents The Visitor, a new sexually explicit body of work by artist and filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, inspired by Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Theorem (1968). The production of The Visitor will be filmed on-site at a/political between April 14th and 27th, with the public presentation of the project taking place between April 28th and 30th. A number of supporting events will take place during the entire month (scroll down for the full list).

Foregrounding sexual liberation, as well as bi- and homosexual revolutions, Bruce LaBruce continues to challenge the dominant and arbitrary heteronormative paradigm. “I’ve found that the best strategy as an artist or filmmaker for the insurgent re-investigation of cinema is to explore the sexual subtext of the original and make itas explicit as possible for maximum effect. I came to the conclusion that if you are going to make a film about sexual revolution, it’s best to put your Marxism where your mouth is and make the movie sexually explicit, or even better, pornographic, prioritising praxis over theory,” says Bruce LaBruce.

In Pasolini’s original, Terence Stamp plays a mysterious character only identified in the credits as The Visitor. The origin of this character is never explained, as he infiltrates an upper class Milanese family, gains their trust, and seduces them one by one – the frustrated mother, the alienated father, the delicate son, the innocent daughter, and the devoutly religious maid. It follows the artist’s interest in Freud’s concept of Family Romance – a neurotic symptom Freud observed in children, which would lead to sexual tensions within the family unit.

Cast and produced in London, LaBruce intends to reverse the dominating rhetoric in politics and the press on the sexualised violence of refugees. The ‘alien’ instead becomes a sexual healer, a sensitive subject he has explored before through the trope of the Black male’s sexual potency as a threat to the ‘domesticated’ white bourgeois sexual repression. “It makes sense in a contemporary British context to represent the Visitor as a racial minority considering the xenophobia and paranoia about immigration currently displayed in Europe, not only by the increasingly vocal extreme right wing elements actually gaining political traction and governmental representation, but more vaguely by traditionally colonialist countries in general that have previously “invaded” other countries of different ethnic majorities as hostile “aliens” themselves,” says Bruce LaBruce.

The project with a/political will take place concurrently with the launch of Doesn’t Exist Magazine’s tribute to Bruce LaBruce, for which LaBruce has curated part of the a/political collection. A retrospective of Bruce LaBruce’s work will also be held at RichMix in April, showcasing some of the artist’s iconic works exploring sexual taboos and liberation.

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The events

  • Public preview: April 21st, 18:00 – 21:00 (at a/political, located at The Bacon Factory, 6 Stannary Street, Kennington);
  • Public exhibition: April 28th to 30th, 10:00 – 18:00 daily (also at a/political);
  • Hustler White (1996) screening on April 7th (with remote Q&A with Bruce LaBruce) at the Rich Mix (click here for tickets);
  • Photo exhibition ‘Rethinking Pasolini’s Theorem: A Doesn’t Exist Fashion Story by Bruce LaBruce’ will be presented at Rich Mix from April 18th to May 23rd, with reception 17:00 on April 18th;
  • An Evening with Bruce LaBruce, Rich Mix Main Stage, Tuesday, April 18th between 18:45 – 23:00. It includes a 19:00 screening of Saint Narcisse (2020), 21:00 Conversation with Bruce and very special guests (tbc) hosted by Victor Fraga and pre-launch of Doesn’t Exist Magazine’s tribute to Bruce LaBruce (click here for tickets);
  • Theorem (1968) + intro and debate with Bruce LaBruce, BFI Southbank, Thursday, 25th April between 18:00 – 21:00. Doesn’t Exist magazine launch (click here for tickets); and
  • Raspberry Reich (2004) screening on April 29th, 19:00 at a/political..

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About Bruce LaBruce

Bruce LaBruce is a filmmaker, photographer, writer, and artist based in Toronto but working internationally. Along with a number of short films, he has written and directed fourteen feature films, including Gerontophilia, which won the Grand Prix at the Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal in 2013, and Pierrot Lunaire, which won a Teddy Award at the Berlinale in 2014.

As a photographer he has had numerous gallery shows around the world, including a photo exhibit called “Obscenity” at La Fresh Gallery in Madrid which caused a national ruckus in Spain in 2012. His feature film L.A. Zombie premiered in competition at the Locarno film festival in 2010 and was subsequently banned in Australia in 2010. His latest movie Saint-Narcisse was named one of the top 10 films of 2021 by John Waters in Artforum. His latest porn feature, The Affairs of Lidia, from Erika Lust Films, was released in 2022. LaBruce has contributed to a variety of international magazines, newspapers and websites as both a writer and photographer, including index magazine, for which he also acted as a contributing editor, Vice, The Guardian UK, Honcho, Purple Fashion, Numero, Dazed and Confused, Tank, BlackBook, Bon, Fantastic Man, Man About Town, Bomb, and many others. His photography books Death Book and Photo Ephemera (in two volumes) are available from Baron Books.

LaBruce has had a number of notable film retrospectives, including one at the Tiff/Bell Lighthouse under the auspices of the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014, one at MoMA in New York in 2015, and one at the la Cinémathèque Québécoise in Montreal in 2022.

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About a/political

a/political explores radical knowledge through the principle of Cultural Terror. Working with artists and agitators, the collective platforms voices that interrogate the critical issues and dominant narratives of our time. a/political functions through interventions, commissions and a collection of contemporary art. Projects include ORDER with Democracia; Black Flag with Santiago Sierra; The Game and INSURRECTION with Andres Serrano and Alamut with Laibach. Projects at The Bacon Factory include Pornopolitics and Other Precedents by Pyotr Pavlensky and States of Violence in collaboration with Wikileaks. Recently initiated, the a/political label uses the same methodology to collaborate on music projects that might be unsuitable for the mainstream industry. a/political is based in London, working closely with The Foundry and FOUNDRY UNIFORM in Maubourguet, Midi-Pyrénées. www.a-political.org / @apoliticalorg on social media.

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About Doesn’t Exist

Doesn’t Exist is a London-based magazine established in 2020. It is the only publication in the market bringing cinematic elements into a fashion landscape. Each issue is dedicated entirely to the world of either a filmmaker or a fashion designer, presenting their body of work in the shape of exciting fashion stories, eye-catching images, illustrations and exclusive written pieces by new talents, in a very cinematic blend. Our previous issues were tributes to filmmakers John Waters, Peter Greenaway and Michelangelo Antonioni, and to fashion designer Rei Kawakubo.

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About DMovies

DMovies is the UK’s portal for thought-provoking cinema. Founded in 2016, the platform-agnostic film website has since become firmly established as one of the most successful indie publications in the country. DMovies also has a nascent production and an exhibition arm. The organisation has produced two films, and it regularly showcases subversive, provocative and downright filthy movies with prestigious partners across London. It has a strategic partnership with various a-list festivals in Europe, including Locarno, San Sebastian, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, and others.

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Bruce is pictured at the top of this article, in an image by George Nebieridze; the other images are stills from Theorem, Saint Narcisse and Hustler White (three of the films being shown in April).

The Misandrists

Posted on by victorfraga

Not since Polanski’s Repulsion (1965) and Patty Jenkins’s Monster (2003) have you seen such rabid females expressing their repulsion of men. They despise their odour, their presence, their proximity and their existence. They refuse to live in a phallocentric society. What’s more, they do not strive for equality, as they don’t want to mirror themselves against what they see as a corrupt establishment. Welcome to the world of The Misandrists.

Bruce LaBruce’s latest film is a return to the politics of sex, which he explored in minute detail in Rapsberry Reich (2004), plus a commentary on extreme feminism. These female characters seek “to reconcile the revolutionary need with sexual politics” by rejecting men and setting up their Female Liberation Army (FLA) in an unidentified remote location.

Seven young women live under the purview of Big Mother (Susanne Sachsse) and her loyal sidekicks Sister Barbara, Sister Kembra, Sister Grete and Sister Dagmar. Until one day Isolde (Kita Updike) decides to harbour a wounded male fugitive in the basement, despite knowing that this represents a gross violation of the rules. Her misconducted is finally exposed, but that’s not the only surprise she has in store. Plenty of commotion and blood will follow.

LaBruce has retained his usual auteur trademark, as he weaves elements of pornography with Marxist rhetoric, plus throwing in a few experimental devices. It’s also a tribute to cinema itself, as the cinephilic director references a number of movies, including The Beguiled (Don Siegel, 1971) and The Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich, 1967). There are probably many more which only the extremely observant and fine-tuned will be able to identify. The film is also dotted with washed-out images of pillow fights, which are a tribute to lesbian erotica from the 1970s.

Some of the most recognisable devices of extreme feminism are also present: the desire for parthenogenesis (reproduction from a non-fertilised egg, where males are redundant) and the replacement of HIStory with HERstory (despite the etymology of the word having no connection with males whatsoever). Such extreme ideas are often associated to the writings of Andrea Dworking and Catharine MacKinnon, and dismissed as too radical by moderate feminists.

At least three sequences deserve a special mention. Firstly, the way the director breaks the fourth wall and invites the audience into the movie towards the end of the film. Secondly, when the females subvert the infamous Jewish blessing “Dear God who has not made me a woman” in their favour. Thirdly, when one of the girls find a very unorthodox use for a chicken egg. You’ll know what I’m talking about if you’ve seen Nagisa Oshima’s Realm of the Senses (1976). Otherwise, just use your imagination and I’m sure you can work it out just as well.

The fact that the director is a “pendulous” human being (quoting the vocabulary from the movie itself) could come across as a blasphemous (blaspheminine?) attack on female integrity, and on the overall identity of the movie. Bruce LaBruce confessed that at times he thought: “why am I doing this”. In reality, The Misandrists is an elegant and colourful tribute to feminism, if from a male perspective. LaBruce confessed in an interview with DMovies last year that working with so many women was a novelty, and that he “let the girls guide themselves, and do things the way they would do it” while making the film. The director is indeed very respectful of the females, yet his gaze is still pervasive, and this ultimately remains a very masculine Bruce LaBruce movie.

The Misandrists premiered at the Berlinale in early 2017, when this piece was originally written. It is showing in September at the Raindance Film Festival of London and then in November at Fringe!. It’s out on DVD on April 30th (2018).