SPOT — Taipei Film House (台北光點) has been instrumental in bringing lots of wonderful movies to Taipei, and its latest project, Underground Heaven, expands the theater’s mandate of showcasing what the mainstream wishes to ignore. This is a self-confessed mishmash of films from the edge of the cinematic fringe. Nevertheless it contains nuggets of gold.
High on concept, low on budget, there are films like the opening movie Tarnation (2004), that despite its initial US$218 production cost — it’s a loosely linked collage of super-8 footage, text and stills drawn from over 20 years and put together with the consumer software iMovie — wowed critics with its intimate portrayal of a life in small town Texas. Made by Jonathan Caouette, for whom the film has been something of a life’s work, Tarnation shows the power of new media when put to work by the truly inspired. Since its release in 2004, it has won a bevy of awards.
At the other extreme, we have Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959), which is widely regarded as one of the worst and most inept commercial movies ever made. In fact, it’s so bad that it is a cult classic among science fiction aficionados. There is some dispute as to whether hubcaps were actually used to represent the flying saucers in a number of scenes.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF SPOT - TAIPEI FILM HOUSE
There is a more than adequate English introduction to the 17 films at SPOT’s Web site at www.twfilm.org/underground/, though worth mentioning purely for novelty value is the film Adventures of Iron Pussy, a Thai musical comedy about “a secret agent drag queen who is actually a mild mannered 7-11 clerk.”
Tickets are on sale now with screenings from today through Jan. 11. Details of screening times can be found at www.twfilm.org/underground. Tickets are NT$200 and are available through NTCH ticketing. A NT$50 discount can be obtained by SPOT members. A book of 10 tickets is NT$1,500, or NT$1,200 for members.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF SPOT - TAIPEI FILM HOUSE
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