That was an excellent one.

Just so...so bad

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

It's very much of a piece with The Cockettes' live shows, which is to say chaotic, raucous, haphazard and "amateurish," which I mean in a GOOD way. It is great fun, and thoroughly bawdy, "not for children or stupid adults" (to quote Karen Finley). It is a wild tranny romp, subverting traditional gender roles and mocking uptight straight -- and gay -- society with merciless abandon. The film captures a slice of queer culture from the pre-plague era, when being outrageous and having fun was reason enough to carry on in the never-never land of the San Francisco scene. I understand that one of the Cockettes is selling a DVD transfer of it, but I don't believe it's otherwise available.

This movie is so startlingly, hilariously insane and brilliant. I saw it almost a year ago and it still thrills me to think of it. It is not easy to get a hold of this film, so if you have the chance to watch it then grab it! Basically the movie is a very bizarre LSD influenced series of ever more surreal moments, all tied up in a Marxist critique of the infringement on worker's rights. Just about everything is bad in this film; the acting, the dubbing, the script, but it is all intentionally so and the result is really quite the masterpiece of queer cinema. The Cockettes were pivotal to performance art and pop culture, this movie is just as valid as any of their performances.

This isn't the best Cockette movie, but it's definitely worth watching, especially if you know the cast members. It is a bit slow in parts, similar to Andy Warhol's early movies (The Sleep movie comes to mind, but it's not THAT slow!), and once you get used to Pristine Condition's make-up (I think Billy Orchid was responsible for that), the plot (what there is of one) tends to drag a bit (accidental pun - really!).By now, I would recommend anyone who has the opportunity to see it, if only for historical curiosity, but once is probably enough. I was fortunate enough to see it in San Francisco when I lived with one of the Cockettes, and my personal attachment to the cast probably affects my opinion of the movie, but I still think that it can be enjoyed by the curious, and especially those interested in the San Francisco culture of the early 1970s.

Shiva H. Vishnu!!! I can count on one hand the number of times I've been speechless in the last 5 years. Overlooking the snow-covered Rockies from Independence Pass is one. Reading the last 30 pages of Hannibal is another. Witnessing the aftermath of the Texas A&M Bonfire collapse is certainly a third. Well, this is a fourth.