Before today I had never heard of George Kuchar. When my friend Bobby asked me if I’d like to go to a screening of some of his films tonight at BU Cinemateque, he warned me that “we might be in for some fucked up shit.”
As it turns out, George is one of America’s most respected underground filmmakers and has made over 60 films and nearly 200 videos. Active since the sixties when he began making films with his twin brother, George boasts an impressive personal history which includes amusing interactions with Andy Warhol and the privilege of shooting Edie Sedgwick.
George in "Hold Me While I'm Naked"
Incredibly personable, charismatic, funny, and delightfully sadistic, this aging filmmaker is probably one of the most entertaining people I have ever heard speak. And he loves to speak. Like… he REALLY loves talking. He used the phrase “okay start the show” numerous times in numerous variations, continually interrupting himself to share another entertaining anecdote about his life, his career, and film-making. He forgot to turn his microphone off during the first few minutes of the final film we saw and for those minutes his flamboyant voice echoed through the room, background noise to the movie’s audio track (for which George provided all of the voices).
This evening we saw three of George’s films, each very different, each very good, and each mind-bogglingly strange. The first, Musholu Holiday, was an abstract look at… something. The film features George’s bikini-bottomed brother staring at a dancing man on a roof and a naked midget walking into the bathroom. Both without explanation and both beautifully shot. The second film we saw was the most narrative of the three, a kind of tale of love and revenge called “Corrruption of the Damned.” It was an oddly erotic 50 minutes which culminated with a peculiar in-factory battle scene involving saws, boxes, and a bow and arrow. The third and most notable film we saw was “Hold Me While I’m Naked,” the film which first got George considerable recognition. The story of how the film came to be as it is is essentially the story of George’s philosophy on film-making. As he explained to us, the actress who was to appear in the film fell ill and had to drop out of the project. At that point George decided that the film was no longer about the actress, but about him, a director frustrated because he can’t shoot his movie. And the end result was great:
I think the greatest lesson George has to teach to film students is to not allow setbacks and seaming impossibilities keep a film from being made. When George’s actress got sick, he changed the project to fit the situation. I think that his uncompromising ability to compromise is the key to his success. Films cost a lot of money to make, but he has never allowed that to be an obstacle. If there is something that needs to be seen in the film, he offers, but its too big for the budget, don’t not do it, just do it smaller… and smaller… and smaller… until it fits the project. As a poor college student, that advice is some I’ll take.
I’ll close with the same words that ended “Hold Me While I’m Naked:”
There’s a lot of things in life worth living for, isn’t there?
P.S. – George wrote and acted in this film.
