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Tarnation
Wellspring Media


7.3

based on 32 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 32 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Jonathan Caouette, Michael Cox, Adolph Davis, Rosemary Davis, Renee Leblanc, and David Sanin Paz

Jonathan Caouette's film reimagines the whole idea of what a documentary can be. He weaves a psychedelic whirlwind of snapshots, Super-8 home movies, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, snippets of 80s pop culture and dramatic reenactments to create an epic portrait of an American family torn apart by dysfunction and reunited through the power of love. (Wellspring Media)

GENRE(S):	Documentary \| Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Jonathan Caouette
DIRECTED BY:	Jonathan Caouette
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: May 17, 2005 Video: May 17, 2005 Theatrical: October 6, 2004
RUNNING TIME:	88 minutes, B/W / Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Village Voice J. Hoberman

A tale of sadness and hysteria so raw that it bleeds.

100

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Caouette has used art, wit and a huge heart to forge his experiences into an unqualified masterpiece.

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Harrowing, extremely disturbing at times, but brought to the screen in dazzling pop-art images that make the movie's grim content very much worth watching.

100

Slate David Edelstein

A collage of pain that breaks over you like a wave. Every second you can feel the cost to Caouette of what he's showing: The sounds and the images are like a pipeline from his unconscious to the screen.

100

Chicago Reader Meredith Brody

It's something of a masterpiece: a confessional experimental documentary with echoes, both conscious and unconscious, of filmmakers from Andy Warhol to John Cassavetes, Stan Brakhage to David Lynch.

100

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

A masterpiece.

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It is a remarkable film, immediate, urgent, angry, poetic and stubbornly hopeful.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Painfully beautiful autobiographical kaleidoscope.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Caouette lifts his story clear out of the victimized whine that bogs down so many confessional memoirs and offers the viewer instead an intimate look inside his ravaged yet loving head, at once street-smart and haloed by the naiveté of a young saint.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Certainly one of the strangest and most interesting movies of the year, and I suspect that in years to come a number of other strange and interesting movies will show traces of its influence.

The Hollywood Reporter Sheri Linden

Layering soundtrack and visuals in an intricate collage of rich emotional texture, he (Jonathan Caouette) displays an exhilarating talent.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

It is incomplete, contradictory, as multifaceted (and as brilliant) as a diamond.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

You may not want to hang with the haunted Caouettes, but the movie is so compelling, it doesn't give you a choice.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A remarkable and remarkably compelling document.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Sometimes people grow up sane despite the best efforts of society to drive them mad. This is the case for filmmaker Jonathan Caouette.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The movie is such an intense, disturbing and exhilarating experience, even five more minutes might have felt like too much.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

An astonishing multimedia diary.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The result is a film that defies description. I'd call it some kind of miracle.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Tarnation represents a breakthrough in the possibilities of the personal film as a mix of poetry and journalism. It's also harrowing as hell.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Watching Jonathan Caouette's amazing autobiographical documentary Tarnation is like descending into a pop-music, underground-movie hell and heaven, the shattered and shattering landscape of a living body and mind.

New York Magazine Peter Rainer

By all odds, Tarnation should have been an unwatchable, masochistic morass, but Caouette's love for the broken Renee--which is the true subject of the film--is awe-inspiring.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Caouette's shattering Tarnation represents a landmark in personal filmmaking: It finally realizes the digital dream of a raw, unsanctioned glimpse into the soul.

Empire David Parkinson

For all the courage and ingenuity of this extraordinary film, it's clear that Caouette has actually resolved few issues and that his life is still very much a work in progress.

Dallas Observer Melissa Levine

In this case, the subject and director are one and the same, and the result is a degree of intimacy--really of rawness--rarely achieved in film.

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

An impassioned documentary about a damaged American family, includes moments that seem to cross the line of what is emotionally acceptable to show onscreen.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Caouette's fractured history is imbued with heart-crushing sincerity.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

One of those documentaries about a family train wreck that makes you wonder how people consented to have their tawdry laundry washed so publicly.

Variety Dennis Harvey

Getting so close to real-life mental illness, via footage that spans many years, renders Tarnation a uniquely potent experience.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Caouette has opened up a case history vividly, but he has left us without any conclusions, not even with much enlightening empathy. Something more than truth--dare one say "mere truth"?--is needed.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

The movie is a daunting blend of head trip, cinéma vérité, music video, and auto-therapy.

TV Guide Ken Fox

A bold, painful memoir that finds an innovative middle-ground between conventional documentary and a homemade, home-movie collage.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

I reckon that for everyone who's enthralled by the film there will be others who wish they'd heard about it rather than seen it.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.3 (out of 10) based on 32 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

SEBASTIAN gave it a10:
What would you feel if you have the possibilitie of watch your life on TV?. This film is astonishing

Shauna T. gave it a7:
This film has some good moments, but it is unfocused. there are long surreal clips that occur simultaneously and often nonsensically. it is not nearly a masterpiece, its too much of a mess. maybe its a critic's film, because i love unique and intelligent films and i was not turned off by the depressing subject matter, but i found this film to be amateur-ish and badly edited. some material was very irrelevant and self-indulgent.

Scarlet gave it a10:
It was one of the best documenterys I've seen in a while plus it got my grade in school out of the trash can.

Michael L. gave it a5:
This film started so strongly; I was mesmerized by the visuals, the Low soundtrack, the edginess--yet compassion it contained in those first 15 minutes. Then it soared downhill. A real shame--because this should have been a masterpiece judging from the promise of the opening. Instead, it becomes Caouette's song of himself--a music video walking on the wild side. All the fancy effects, groovy camerawork and nifty music can't make up for narrative that disappears. Characters appear and disappear so quickly, one has no chance of making a connection. Except Caouette himself--and his obvious need for validation. That, perhaps is the final impression of this film. It feels insincere exploitive in the end.

frank T gave it a4:
Solipsistic bore. mean-spirited in the cornering of the granparents on film. as if they're equipped to deal with his on camera accusatory questions. another failed actor who turns the camera on himself (see Super-Size me for the other one.)

Carl M. gave it a10:
Very probably one of the best movies I have ever watched. If its really a documentary it is the best documentary ever, if it is fiction it will still be a movie so strong and heartbreaking that it will change your life - and how many movies actually have the power to influence other peoples lifes so much? Strangely enough, I somehow don't really look forward to any more movies from Jonathan, I simply hope this masterpiece will give Jonathan the peace of mind he deserves.

Holly H. gave it a10:
Best doc ever!!!!

Tarnation Wellspring Media

Tarnation
Wellspring Media