[MellySingsDoom]

Hey, demonrail - I watched this one again!

"Flaming Creatures" (dir. Jack Smith, 1963) - A re-watch for me of NYC-based Smith's third "underground" feature (first saw this at the Lux Cinema in Hoxton in 2000). No real plot to speak of - mainly depictions of LGBT-style sexuality, with cross-dressing by the male leads thrown in. What could in theory have been a decent effort mainly induced boredom in me - there's a 10 minute group-sex scene (mostly simulated) which didn't exactly hit the spot for me (and the male-female sex scene made me go "hmmm..." for overtly-groping reasons). After the sex scene is over, there's really not much to write home about - just shots of the performers posing and lounging around in their get-ups, a bit more erotica...and that's it.

I know that Smith has got a fairly hard-hitting reputation in various film circles, but on the strength of this, I'm once again completely baffled as to where this reputation comes from. I think that the lack of structure and solidity definitely works against this film, and the actors attempt a laconic insouciance that simply doesn't work. I mean, Smith should I guess be credited for attempting a study of fluid sexuality (and for which he got hammered for on legal terms by the NYC authorities at the time), but he simply hasn't captured the essence of what this sexuality actually is.

The print in question I saw was in very poor quality - a lot of stock deterioration is on this copy, making it virtually unwatchable in places. There are also multiple sound drop-outs on the soundtrack - songs used suddenly cut off, never to re-appear (or re-appear in poor sound quality). The film is shot on 8mm stock on one camera, and although the editing is OK, I think (even at 42 minutes) some trimming could had taken place to tighten up the whole flow of the film.

Although my reaction this time is not as negative as it was on my initial viewing all them years ago, I can't help but feel that I'm either totally missing the point of this film, or a case of me simply finding this sphere of "underground" film-making not to my taste at all.

If you are a follower of this genre of cinema, I guess that you should give it a go at least once. Otherwise, I'm afraid to say that I can't recommend this one to the casual viewer.