so one day I was showing my bud squared (we were probably dating at the time ) " doom generation" we get around to Dustin Nguyen of 21 jump street fame getting his head blown off and landing in guacamole...when suddenly squared freaked out..not over the reanimated head vomiting guacamole but because I had in showing him the flick had solver a mystery of his past...the story goes one night he and his father were watching late night cable when they saw the aforementioned scene and did a WTF unknowing what movie it was or what context it had occurred in..till that moment squared sat shocked at the randomness.
I first was introduced to Gregg Araki cinema one night as I had sleepless slumber. I was dealing with my homosexual tendencies. The biggest issue was that I didn't see myself in gay culture. You don't get very many representations in popular media of korn loving punk rock music listening to horror movie buffs...so how could I be gay? I couldn't sleep..i was crying and dealing with my ever increasing feelings towards guys when I decided sleep wasn't happening so I turned on the tv and like squared I found an Araki movie while channel surfing. As I watched "nowhere"
I found myself growing attracted to James Duval...then he has a speech about being doomed...that was cathartic...then another blonde guy showed up...gorgeous and blonde...now if you've seen an Araki movie you know that his gay characters are unconventional (90210 with piercings and tattoos some critics have stated) and nowhere was no exception. You have to understand I was practically suicidal at this point. I had a girlfriend but I couldn't bring myself to go any further with her. I was abused for years as a child because I wasn't straight acting as a kid...to accept being gay was an acceptance that the perpetrator of my abuses was right...but I couldn't help it. I was growing attracted to the high school QB and I couldn't handle it.
James Duval and Nathan bexton end up together in bed at the end.
"all of my life I've wanted to find someone who loves me and accepts me for who what I am"
I cried more. They weren't your typical homosexuals and I realized then I didn't have to be either.
Gregg Araki (and Brian grillo of extra fancy) kept me from being another statistic.
11/24/2007 I raced across Santa Monica with stolzman from a showing of "brick" at the rialto (more on that later) to the nuart where Araki's newest flick "smiley face" (which he directed only) was being shown with an Araki QandA...so we raced so I could have Araki sign my arm so I could get it inked the next day. Movie, purchasing of a Harold and Maude DVD at the cinema, Araki was standing in the lobby. I actually already told him the story of how he saved me (this was my second time meeting him the first was at a "mysterious skin" screening) so this time was strictly a signature endeavor...so he places the marker on my arm and sees my first signature tattoo
"is that John waters?" I tell him it is "I don't want to be upstaged by John waters!"
he signs my arm and tells me he's going to have to tell John about this one.
since that day I've met several people who have been touched by his flicks..all queer dudes who saw a bit of themselves in his cinema. His signature tattoo is for a suicidal teenager who found himself via independent cult cinema.
For me It was Cocteau and Bowie while everyone else was Hitchcock & the Beach Boys! Or worse when I was on a farm in rural Quebec.
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