''Totally F***ed Up'' (also known as ''Totally Fucked Up'') is a 1993 American
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...
written and directed by
Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki (born December 17, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is noted for his heavy involvement with the New Queer Cinema movement. His film '' Kaboom'' (2010) was the first winner of the Cannes Film Festival Queer Palm.
Early life and e ...
. The first installment of Araki's ''Teenage Apocalypse'' film trilogy, it is considered a seminal entry in the
New Queer Cinema
"New Queer Cinema" is a term first coined by the academic B. Ruby Rich in ''Sight & Sound'' magazine in 1992 to define and describe a movement in queer-themed independent filmmaking in the early 1990s.
It is also referred to as the "Queer New W ...
genre.
The film chronicles the dysfunctional lives of six gay adolescents who have formed a family unit and struggle to get along with each other and with life in the face of various major obstacles. Araki classified it as "a rag-tag story of the fag-and-dyke teen underground....a kinda cross between
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
experimental cinema
Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...
and a queer
John Hughes flick." It premiered at the 1993
Sundance Film Festival.
Plot
The plot is concerned with six teenagers, four of whom are gay men, the other two a "traditional"
lesbian couple. The plot is episodic, spliced with segments of other material and occasional tangents not central to the plot, but it mainly follows a
linear
Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...
structure. Araki has constructed the film in 15 parts, which is described in the opening titles.
The film details the lives and romances of the six characters, before ultimately culminating at a climax at which there is an epilogue-like reaction from five of the characters before the film ends and the blue font credits appear.
Cast
*
James Duval
James Edward Duval is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the Gregg Araki ''Teenage Apocalypse'' film trilogy—''Totally F***ed Up'', ''The Doom Generation'', and '' Nowhere''. His other notable roles include Miguel in ''Independence ...
as Andy
*
Roko Belic
Roko Belic is an American film producer and director. His directorial debut, ''Genghis Blues'', was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Early life and education
Belic was born to Czechoslovakian and Yugoslavian parents, ...
as Tommy
* Susan Behshid as Michele
*
Jenee Gill as Patricia
*
Gilbert Luna as Steven
*
Lance May as Deric
*
Alan Boyce as Ian
*
Craig Gilmore as Brendan
*
Nicole Dillenberg as
Dominatrix
A dominatrix (; ) or femdom is a woman who takes the dominant role in BDSM activities. A dominatrix can be of any sexual orientation, but this does not necessarily limit the genders of her submissive partners. Dominatrices are known for infli ...
Production
Araki has said they shot on 16mm film without permits and that the film had "virtually no crew" and that he operated the camera himself, accompanied by only a sound person and producer/PA, and the cast.
Style
The film makes extensive use of a handheld video
camcorder
A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...
, which one of the characters uses to provide insight into the lives of other characters through interview-like discussion. The technique became popular throughout the 1990s, evident also in such later films as ''
Reality Bites
''Reality Bites'' is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and directed by Ben Stiller, in his directorial debut. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with supporting roles by Janeane Garofalo and St ...
'' (1994), ''
American Beauty'' (1999) and ''
The Blair Witch Project
''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams, and Josh ...
'' (1999).
Araki himself revisited the camcorder idea in his 1997 film ''
Nowhere''.
Home media
The film was released on Region 1
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
on June 28, 2005. The film also has a region 2 release in the UK and Germany. These releases feature a commentary track with Araki, Luna and Duval.
Year-end lists
* 6th –
Kevin Thomas, ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
''
See also
*
Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki (born December 17, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is noted for his heavy involvement with the New Queer Cinema movement. His film '' Kaboom'' (2010) was the first winner of the Cannes Film Festival Queer Palm.
Early life and e ...
* ''
The Doom Generation
''The Doom Generation'' is a 1995 black comedy thriller film written and directed by Gregg Araki. The film follows two troubled teenage lovers, Amy Blue (Rose McGowan) and Jordan White (James Duval), who pick up a young handsome drifter named Xavi ...
'' (1995)
* ''
Nowhere'' (1997)
References
External links
*
*
*
*
Screen Slate write-up by Mark Lukenbill
{{Gregg Araki
1993 films
1990s teen drama films
1993 LGBT-related films
American teen drama films
American teen LGBT-related films
1990s English-language films
Films directed by Gregg Araki
Films about drugs
American independent films
Gay-related films
Lesbian-related films
HIV/AIDS in American films
Films produced by Andrea Sperling
1993 drama films
1994 drama films
1994 films
1993 independent films
1990s American films