Totally Fucked Up
Encyclopedia
Totally Fucked Up is a 1993
American
drama film
written and directed by Gregg Araki
. The first installment of Araki's Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy, Totally Fucked Up is a seminal entry in the New Queer Cinema
genre.
Totally Fucked Up 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
experimental cinema
and a queer John Hughes flick."
couple. The plot is spliced with segments of other material and occasional tangents not central to the plot, but it mainly follows a 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.
, which one of the characters uses to provide insight into the lives of other characters through interview-like discussion. The technique becomes popular throughout 1990s film, evident also in such later works as Reality Bites
(1994) American Beauty
(1999) and The Blair Witch Project
(1999).
1993 in film
The year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...
American
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
written and directed by Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki is an American independent filmmaker. He is involved in New Queer Cinema.-Early life:Araki was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Santa Barbara, California...
. The first installment of Araki's Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy, Totally Fucked Up is a seminal entry in the New Queer Cinema
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...
genre.
Totally Fucked Up 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
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
experimental cinema
Experimental film
Experimental film or experimental cinema is a type of cinema. Experimental film is an artistic practice relieving both of visual arts and cinema. Its origins can be found in European avant-garde movements of the twenties. Experimental cinema has built its history through the texts of theoreticians...
and a queer John Hughes flick."
Plot
The plot is concerned with six teenagers, four of whom are gay men, the other two a "traditional" lesbianLesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
couple. The plot is spliced with segments of other material and occasional tangents not central to the plot, but it mainly follows a linear
Linear
In mathematics, a linear map or function f is a function which satisfies the following two properties:* Additivity : f = f + f...
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 DuvalJames DuvalJames Edward Duval is an American actor, who is most famous for his roles in the Gregg Araki trilogy—Totally Fucked Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere—in addition to Frank in Donnie Darko, Blank in May, Miguel in Independence Day and Singh in Go.-Personal life:Duval was born in Detroit, Michigan...
as Andy - Roko BelicRoko BelicRoko Belic is an American film director, producer, cinematographer, and actor. His directorial debut, Genghis Blues , was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature...
as Tommy - Susan Behshid as Michele
- Jenee Gill as Patricia
- Gilbert Luna as Steven
- Lance May as Deric
- Alan Boyce as Ian
- Craig GilmoreCraig GilmoreCraig Gilmore is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the New Queer Cinema films The Living End and Totally Fucked Up.-External links:* at All Media Guide...
as Brendan - Nicole Dillenberg as DominatrixDominatrixDominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...
Style
The film makes extensive use of a handheld video camcorderCamcorder
A camcorder is an electronic device that combines a video camera and a video recorder into one unit. Equipment manufacturers do not seem to have strict guidelines for the term usage...
, which one of the characters uses to provide insight into the lives of other characters through interview-like discussion. The technique becomes popular throughout 1990s film, evident also in such later works as Reality Bites
Reality Bites
Reality Bites is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and featuring the directorial debut of Ben Stiller. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with major supporting roles played by Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn. The film was shot on location in Austin...
(1994) American Beauty
American Beauty (film)
American Beauty is a 1999 American drama film directed by Sam Mendes and written by Alan Ball. Kevin Spacey stars as Lester Burnham, a middle-aged magazine writer who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter's best friend, Angela...
(1999) and The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur footage. The film was produced by the Haxan Films production company. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American horror film pieced together from amateur...
(1999).
See also
- Gregg ArakiGregg ArakiGregg Araki is an American independent filmmaker. He is involved in New Queer Cinema.-Early life:Araki was born in Los Angeles but grew up in Santa Barbara, California...
- The Doom GenerationThe Doom GenerationThe Doom Generation is a film by director Gregg Araki. Released in 1995, it stars Rose McGowan, James Duval and Johnathon Schaech as two teenagers and a 21-year-old punk drifter who become involved in a ménage à trois. It is the second of a trilogy of films known as the Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy,...
(1995) - NowhereNowhere (film)Nowhere is a 1997 film by director and screenwriter Gregg Araki. It stars James Duval and Rachel True as Dark and Mel, a bisexual teen couple who are both sexually promiscuous....
(1997)