There’s also the scene that pauses and cuts to Kaufman and his wife, playing themselves, as they argue in the editing room about whether or not the gag they just interrupted is going too far.Īlso, one of Kaufman’s signatures is that he crams multiple jokes simultaneously in the foreground and the background and in all corners of the frame.
Memorable moments include a scene that looks like someone accidentally turned on the director’s commentary track (complete with Blu-ray/DVD pop-up menu) to reveal Kaufman’s jokingly pompous explanation of a particularly absurd moment. This film deconstructs itself, but never in a pretentious way. Looney Tunes treatment of form and structure, come to think of it). It’s mind-boggingly busy, paced like a rocket and has, dare I say, a French New Wave-like treatment of form and structure (or maybe a Warner Bros. It’s made with total freedom, which is something that Kaufman has had as an independent filmmaker from the very beginning, but this one really flips over the game board. That was something that I couldn’t stop thinking about as I watched this relentless and kinetic and all-around insane film. (I’d put David Lynch in there, too, but living to his 70s with his smoking habit makes him too superhuman for me to relate to him.) He’s one of those guys who is teaching me how to get older and hopefully not become a boring asshole. He’s a devastatingly funny guy.Īlong with Alejandro Jodorowsky and Joe Bob Briggs, I would place Lloyd Kaufman among my role models for how to age. Kaufman has no lecture in him to anyone about how they should live their lives, whether they’re 15 or 95.Īll he has is anger toward the powers that be and a natural wit. Yes, he’ll joke about their addictions to cellphones and social media, but that’s not exclusive to the kids. The 73-year-old Kaufman also never talks shit about younger people. He’s constantly taking shots at the shitheads, the bought-and-sold corporate fucks who’d happily sell you fast food burgers made of rat poison if it meant more profit and power. In a Kaufman-directed film there is ALWAYS subversion underneath the splatter and bodily fluids and nudity and tasteless jokes. And, despite his reputation, he (as a director, at least) has never just pushed out crap for the quick buck. He’s never let whatever state the film industry is in prevent him from making something new.
He’s not interested in proving that he can direct a straightforward drama with Meryl Streep. Lloyd Kaufman has done one of my favorite things that any film director can do.Īs he’s gotten older, he’s gotten WEIRDER.
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