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THE PERFECT QUEER APPOSITENESS OF JACK SMITH Rating: NNN
Jack Smith’s Flaming Creatures is the underground movie that crystalized a style, a shabby, dreamy drag party that’s aggressive only in its nonchalance. Made in 1963 on low-grade black-and-white stock, it’s entirely without narrative but has something better – polymorphous attitude. Exposed breasts and limp penises decorate the mise en scène, and at one point a man pines for “a lipstick that doesn’t come off when you suck cocks.” Smith died in 1989, but his reputation has only bloomed since then. Pleasure Dome’s two-night tribute matches Flaming Creatures with assorted Smith shorts on Friday night, then heads outdoors on Saturday for a screening of Normal Love. It’s as Dionysian but much less compelling, even with the guest-starring black-and-gold snake. Normal Love may benefit from the al fresco setting, where attention can be as casual as Smith’s style. (July 18, Cinecycle July 19, 401 Richmond West courtyard)
