Comprehensive information and links about Tarnation

Tarnation is a 2003 documentary film by Jonathan Caouette (born November 1973).

The 88-minute long film was produced with a minimal budget of $218, using free iMovie software on a Macintosh computer. As film critic Roger Ebert notes, thousands more were spent on creating a film print and clearing the rights to use the copyrighted music.

table is a documentary of Jonathan Caouette's life, also focussing on his mother, Renee LeBlanc, who was treated with electroshocks in her youth. With an oft-gone mother and a father (Steve Caouette) who had abandoned them, Caouette had a rough childhood. He eventually came to live with his grandparents, Adolph and Rosemary Davis, who had some personality quirks but were able to provide a supporting and generally good roof over his head.

Caouette came out as being gay at a young age and eventually found a boyfriend named David Sanin Paz. They moved to New York City, where both of them live today. For a time his mother joined them as well, and as he had tracked down his father the three of them were able to re-establish a family connection. As his online website notes his mother has since moved back to Texas, though he still lives with David.

An impressive scene early in the movie has an 11-or-so-year old Caouette relating a monologue about a damaging relationship he made up on the spot, wherein he plays an unknown woman.

Today he is involved in speaking at showings of his movie and helping his grandfather with his house and personal dealings at Caouette's childhood home.

Caouette used old VHS video footage, photographs and answering machine messages to tell his story. The soundtrack further uses songs by Lisa Germano, the Cocteau Twins, Dolly Parton, Low, Mark Kozelek, Glen Campbell, The Magnetic Fields, Nick Drake and many more. Two songs, were composed by Max Avery Lichtenstein to be played on the end credits. The song 'Safe As Milk', from the band Hopewell, was used on the trailer.

Reception history

The film was published in 2004, supported by Gus Van Sant and John Cameron Mitchell as executive producers, and Stephen Winter and Caouette as producers. When presented at the Los Angeles film festival, it won the prize for best documentary.

The film entered the "official selection" of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival Directors' Fortnight and Sundance Film Festival.

An early screening of the movie was much more abstract in nature, running for about two hours. With input from Van Sant, Cameron Mitchell, producer Stephen Winter, and co-editor Brian A. Kates, he re-edited it down to two hours, then finally about an hour and a half for the general screenings.