If you are expecting a pleasurable movie, you are wrong. Tarnation had me watching most part with confusion and fright, feeling like I did not understand what was going on.
This feeling of confusion for a large part is caused by the movie's graphics: the fragments of the movie are made throughout some 20 years, and so differ strongly in quality. You cannot expect much from amateur film made around the 80s, but, watching this in 2018, the blurred, pixelated graphics make for an uncanny feeling. Mixed with the extra color effects and video animations, it sometimes gets to the point where you feel like you are watching a psychedelic movie. A very creepy one - one that for the most part left me thinking "what the hell is going on".
However confusing and uncomfortable most of the movie is, the psychedelic parts explain the chaos of shock therapy, mental diseases, and filmmaker Jonathan's youth. At a certain moment Jonathan smoked 2 joints, which messed with his brain, making him feel like he was living in a dream. From this point on, the chaos and speed of which all different fragments are shown is in sync with the trouble that the family went through - getting worse throughout the years.
An hour into the movie, you get back to the same shot as the beginning - Jonathan's mother overdosing on lithium. From here on, there is a shift in the movie - the story is now told via interviews from Jonathan with his family. This makes it easier and more comfortable to watch, as it feels like Jonathan at this point got through the family mess he was dealing with and is ready to share it.
Through interviews with his family members and a higher quality camera, Tarnation's very end shows the pain in the family. There is no acting; all fights and emotions are very present and real. At the very end, breaking down in front of the camera, Jonathan addresses the people asking why he always looked so stressed and "what the hell was wrong with him". The answer is this movie.
This feeling of confusion for a large part is caused by the movie's graphics: the fragments of the movie are made throughout some 20 years, and so differ strongly in quality. You cannot expect much from amateur film made around the 80s, but, watching this in 2018, the blurred, pixelated graphics make for an uncanny feeling. Mixed with the extra color effects and video animations, it sometimes gets to the point where you feel like you are watching a psychedelic movie. A very creepy one - one that for the most part left me thinking "what the hell is going on".
However confusing and uncomfortable most of the movie is, the psychedelic parts explain the chaos of shock therapy, mental diseases, and filmmaker Jonathan's youth. At a certain moment Jonathan smoked 2 joints, which messed with his brain, making him feel like he was living in a dream. From this point on, the chaos and speed of which all different fragments are shown is in sync with the trouble that the family went through - getting worse throughout the years.
An hour into the movie, you get back to the same shot as the beginning - Jonathan's mother overdosing on lithium. From here on, there is a shift in the movie - the story is now told via interviews from Jonathan with his family. This makes it easier and more comfortable to watch, as it feels like Jonathan at this point got through the family mess he was dealing with and is ready to share it.
Through interviews with his family members and a higher quality camera, Tarnation's very end shows the pain in the family. There is no acting; all fights and emotions are very present and real. At the very end, breaking down in front of the camera, Jonathan addresses the people asking why he always looked so stressed and "what the hell was wrong with him". The answer is this movie.
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