Mondo New York (1988)

[Fitzcarraldo]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093558/

This exceptional documentary takes you for a walk on the wild side through the seamier byways of New York and shows the variety and uniqueness of the underground art scene.

The DVD features entertainment that would not be listed in your average going out guide. The camera follows a young woman around New York city as she stumbles across a number of strange individuals, situations and performances. The programme not only features stand-up comics, poetry recitals and performance art, but in the hunt for the outrageous - cockfights, an exploding mouse-head biter, a voodoo ceremony, a woman beating a dead horse, a prostitution auction and many more bizarre sights and sounds.


"Mondo New York home to outcast, misfit, reject, loser, pervert, lunatics, gangsters, pranksters and outlaws. Neurotic psychotic maniacs, brainiacs, hippies, yippies, yuppie, junkies, flunkies, monkeys; all trying to claw their way to the top of the trash heap, the top of the garbage pile, all screaming in the American way Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me! I want my fame, my fortune, my lousy fifteen minutes, my what the fuck ever it is you want it we got it! If you don't see it ask for it because it comes in all shapes and sizes, all colours and every dimension - Mondo New York."

Now I know why performance art has such a bad name. This really has to be seen to be believed--so you're better off not believing it.
A haphazardly presented collection of musical performances, comedy shticks, S&M shows, poetry recitals, and other bullshit of a similar order, Mondo is supposed to be an in-your-face overview of the underground art scene in New York as it was around 1987. Alas, while I had hoped for an entertainingly lurid geek show--you can't say I had high expectations here--what I got instead was an abysmally silly, pretentious parade of non-talents that made me reminisce about The Gong Show Movie. Where's the Unknown Comic when you need him?

Lowlights include (1) a Santeria(?) ritual during which a man bites off the head of a live chicken; (2) an extraordinarily grating on-stage monologue from the deservedly infamous Karen Finley, whose act carries all the charm of fingernails being dragged across a blackboard; (3) a performance of the punk song "Fuck You"; (4) a woman literally beating a dead horse; (5) a cockfight; (6) a woman who has sex with a wheelchair-bound man while a second woman reads bad poetry; and (7) a fat guy who bites the heads off two live mice (I notice a pattern forming...) and detonates fireworks stuffed under his shirt.

If that weren't frightening enough, consider that much of this happens to the tune of godawful '80s New Wave music. And that people with names like John Sex appear.

If this sounds at all interesting, then I've failed miserably. This is the most profoundly annoying pile of cosmic nonsense I've seen in years.

There you go, a good review and a bad review (I'm not going to pretend the movie is some masterpiece of documentary cinema, but if you're at all interested in the NY art scene in the 80s, and you've read about people like Karen Finley but have never seen a performance, this is not bad at all). -Oh, almost forgot - this is a VHS rip .

Mondo New York -by P-.mpg

(could anyone please post this at divxclasico? thanks!)

[Bruckheimer]

La pincho aunque de momento en pausa,muchas gracias Fitzcarraldo.Un saludo.

[hurdygurdy]

Guau! Obrigado, Fitz.

[vaughan]

sounds great! thanks!

[SolPolito]

pa bajo gracias ..

[SolPolito]

Completa i compartiendo!
Salud

[Coquito]

Otro que pincha, y otro que lo hace en pausa por un par de dias.
Pero que michisma gracias. Sea como sea, como film o como documento (aunque no sepa muy bien cual es la diferencia...) parece una cosa interesante.

¡¡¡¡Sr. Fitzcarraldo, es usted gigante!!!