I don’t want to write about this film. Take a so-called feel good movie and turn it upside down and you get Tarnation. I will relive this movie for the purposes of this review, but I won’t be watching it again.

First time filmmaker Jonathan Caouette’s personal life story is pure hell. While watching a surprisingly well-edited montage of home movies, answering machine recordings, photographs, and video diaries, his life unfolds as a series of ongoing tragedies.

Jon and his mother Renee

No father around, a schizophrenic mother, abuse while in foster care, hospitalization from taking tainted drugs, self-mutilation… and that’s just up to his teenage years. He started filming himself at the age of 11 and from there he began recording candid moments and the environment of his childhood and beyond. As he grew up, he found some comfort in underground films that mirrored his feelings and a new acceptance while hanging out at a gay night club.

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