Sundance 2011 Review: Kaboom

Gregg Araki returns with his latest, eccentric exploration of youth culture and sexuality

After playing at Cannes, Gregg Araki’s latest film, Kaboom, makes its US debut at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival alongside a nationwide VOD launch courtesy of Sundance Selects. The film is a playful follow-up to his pot-smoking tribute Smiley Face and hearkens back to earlier works like The Doom Generation and Nowhere, minus the nihilistic fatalism. Thomas Dekker plays the story’s linchpin Smith; an 18-year old omnisexual college student, Smith’s main preoccupations lie with handling his hyper-masculine but possibly bisexual roommate Thor (Chris Zylka), hanging out with his best friend Stella (Haley Bennett) and trying to figure out what the hell is causing the same nightmare he has been experiencing for quite some time. Walking naked down a corridor, surrounded by people he knows as well as mysterious strangers, all leading to a bright light and dumpster, Smith can’t shake this bizarre vision but feels there must be something more to it.

As he and Haley verbally joust with one another, bouncing from class to class, individuals from Smith’s dream begin to appear in real life. Case in point: Lorelei (Catherine Breillat regular Roxane Mesquida), a beautiful, lesbian coed who falls in love hard with Stella. Their relationship is amazing at first, until Lorelei begins displaying crazy, supernatural powers and transforms into a total stalker. There is also a mysterious Red Headed Girl, whom Smith meets at a party with Stella while tripping from a hallucinogenic cookie. While in his enhanced state, Smith and this girl are chased down by a gang of animal mask-wearing thugs who promptly and viciously murder her. Or do they?

Unsure of his memory when sober, Smith dedicates himself to tracking down this girl while also enjoying a fun, friends with benefits relationship with London (Juno Temple), a free-spirited English girl who loves sex and is attracted to queer boys like Smith. Smith’s investigation though leads him down some dark paths though, as people disappear, supernatural events become commonplace, and a mysterious doomsday cult sets their eyes on him for unknown reasons. All he knows is no one is what they appear to be and if he is not careful, he will bring about the end of the world. Now I know that is quite a lot to take in at once but trust me, Araki keeps the pace and story moving along at a determined speed, sweeping you up into a vortex of Godard-inspired pop madness, trippy special effects, and lots of fun, guilt-free sex. The over-the-top melodrama mixed with surrealism is a clear homage to David Lynch’s homespun weirdness, with Twin Peaks especially acting as a blueprint.

As the plot lines become even stranger, Araki pushes the pace and ridiculousness even further until the film transforms into a genuine thriller with stakes as large as Armageddon. To everyone’s credit, neither cast nor director flinch in the face of the insanity. Dekker’s performance anchors the various plot elements together quite effectively; physically resembling an even more boyish-looking Jared Leto, Dekker plays up Smith’s sexual exploration as being concerned less with identity than with experiencing pleasure without worry. This is not an early-Nineties search for identity but much more akin to John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus; sex in Kaboom is almost a spiritual energy that drives all the characters that indulge in it responsibly and have fun without making a fuss.

Whether it is Lorelei using her psychic powers to induce Stella to orgasm or London hoping on and off and number of boys guilt-free, no one is left feeling guilty after a go around. Araki has never shied away from exploring all sexuality in his films and that’s what you get here, shy of children and animals of course. More than that though, the director proves his ability to tap into the same insouciant energy that his own generation burned through in the early Nineties and apply it towards today’s hyper-aware and jaded youth culture.

Quickly approaching middle age, you would never guess it by Araki’s subject matter and confidence behind the camera. Special notice goes also to Bennett and Temple for their supporting roles; each one plays a sexually confident woman, unapologetic and filled to the brim with energetic charisma. What remains ultimately is Araki though, as he returns to the same drug-and-sex filled youth that his oeuvre was initially built upon tempered now by a mellower sensibility and embrace of full-on comedy. After his previous features Mysterious Skin and Smiley Face, it was anyone’s guess as to where exactly he would go next but thankfully he has remembered his roots and found a way to improve upon them.

To learn more, go to www.sundanceselects.com and www.ifcfilms.com