What Makes this Film Great | The Living End (1992)

Exploring the beauty and rage of this 1992 New Queer Cinema - and punk! - classic.
www.patreon.com/AaronHunter
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More on the film:
A mostly positive, thoughtful review from Janet Maslin, NYTimes (1992): www.nytimes.co...
Peter Travers gets it in this capsule review for Rolling Stone (1992): www.rollingsto...
Thoughtful review looking back on the film's impact on the gay community, including a discussion of some of the film's problems - Michael D. Klemm,m CinemaQueer (2008): www.cinemaquee...
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Title music: "Adventure" www.bensound.com​​​​​​​
"Short Songs" by Dead Kennedys
Patreon music: Urban Hip-Hop, MaxKoMusic: www.chosic.com....

[@parthpant8894]

Such a passionate and riveting analysis, sir! Thank you for posting this. I was wondering if you have seen "Poison" by Todd Haynes, one of the seminal features of NQC, alongside "The Living End."

[@AaronHunter]

Thanks for the rec. I've seen a lot of Haynes's films, but not Poison - I will put it on the list, for sure!

[@kenneth0334]

my specific niche is trying to watch every piece of punk cinema ever .. and now that I’ve found you, I am going to binge every single one of your videos asap !!! I love this movie sm

[@indradavis1713]

I just watched The Living End today and found your channel. Your analysis is wonderful, especially about the cuts to black. I really loved the film.

[@indradavis1713]

And Luke spray paints “I blame society!“ (Repo Man). Fantastic!

[@karareeves952]

Aaron, after stumbling upon your channel and finding your analyses of a few films I already thought were wonderful I've been busy chasing up other films you review - and mostly ones which I would never have thought of watching otherwise! So glad I discovered your channel. I have a movie-watching goal for the year and still need to watch a movie from each of 1970 and 1972. Any recommendations???

[@AaronHunter]

Hi Kara, thanks for the kind words. Those are two great years for film, so there is a lot to choose from. For '70, MASH and Love Story would be the two big films in terms of New Hollywood vs. Super Popular. I really like Five Easy Pieces, which is a slow burner, but excellent. You could try Bertolucci's The Conformist, Nicholas Roeg's Performance, or Antonioni's Zabriski's Point (which I don't love, but is a key film of the year). Of course, one of my favorites would be Hal Ashby's first film, The Landlord. 1970 was also the year of the key indie feminist film Wanda, directed by Barbara Loden.

[@AaronHunter]

1972 is an even harder year to choose from, so many magnificent films. The Godfather, What's Up, Doc?, Cabaret, Deliverance (a tough watch, if you haven't seen it, but very good), The Heartbreak Kid (one of my faves!), to name just a few!

[@karareeves952]

@@AaronHunter Many thanks for the suggestions! Many of them tick the "rule" of my movie watching goal that they they have to be new watches. What's up doc is great fun, and after your videos on polly platt I very happily watched some more that she worked on. I didn't even know production design was I thing, but now that I do ... !!!!!! After looking at award winners for production design the penny dropped for me on a whole lot of movies I both loved and hated to watch - often I loved them for production values but hated them for some ideological (feminist or other) reason. Suddenly it all makes sense. Ohhh, I had wondered about Wanda ... I also watched some 1970s experimental feminist films and tried to pretend I understood ... anyway many thanks!

[@karareeves952]

Imagine: a long shot down the hotel hallway or across the lobby, and in the background behind Streisand you have Hepburn dragging a live tiger. How cool would that be?! A bit of movie literary allusion. I've not seen what's up doc for several years, and only saw bringning up baby last year, so I've never looked for a live tiger in what's up doc ... but it would *totally* fit with the rest of the film's ludicrosity.

[@Ordinary_Peasant]

My wife's boyfriend locked me out of the house

[@BrennenKing-d5w]

Great video on an underrated film.

[@AaronHunter]

Thanks!

[@drfofo256]

Another excellent video Aaron. Unrelated, but I was wondering if you had a chance to see Tár and what your thoughts on it were if you had? I found it to be an emotionally rich film with Cate Blanchett at a career best. Definite top 3 of the year so far.

[@AaronHunter]

Haven't seen it yet, but funny you should mention it. I just decided this morning that in the next few weeks I'm going to do vids on In the Bedroom and Little Children - two films I absolutely adore - then a reaction vid on Tar. Hoping to get that sorted soon!

[@drfofo256]

@@AaronHunter awesome, looking forward to it!

[@MGrayl-ib5fo]

That was a dreadful film. Poorly written, badly-paced & with DREADFUL acting from the leads.