White Light Cinema Presents
Bruce LaBruce’s NO SKIN OFF MY ASS
Saturday,
December 10, 2011 – 8:00pm
At The Nightingale
(1084 N. Milwaukee Ave.)
Nothing says holiday-time like gritty, punky, black and white, queer Canadian
quasi-porn! White Light Cinema is pleased to present a rare screening of Bruce
LaBruce’s (Super 8 1/2, Hustler White, LA Zombie) first feature film,
NO SKIN OFF MY ASS (1991).
Not available on DVD in the U.S., NO SKIN was made during the burgeoning of
the New Queer Cinema “movement” of the late 1980s/early 90s (Gus
Van Sant, Gregg Araki, Christopher Munch, Todd Haynes, etc.). But LaBruce was
on the fringe of even that fringe: his film drew from Canadian underground Queercore,
punk, skinhead, music, and zine scenes and struck a decidedly more strident
and in-your-face tone than his American travelling companions.
But NO SKIN was not just radical posturing and provocation; it was also a personal,
and at times sweet (see Amy Taubin quote), film, and this is what helps it still
feel fresh twenty years later.
"Sweeter than Warhol, subtler than Kuchar, sexually more explicit than Van Sant." (Amy Taubin, Village Voice)
"Triple X-rated, NO SKIN OFF MY ASS is a gay remake of Robert Altman’s
THAT COLD DAY IN THE PARK. Director Bruce LaBruce plays the Karen Carpenter-loving
hairstylist who is helplessly attracted to the lonely and stoic skinhead he
finds and invites to his home. This very sexually explicit comedy is really
for anyone - male or female, straight or not - who is a bit curious and wants
to see a movie that offers something...a little different." (Film Threat)
“In the early 1990s,
while the New Queer Cinema was busy trying to sell fags ‘n dykes to mainstream
audiences, Canadian Bruce La Bruce was happily preaching to the queer choir.
No Skin Off My Ass wasn't his first film — it followed a handful of Super
8 shorts — but it was the one that got him attention and fixed his image
as a talented trashmeister willing to mix it up with social satire, homo camp,
and hardcore sex. No Skin Off My Ass, a low-rent remake of Robert Altman's That
Cold Day in the Park, is a typical Brucian effort, with the usual pleasures
and pitfalls.
Bruce, who wrote, directed, and photographed, also stars here as a hairdresser
who obsesses over skinheads. Luckily, right near his apartment he finds a handsome
specimen, sitting silently on a park bench. Before you can say "wash and
set," Bruce has lured "Skinhead Guy," as he's known, into his
apartment. There Bruce gives the bald beauty a bath (using Mr. Bubble), after
which he locks his new pal in a bedroom. Of course, this being a Bruce La Bruce
movie, Skinhead Guy quickly and easily escapes for a visit to his sister, a
lesbian activist filmmaker and graffiti artist. But soon Bruce and Skinhead
are reunited for more edgy fun.
Shot in extra-grainy Super 8 and blown up to 16mm, and mostly lacking synch
sound (Bruce's voiceovers occupy much of the soundtrack), No Skin Off My Ass
has the look and feel of a low-rent porn flick, with Bruce's love object the
ultimate wish-fulfillment fantasy — a mindless stud who lets Bruce take
every imaginable liberty with him, from boot-licking to urinal caressing to
straightforward blow jobs. And like much porn, this one has stretches of dullness
that will endear some viewers to their fast-forward. As gorgeous as Skinhead
Guy is, the camera's endless slow crawl over his fetching flesh as he bathes,
lounges, and lusts becomes numbing after awhile.
Still, Bruce gets points for daring to bare all, and doing it with humor. A
zany soundtrack that includes such ill-matched talents as Karen Carpenter, the
Subhumans, and Tiny Tim adds to the foolish fun.” (Gary Morris, Bright
Lights Film Journal)
No Skin Off My Ass
(1991, 73 mins., 16mm, Canada, Black & White)
Directed by Bruce LaBruce
Admission: $7.00-10.00 sliding scale