Gregg Araki
Kaboom or the explosive return by Gregg Araki
Kaboom, the latest film from the American filmmaker, Gregg Araki, will be screened tonight as a Midnight Screening in the Grand Théâtre Lumière. This feature film marks the return of the director to a style that he abandoned a few years ago.
Kaboom is a science fiction thriller that is both comical and horrific. It depicts the first sexual adventures of a group of teenagers. With Gregg Araki, this intentional and unlikely mix of genres is reminiscent of his famous “Teen Apocalypse Trilogy”. Comprised of Totally Fucked Up (1993), The Doom Generation (1995) and Nowhere (1997), this saga made a big splash for the director on the American independent film scene where he imposed his easily recognisable style of abrupt changes of tone and an unsettling mixture of genres.
In 2000 and the following years, Gregg Araki decided to make a new start with the very serious Mysterious Skin (2004), adapted from the novel by Scott Heim. Then came Smiley Face, presented at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2007. But on the dawn of a new decade, the director seems determined to change course once again with Kaboom and rediscover his first loves. This feature film also celebrates his reunion with his favourite actor James Duval. Gregg Araki once described the films born of their collaboration as “episodes of Beverly Hills on acid”. This is the tradition that Kaboom seems destined to become a part of.
GF
