Sundance London 2023: The Doom Generation

Originally published 07/07/23 on Letterboxd

GOD IS DEAD
AND NO ONE CARES
IF THERE IS A HELL
I’LL SEE YOU THERE

Remains the most violently horny film I’ve ever seen. Araki draws from the semiotics of queer literature and Old Hollywood so often and so liberally, it’s easy to forget how pointed his homages are- which is why it’s so telling that, out of all the passages in Less Than Zero he could’ve adapted, he chose to draw from the passages where Ellis’ moneyed menagerie of affectless teens run over a coyote in the middle of LA. Here, that accident is all the more painful because of how swiftly it seems to snuff out the trio’s almost utopian microcosm of guilt-free sex and zero expectations beyond whoever their next fuck is going to be. Every barren landscape and monochrome motel room here is set ablaze literally and figuratively in acts of furious retribution that feel almost like gay agitprop- a call to arms for guerilla warfare against the Hetero in every space it dominates.

Also: seeing the 4K restoration of this in a packed theatre with Araki in attendance and being able to tell him how much Nowhere means to me was one of the greatest experiences of my life.