By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
April 7, 1995
Written, directed and co-produced by Bruce LaBruce.
Not rated, but contains scenes of graphic sex.
Opening today at the Music Box.
The only thing super about “Super 8-1/2” is in its title.
A low-budget flick that the filmmakers describe as a “faux documentary of sorts,” the movie is supposed to be to pornography what “Spinal Tap” was to heavy metal music – a witty sendup.
It is not. “Super-8 1/2” actually is a boring, graphic porno film that seems to drag on much longer than its 99-minute running time. How graphic are the sex acts depicted in the film? Very. Let’s just say that the subtlest sex act in this movie makes Sharon Stone’s panty-less scene in “Basic Instinct” appear tasteful by comparison.
Shot in grainy black and white, the film stars Bruce LaBruce as a washed-up porno star of the same name. The film’s title refers to the size of his penis, which, by the way, gets more screen time than his face. Looking like the bored love child of Andy Warhol and Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes, LaBruce spends his nights with his lover Pierce (Klaus Von Brucker) and his days with a lesbian filmmaker, Googie (Stacy Friedrich), who wants to shoot an experimental documentary about him.
Of her star, Googie says, “He was an existentialist trapped in a porn star’s body.”
LaBruce an existentialist? Not likely.
And the only people “trapped” here are those who made the mistake of attending.
