[Sundance Review] ‘Kuso’ is a Quintessential Gross-out Midnight Movie!

Un Chien Andalou. Meshes in the Afternoon. Eraserhead. The Holy Mountain. Tetsuo: The Iron Man. Throughout cinema history, there have been films that are so bizarre and unique that audiences cannot ignore them, no matter how unpleasant they are. It is a thrill, then, to announce that the next film in this lineage has arrived. Steven Ellison, better known to the public as the incredible musician Flying Lotus, has given the millennium a movie guaranteed to melt minds: Kuso.

Coming off the success of several shorts, one of which was a Midnight Shorts selection at last year’s festival, Ellison combines four stories into a patchwork tale of post-earthquake Los Angeles. In this world, reality and logic have been thrown into the sewers. The screen is blasted with images of bodily excrement (from multiple orifices), diseased flesh, aberrant behavior and monstrous creations – done both practically and through fascinating animation. The stories are impossible to describe coherently, featuring the worst interdimensional roommates of all time, a bizarre abortion clinic, an underground dweller saving her ‘baby’ from a monster, and an outcast who finds solace in a pod-anus-creature. Does that make sense? It shouldn’t. This is a midnight film, and sense is thrown out the window.

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Ellison’s self-proclaimed influences, ranging from Takashi Miike to Shin’ya Tsukamoto to David Lynch, are all geniuses of the midnight movie genre – and the film bears their stamp proudly. But Kuso is its own monster. Its mixture of VHS-quality news footage, absolutely wacko animation and rather beautiful music is unclassifiable. There are moments of shameless trash – if you don’t like poop jokes, this isn’t the film for you – placed alongside moments of surprising intimacy, and awe-inspiring visual choreography. Some images might have obvious influences, but none are directly lifted from another film, and some have never been seen before. The film’s blatant disregard of narrative, cohesion or ‘good taste’ will absolutely shun many audience members, but these things also make it the perfect midnight movie. It’s destined for cult status.

Don’t get me wrong – there were moments when I felt my gorge rising and had to look away. But that doesn’t mean the film is entirely unpleasant. Not only is the music fantastic, but Ellison’s perverse sense of humor makes some scenes wildly entertaining (the title is an Asian term referring to camp and parody); and as mentioned above, there are scenes of weird tenderness. The range of comedy, experimentalism and pure gross-out horror make the film feel like patchwork, which it is – each short was shot separately. That is also part of the film’s diabolical charm. It’s meant to be viewed late at night, perhaps influenced by external substances; though the film serves as a psychedelic in itself.

It also must be noted that Ellison’s cast is so colorful – a deliberate choice, because weird cinema is often very white-washed. As Ellison said himself during the Q&A, these types of films need to feature different faces and different voices. The Oscars aren’t the only institution that needs diversification, and Ellison has taken a large step toward bringing voices of color into genre cinema.

A paeon to bad taste and utter visual insanity, Kuso is a special thing that we don’t see often enough, especially in an artistic climate where risks are not typically taken. It may struggle to find its audience, but judging by the packed Egyptian Theater, the audience is certainly out there. I will certainly be watching for future screenings – this is the type of film that, in spite of your better judgement, you must watch again…. and again. Hopefully this marks the beginning of a long filmmaking career for Steven Ellison – if the films continue to be as entertaining as this one, we’re in for some seriously unsavory treats.

Keep up with Ben @smuckyfilms and at smuckyproductions.wordpress.com