Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis (2007)
April 11, 2007Release Date
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis (2007)
April 11, 2007Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
This Movie Is About.
Cast & Crew.
Jack Smith
Self
Nayland Blake
Self
Ira Cohen
Self
Tony Conrad
Composer
Richard Foreman
Himself
Mary Jordan
Director
Ivan Galietti
Himself
Helen Geets
Herself
Robert Heide
Himself
Robert Aaron
Composer
Henry Hills
Himself
Gary Indiana
Himself
Joel Diamond
Composer
Ken Jacobs
Himself
Thurston Moore
Composer
George Kuchar
Himself
Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt
Himself
Sylvere Lotringer
Himself
Agosto Machado
Himself
Judith Malina
Herself
John Matturri
Himself
Taylor Mead
Himself
Jonas Mekas
Himself
Mario Montez
Himself
Billy Name
Himself
William Niederkorn
Himself
Uzi Parnes
Himself
Lawrence Rinder
Himself
Ari M. Roussimoff
Himself
Andrew Sarris
Himself
Jerry Tartaglia
Himself
Ronald Tavel
Himself
Ela Troyano
Herself
Andy Warhol
Himself (archive footage)
John Waters
Himself
Robert Wilson
Himself
Holly Woodlawn
Herself
Mary Woronov
Herself
Nick Zedd
Himself
John Zorn
Himself
Media.
Details.
Wiki.
Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis is a documentary film that premiered in the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. It is a collection of interviews and clips by and about the revolutionary artist Jack Smith. It was directed by Mary Jordan and produced by Tongue Press Productions.
The film was given a limited release in New York movie theaters beginning on April 11, 2007.
Jordan is a Canadian-born filmmaker known for her documentary shorts resulting from extended visits to Africa and Southeast Asia. David Ebony, whose review of the film appeared in Art in America, had met Smith in the late 70s soon after moving to New York and at that time "attempted to assist him with a number of 'slide-show performances.'" Ebony's review, following the documentary, covers some of the difficult exhibition history of Flaming Creatures (1963), Smith's best known film, and difficult collaborations with Jonas Mekas and Andy Warhol and others. Voiceovers from Smith, culled from some 14 hours of interviews with various critics and friends, supplemented the archival visual materials, footage and extensive interviews with filmmaker John Waters, Smith's sister Mary Sue Slater, playwright Richard Foreman, Smith and Warhol star Mario Montez, writer Gary Indiana, and musician John Zorn, among others. Ebony concludes that the film "manages to evoke the quirky and often cantankerous personality of its subject without ever making him seem merely a disgruntled artist and social misfit, as some may think him. ... I feel that Jordan's multifaceted and impassioned portrait rings true. Smith, in fact, comes off in the film as an ingenious art-world Cassandra, more relevant today than ever."Wesley Morris, whose review appeared in the Boston Globe, was impressed that Jordan "manages to conjure Smith's story while also telling a story about art in America", concluding that Smith was "a pioneer of the sort of event that just doesn't seem possible in an age when counterculture feels like mass culture and very little art is shocking".