Schizophrenia Daily News Blog

New Movie - Mother's Schizophrenia

Tarnation - This is a new movie by filmmaker Jonathan Caouette. Its a documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother - and is a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films and more, culled from the 19 years of his life.

A recent review of the movie in the San Francisco Chronicle had this to say:

""Tarnation," an impassioned documentary about a damaged American family, includes moments that seem to cross the line of what is emotionally acceptable to show onscreen. In the end, you might be tempted to dismiss it as an exercise in self-therapy and self-pity, since the family depicted is the filmmaker's own.

That would be a mistake. Director Jonathan Caouette has put together a remarkable film that's as full of pain and disorder as his Texas childhood appears to have been. Caouette's mother, Renee, a child model, was diagnosed as mentally ill and subjected to a long course of shock therapy. Young Jonathan, who had a flair for histrionics and an early realization that he was gay, was raised sometimes by his grandparents and at other times in abusive foster homes. "

More Information:

The Tarnation web site:

http://www.wellspring.com/movies/movie.html?movie_id=56

Internet Video Trailers of the Movie:
http://www.hollywood.com/movies/mm/nav/1/id/2417799

www.apple.com/trailers/independent/tarnation.html

Other Reviews of the Movie:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/10/15/DDG0I99M5J1.DTL#tar

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/movies/articles/04/10/tarnation.htm