Vinegar Syndrome has made
it official, on Apr. 24 the promised 4K restoration (from the 35mm original
negative) of writer/director Slava Tsukerman’s 1983 cult sci-fi masterpiece, Liquid
Sky, will be available as a double-disc Blu-ray special edition release.
You could spend quite a
bit of time trying to explain the plot developments of Liquid Sky and such explanations
would still be left wanting. Imagine a
carnival barker standing outside the sideshow tent screaming, “Step inside and
see the invisible alien feed off of the sexual arousal of (long pause) … well,
equally alien denizens of the fashion world (another long pause) … oh, hell,
just come inside and see it for yourself.”
The backstory on the film
— which we suggest you track down and read for yourself — has Slava Tsukerman,
his wife Nina Kerova and the then unknown Anne Carlisle (Desperately Seeking Susan,
Crocodile Dundee, etc.) collaborating on a screenplay that would take
adventage of Carlisle’s unique talents.
The result was Liquid
Sky, which has her playing not one, but two very distinct roles. She’s Margaret, a fashion model living in
Manhattan, who we first catch at something of an underground fashion show. The late, great David Bowie and his Spiders
from Mars would feel right at home.
She also plays Jimmy, a
drug-addicted model as well, who is also in the same show. Jimmy needs a fix and Margaret’s lesbian
lover, Adrian (Paula E. Sheppard — Alice Sweet Alice), has the heroin
stash, but won’t give it up to the flaky Jimmy on credit (show me the money!).
Meanwhile, Margaret sees
an opportunity to score with an attorney by the name of Vincent (Jack Adalist)
who has stopped by the club. She
accepts an invitation to join him back at his nearby penthouse, leaving Jimmy
and Adrian to sort things out. Once
there, Vincent drugs her and rapes her … it is just about this time that you
are wondering to yourself where is this all going.
On cue, enter an astrophysicist
named Johann (Otto von Wernherr), who explains that he has detected an alien
presence (the little flying saucer that landed on top of a Manhattan building
at the beginning), which just happens to be in Margaret’s apartment. Now the fun can really begin!!!
Sex and drugs in the
presence of the alien entity produces death (ashes to ashes; dust to dust) and
Margaret seems to be channeling the unseen visitor. This “invasion” reaches something of a
“climax” one evening when Jimmy and a rather large group of “followers” (read
that as an entourage) descend on
Margaret’s place and a battle of the sexes takes place … literally, a BATTLE of
the sexes.
By the time the alien
spacecraft takes off at the film’s end, Jimmy, Adrian and the nasty Vincent
will all be consumed by their actions and Margaret will seemingly be whisked
off to another dimension. Whoa, Liquid
Sky is one weird trip!!!
As to bonus goodies,
there is a newly-prepared commentary track with filmmaker Slava Tsukerman (who
has let it be known that a Liquid Sky sequel is in the works),
plus there are video sessions with both Slava Tsukerman and Anne Carlisle, the
feature-length documentary title Liquid Sky Revisited, a 2017 Q&A
session with Slava Tsukerman, Anne Carlisle and Clive Smith (composer),
outtakes, an alternate opening and rehearsal footage.
No comments:
Post a Comment