This is a look at filmmaker Andy Milligan, who was one the driving forces behind Off Off Broadway before he switched to making (bad) movies. His films were no budget exploitation films that stand alone in the patheon on cinema. I mean that in both a good way and a bad way. This film is full of clips and interviews with the people who knew and loved him.
Andy Milligan is a filmmaker who haunts me. I was scarred by his films right after high school when I was gifted with a VCR and I was watching every horror film I could get my hands on. His images are burned into my head to such a degree that two months into Unseen Films run, I wrote an appreciation that was fueled by reading The Ghastly One: The Sex-Gore Netherworld of Filmmaker Andy Milligan by Jimmy McDonough.(McDonough is in the film. And if you love movies you need to read the book, it's one of the best films on cinema I've ever read). Milligan is a filmmaker I've recommended to people who want to see unique and one of a kind films.
Josh Johnson and Grayson Tyler Johnson's film is a love letter to Milligan, his achievements and his films. It's a really good look at the man and his movies.
The best part of the film are the nterviews with the people who worked with and knew Milligan. The afore mentioned Jimmy McDonough is in the film and he acts as the through line to the film connecting everything up. I would love to just listen to him talk for hours. Also here are
Hope Stansbury,
John Borske,
Bob Liikala
and
Robert Berlin who worked with Milligan behind and infront of the camera. Sam Sherman who helped promote Milligan's films. They are a glorious collection of people who not only tell us what was going on but make us fall in love wih Milligan.
The problem with the film, and it's nothing to do with the directors, is that Milligan's films do not work as clips. I've been watching the films for 43 years and unless you can see his films from start to finish, unless you can get into that Milligan headspace from the first frame his films come off as much worse than they are. Trust me, watching sequence play out of context does the films no justice. VAPORS probably Milligan's best from the 60's and 70's looks stilted when it's just pieces. Without the headspace it creates the film looks like bad porn despite being something else.
I should mention that I am not going to champion Milligan's films as conventionally good. They are not, however they are truly one of a kind and the work of a true artist. I say that without irony, Milligan was an artist.
If you love cinema in all it's forms you need to see this film.
Recommended.