Events

[SCREENING] If there’s a common thread among the handful of genuine cult movies made in the 1980s—Café Flesh, Repo Man, Stranger Than Paradise, Koyaanisqatsi—it’s that they present contemporary life as it might appear to an alien from another world. That’s literally the case in the rarely-screened Liquid Sky (1982), which memorably captures the pretensions and perversities of the underground art scene of the day, post-punk and pre-AIDS. 

The premise isn’t explained until well into the movie, but it helps to know going in: the East Village is visited by miniscule aliens in search of a heroin-like substance excreted in the human brain during orgasm. They find a rich source by monitoring Margaret (Anne Carlisle), an aspiring actress and club fixture, who starts to go crazy as all of her lovers die unexpectedly. (“Lover” is used in the loosest possible sense.) 

The films creators, Slava Tsukerman and Nina V. Kerova (aliens themselves as recent Russian émigrés to New York) make the most of minimal resources with effective neon lighting and smartly used special effects. Carlisle wrote much of the movie’s dialogue, giving it a bone-dry sense of dark humor. Tsukerman also composed the memorable synth soundtrack, which is probably better known than the film itself. A skype interview with Tsukerman will be part of a screening of Liquid Sky at Squeaky Wheel on Wednesday, March 18. It’s a good opportunity to check out their new location in the Market Arcade, 617 Main Street.