Kamikaze Hearts (Blu-ray)

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Kamikaze Hearts’ was a ‘docu-dreama’. All of the producers in it, and the movie sets were a parody of an adult film. Jon Martin speaks for just under four minutes, side by side with Mitchell, about just doing the work, not needing a script, memories of shooting his first scene in the movie and being uncomfortable with the violence in it, how he wound up in the movie to begin with, and whole a lot of the people they collaborated with who have passed on and, finally, how Sharon Mitchell doesn't get enough credit for her work in the industry. I thought, “I’ve got to find a way to make art out of this.” I worked a few more of those gigs, telling myself I was “doing research” but frankly equally thrilled to be paid (and very well) in hard, cold (probably Mafia) cash.

Tigr was a 26 year old adult film actress who’d been appearing in adult films since the early 1980s. Described as a “scrappy gamin” by the LA Times, she specialized in teenage girl roles. By the time she met Bashore, Tigr had started to work as a production assistant on adult film sets in addition to her acting roles. We created our own film set; it was largely sort of a “realistic habitat,” in which everyone just behaved normally. I think about half the people on the set thought it was a totally straight documentary. For one thing, that way they wouldn’t get nervous about “acting.” The question really was “How do we maintain our sanity?” That is, what mechanisms come in to play to resolve the dissonance between our dreams, our aspirations, and our realities? To what extent does American culture serve to numb us from our existential regret? So, this is the fundamental basis for the tension between the documentary and the fiction in the film. Pearce, Leonard (April 19, 2022). "A Landmark of Queer Cinema is Restored in Exclusive Trailer for Kamikaze Hearts". The Film Stage. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022 . Retrieved November 23, 2022.David Clark was a well-known, well-respected professional make-up guy around town at the time, very sought-after, very talented. For the most part, people on those sets did not aspire to be there. They were there by default. Even (or maybe especially) the actresses, whose dreams most certainly were originally of Hollywood, not porn, stardom. To me this was a modern ‘Death of a Salesman’. The film opens with Tigr having graduated from acting to directing. Mitch has come from New York to San Francisco to star in Tigr’s porno version of ‘Carmen’, and Tigr is explaining that she fell in love with Sharon Mitchell in front of the camera. Restoration from the original 16mm A/B camera negatives. Restored by Kino Lorber in collaboration with the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Moore, Suzanne (1991). Looking for trouble: on shopping, gender, and the cinema. Internet Archive. London: Serpent's Tail. pp.157–159. ISBN 978-1-85242-242-4. After filming ended, the ‘Kamikaze Hearts’ footage went through a variety of editor’s hands before it ended up with John Knoop, an independent filmmaker and cinematographer since 1967. As we witness all of this, unsure of what was scripted and what was improvised during the production, we learn about the struggles of a lesbian relationship in 1986, issues of class, problems with drug addiction (the scene where they shoot up is reportedly not faked) and friendships formed through various film projects. It is, at times, remarkably intense and consistently fascinating. This, in part, compounds the voyeuristic qualities of both pornography and documentary filmmaking. Some of the crew – those hired for work on what they believe is a legitimate porn production – have no idea as to its falsity. Bashore is astutely aware of the power this grants her while filming too – an environment where she can manipulate the elements to a certain extent, leading to some volatile onscreen exchanges. The film in some ways prophesies a shallow world of 'reality programming', algorithmic content, and a cultural landscape of self-absorption where the whole, unequivocal truth is near impossible to discern. Thomas, Kevin (April 26, 1991). "Movie Review: Sexual Power Fuels Porno World of 'Kamikaze Hearts' ". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 24, 2022 . Retrieved November 24, 2022.

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Kamikaze Hearts has been brought to Blu-ray by the British Film Institute, with a fantastic transfer coming from a 2K scan of the original camera negative created by American label Kino Lorber and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. A number of thoughtful bonus features are presented, including an audio commentary with Bashore, Mitchell, actors Jon Martin and Howie Gordon, and performance artist Shelly Mars, and a number of in-depth interviews with Bashore, Mitchell, Martin, and more. Also present is a short film by Bashore called ‘Crash’, which is a sketch of the idea of making Kamikaze Hearts as a fictionalised narrative film. This response surprised me. It was a dramatic film as far as I could tell in the traditional ways of looking at things. It was quite clearly a narrative, non-documentary film. A genuine cult queer film with a building legacy, Kamikaze Hearts is a fascinating piece of cinema and sometimes brutally honest relationship picture. The usual questions about truth are there already in the film, which gives it a wonderful meta feel, and the BFI have given an exceptional presentation to the film. The film was completely storyboarded, but still took a while to finish—it was a huge job and we kept running out of money. It’s difficult even today for young women to succeed making films but then—my god, what a struggle it was to be taken seriously. Particularly by the older generation of filmmakers. And particularly when taking an approach that was somewhat experimental.

Once I combed through and found the structure that I thought worked, I took a video dub of it to Los Angeles and showed it to Juliet, who seemed relieved and delighted. For audiences new to the film, it’s easy to be swept up in its surface level and classification as a documentary – a no-holds-barred examination of the adult entertainment industry in its 'golden age' and the experiences of its performers. But in truth, Kamikaze Hearts is significantly more layered than meets the eye. a b c d Davies, Ann; Powrie, Phil (2006). Carmen on Screen: An Annotated Filmography and Bibliography. Tamesis Books. p.61. ISBN 978-1-85566-129-5.

The whole production was a little bit chaotic. I think that the best thing I got out of it was a friendship with Jennifer Blowdryer. We became friends immediately and have remained friends ever since. Jennifer Blowdryer is seen early in the ‘Kamikaze Hearts’ talking about how she entered the adult film business when she was underage.