Queer cinema rises from the dead (Otto; or, Up with Dead People)

Once upon a time in the not-too-distant future, there unlived a zombie named Otto. From the grave of Queer Cinema emerges the gay zombie movie, in the form of German-Canadian co-production Otto; or, Up with Dead People.

Young and lonely zombie Otto wonders the streets of Berlin trying to piece together his memories of life before death: sweet moments shared with his ex-boyfriend Rudolf. He is alienated from the other undead who, unlike him, enjoy the taste human flesh, and persecuted by the living, who think he stinks of death. Otto finds some measure of solace as the lead zombie in lesbian activist filmmaker Medea Yarn's political opus cum skin flick. Adopted by a roguish community of porn actors, radical followers and silent movie stars, Otto attempts to tame his existential angst and make it through his post-life crisis.

In between necessary scenes of gore and debauchery, there are flashes of pure poetry in Otto, inspired by the forlorn persona of its central character and the surreal nature of his journey. Jey Crisfar is adorable as the sad, hoodie-clad Otto, his broken English a reflection of his stumbling gait. Shot against stunning backdrops such as a dilapidated amusement park, face smeared with blood, he cuts a melancholy figure, lost in a sterile world in decay.

The reactions to Otto; or Up With Dead People in Sundance and Berlin were pretty vehement, though one gets the feeling its Canadian director, Bruce La Bruce, would've been disappointed had that not been the case. Why else make a political, queer zombie movie on zero budget?

I can understand how most people might not like the film. Even if you are the not kind of person who is turned off by a gory and sexually explicit film, you might still be the kind of person who dislikes bad films. And Otto, while being in my opinion an interesting film, is - like several of Bruce LaBruce's other titles - an intentionally bad film.

What I don't understand is people who say "I don't get it". To me, that's a little like listening to punk rock for the first time and saying, "I don't get it". Even if you don't understand what the director has to say, it's easy enough to spot the anger and humour behind a political parable which clearly doesn't take itself too seriously.

Or perhaps it is that most (re)viewers are easily shocked, and would rather leave the cinema or offer up a bad review than admit to it. Yes, the film features sexual penetration of an open abdominal wound, yes, there are porn actors doing what porn actors do, but this is pretty tame compared to say, Saw or Hostel, no?

I wonder if some of the folk who didn't get Otto simply missed the second layer of satire beneath the obvious metaphor of capitalist, consumerist societies turning today's youth into zombies (kids who feel "dead inside"). Intuitively, the queers in Otto might represent a non-conformist alternative to the homogenized majority, the zombies seen by the ultra-conservative as a plague sent by God to punish man for his sins (not unlike the stigmatization of AIDS in the 80's). But LaBruce also draws parallels between these zombies and a certain gay community: the flock mentality, the clone-like behaviour, the mindless cruising for sex...

There is both sympathy here for these ostracized misfits, and indignation at their need for acceptance. The disenfranchised zombie becomes an effective symbol of this ambiguous, post-queer viewpoint. Otto is the perfect anti-hero for a nihilistic story: his inability to function normally in a sick society is proof that he, himself, is not sick.

Similarly, La Bruce finds in the hilarious character of Medea Yarn a suitably ambivalent vehicle for his own politics. Through this caricature he successfully sends up his own leftist and anarchist leanings while simultaneously providing a clear political framework for his narrative. While these apparently contradictory approaches are a little confusing, they are also refreshing in their rejection of simplistic social commentary.

The lack of polish in La Bruce's work is key to both his style and his message, and he does achieve a lot with very little. Still, some characters are under-developed and there are some missed opportunities for witty dialogue. The pacing is maddeningly wrong: the editing feels rushed and infuriatingly counter-intuitive. Despite its flaws however, Otto achieves at least half of what it sets out to do simply by pissing a lot of viewers off. If you are a fan of Bruce La Bruce's work chances are you'll feel sympathy for Otto, the bloody resurrected remains of a once promising Queer Cinema.

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Update (March 3): The Sydney Film Festival team suggested some further reading in the form of a great interview with Bruce La Bruce recently published on their website. Check it out!

Queer cinema rises from the dead (Otto; or, Up with Dead People)