Tarnation (film)

Tarnation is a 2003 American documentary film by Jonathan Caouette. The film was created by Caouette from overyears of hundreds of hours of old Superfootage, VHS videotape, photographs, and answering machine messages to tell the story of his life and his relationship with his mentally ill mother Renee.

Tarnation is an autobiographical documentary focusing on Caouettes early life and adulthood, as well as his mother, Renee LeBlanc, who was treated with electroshock in her youth. With an absent father and a mother who struggled with mental illness, Caouette eventually settled in the Houston area with his grandparents, Adolph and Rosemary Davis, who despite personality quirks provided a supportive family for him. The film explores Caouettes life as he negotiates his complicated relationship with his mother as her child, friend and ultimately, parental figure while developing his creativity as an actor, writer and director.Caouette came out as gay at a young age and moved to New York City at age 25, eventually finding a boyfriend named David Sanin Paz. They both live in New York City today. As documented in the film, his mother has lived with them at times and theyve formed an unusual family. A scene early in the movie has an approximately 11yearold Caouette improvising a monologue as a woman in an abusive relationship. ........

Source: Wikipedia