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Revision as of 12:18, 17 August 2012 by Crisco 1492 (talk | contribs) (more)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Frank's Cock is a 1993 short film by Mike Hoolboom.
Synopsis
Production
The Canadian director Mike Hoolboom was diagnosed with HIV in 1989, after going to donate blood. Previously focused on films about the body, his works began dealing heavily with HIV/AIDS and situations faced by those with the virus. He eventually joined the People With AIDS (PWA) movement in Toronto.
At PWA, Hoolboom befriended a man named Joey whose partner was dying of AIDS. Upon Joey's suggestion, Hoolboom began work on a script for "a real movie" that portrayed an AIDS patient as one full of love and not one which showed the patient's friends abandoning him. Joey was unwilling to appear in the film, but Rennie - at that time a relative unknown - agreed to provide the monologue. Hoolboom was pleased with the results, writing that Rennie presented the monologue "he'd been living this story all along."
The film was shot in colour 16 mm film using optical sound. The majority of the technical work, including direction, cinematography, and editing, was handled by Hoolboom, while Alex Mackenzie produced.
Style
Frank's Cock divides the screen into quadrants, with the majority of the film focusing on the upper-right corner of the screen. In this panel, Rennie's character gives a one person monologue, which is sometimes illustrated by images in other panels: the lower-right panel flashes scenes of hardcore gay pornography, the upper-left shows scenes representing mankind's creation, while the lower-left flashes excerpts from popular art. Janis Cole, writing for POV magazine, describes the effect as supporting the text while "creating an optical treatment purposefully grounded in both dream and reality".
Reception
Cole calls Frank's Cock an "extraordinary experimental documentary" that is "as bold as the title implies" and a strong proponent for the widespread dissemination of short films.
References
Footnotes
- TIFF, Mike Hoolboom.
- Lacey 1998, Portrait of the Filmmaker.
- ^ Hoolboom, Frank's Cock.
- ^ Cole 2003/2004, From Frank's Cock.
- Hoolboom, Credits.
Bibliography
- Cole, Janis (Winter 2003/2004). "From Frank's Cock to Imitations of Life: Ten Years With Mike Hoolboom". Point of View. No. 54. Documentary Organization of Canada. Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - Hoolboom, Mike. "Credits". Official Website. Archived from the original on 17 August 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
- Hoolboom, Mike. "Frank's Cock description". Official Website. Archived from the original on 17 August 2012. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
- Lacey, Liam (10 October 1998). "Portrait of the Filmmaker as a Busy Young Man". Globe and Mail. p. C5.
- "Mike Hoolboom". Canadian Film Encyclopedia. Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 16 August 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
External links
- Frank's Cock at IMDb