What Is It? (2005)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Crispin Glover

Writer:

Crispin Glover (writer)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Being the adventures of a young man whose principle interests are snails, salt, a pipe, and how to get home. As tormented by an hubristic, racist inner psyche.

Plot:

What Is It? is a bewildering, unnerving, surreal, blackly comic film from the visionary mind of Crispin Glover that tells the inner and outer struggles of a young man facing villains and demons on multiple planes. |

Plot Keywords:

Sadism | Low Budget Film | Wheelchair | Avant Garde | Underground Film

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Michael Blevis	...	The young man
Rikky Wittman	...	The minstrel's nemesis
John Insinna	...	The young man's outer sanctum friend and inner santum choking victim
Kelly Swiderski	...	Inner sanctum concubine and outer sanctum snail collector
Lisa Fusco	...	The young man's fantasy girl
Crispin Glover	...	Dueling Demi-God Auteur and The young man's inner psyche
Fairuza Balk	...	Snail (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robin Adams	...	Inner sanctum concubine and outer sanctum girl who recognizes burning
Cheryl Brown	...	Outer Sanctum Mocking tormentor and walkie-talkie grabbing woman that cries later
Tom Carroll	...	Grave digger and mocking tormentor
Lynn Conley	...	The minstrel's concubine, mocking tormentor and ultimate outer sanctum victor
Zoryna Dreams	...	Monkey woman
Ivonna Earnest	...	Baby Elephant
Scott Farley	...	Floating cloud minstrel double
Mary P. Hayes	...	The young man's mother
Kiva	...	Monkey woman
Muffy	...	Monkey woman
Karin Odell	...	Monkey woman
Adam Parfrey	...	The minstrel
Carlos Richardson	...	The young man's alter ego
Steven C. Stewart	...	Dueling Demi-God Auteur and the young man's uber ego
Eric Yates	...	Inner sanctum Puppet show audience member and outer sanctum / inner sanctum victim

Runtime:

82 min | USA:72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Volcanic Eruptions

Trivia:

Crispin Glover's directorial debut.

Quotes:

Dueling Demi-God Auteur and The young man's inner psyche: Good. He's dead. Now we can have a good time.

Movie Connections:

References Back to the Future (1985)

Soundtrack:

Some Niggers Never Die (They Just Smell That Way)

A roller-coaster ride for the brain...

This is a movie we will all be talking about for a long time. It's full of disturbing images, dialogue that is very hard to make out in spots, and narrative tangents that make you, almost, forget what happened in the previous scenes. It all does gel together in the end, but you need to keep watching and be patient. I am so glad I did...Not many movies give me this much to think about. (These days, how many movies give you ANYTHING to think about?) A film that can make me simultaneously puzzled, grossed out, intrigued, offended, and delighted is worth seeing. I am still very glad the director was on hand to tell us what he was thinking about when he made this movie; otherwise I would still be guessing about it almost a month later. I really can't wait for the sequel.