Themes: Life in the Arts, Generation Gap, Bohemian Life
Main Cast: John Waters, Jeanine Basinger, Steve Buscemi, Ken Jacobs
Release Year: 1998
Country: US
Run Time: 105 minutes
Plot
A documentary profile of filmmaker John Waters, Divine Trash focuses on the bad-taste pioneer's early years, especially his 1972 breakthrough Pink Flamingos, which turned the director of Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs into the king of midnight movies thanks to word of mouth about the film's gleeful taboo-bashing -- and a distribution deal with the fledgling New Line Cinema. Interviews with filmmakers who both influenced Waters (Paul Morrissey, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Mike Kuchar, George Kuchar) and were influenced by him (Steve Buscemi, Jim Jarmusch, David O. Russell, Hal Hartley) are interspersed with copious behind-the-scenes footage from the making of Pink Flamingos, including the infamous doggy-doo scene. Through it all, the witty Waters provides commentary, recollections, and one-line quips. Pete Garey, owner of the film lab where Waters learned the technical side of moviemaking, recalls his first meetings with the youthful auteur. Mink Stole and other Dreamland Studios superstars reminisce about growing up in suburban Baltimore with Waters, who as a youngster loved car crashes, puppets, and clowns. The director's strait-laced parents reminisce about the financial support they provided for Pink Flamingos, which they have never seen. Neither has Frances Milstead, who looks back on the career of her late son, drag terrorist and Waters muse Divine. Divine and late "egg lady" Edith Massey crop up in various archival interviews and film clips. The man who played the "talking asshole" in Pink Flamingos also appears, albeit anonymously and disguised. Various film theorists and critics debate the merits and meaning of the Waters oeuvre, while Baltimore critic Don Walls and former Maryland film censor Mary Avara express their incredulity about the director's success. Divine Trash won the Filmmakers Trophy for Best Documentary at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. Director Steve Yeager, a longtime friend of Waters, would go on to direct In Bad Taste: The John Waters Story and help Milstead write a book about her son. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Review
John Waters is such an endlessly entertaining interview subject that it would be hard to make a bad documentary about him as long as the filmmaker himself agreed to participate. Luckily, Divine Trash director Steve Yeager had extensive access to not only Waters himself, but also his expansive archives, resulting in a documentary that's as informative as it is amusing. It says a lot about Waters' self-confidence that he shot making-of footage during the shoestring-budget production of Pink Flamingos even though his career until that point had consisted mostly of movie screenings in church basements and bingo halls. Yet history has vindicated the cockiness of the 25-year-old hipster in dark shades whom the viewer sees subtly mocking a square interviewing him for television. Divine Trash does not, however, completely fawn over its subject, nor does it focus exclusively on Waters himself. Plenty of screen time is devoted to the outrageous performers (Divine, Mink Stole, David Lochary) and offbeat collaborators (makeup artist Van Smith) who helped the director realize his vile visions. And several of the interview subjects -- most notably Mary Avara, the hilariously tongue-tied "last film censor in America" -- profess something less than total admiration for the director's work. A wider look at Waters' earliest experiments and more scenes from the obscure features that have never received proper distribution would have transformed Divine Trash from an engaging overview into an indispensable document. As is, the film provides a thorough introduction for casual enthusiasts and hardcore fans who want to learn more than they can from the films themselves. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Steve Yeager - Director, Steve Yeager - Editor, Terry Campbell - Editor, Tim Kahoe - Editor, Caroline Kaplan - Executive Producer, Jonathan Sehring - Executive Producer, Tim Kahoe - Executive Producer, Brooks Moore - Executive Producer, Thomas W. Yeager - Executive Producer, Dan Barto - Composer (Music Score), Jim Harris - Cinematographer, Steve Yeager - Cinematographer, Jeff Atkinson - Cinematographer, Steve Yeager - Producer, Cindy Miller - Producer, Jim Harris - Sound/Sound Designer, Bill Kaplan - Sound/Sound Designer, Ted Ayd - Sound/Sound Designer, Dan Barto - Sound/Sound Designer, Terry Campbell - Sound/Sound Designer, Bill Porter - Sound/Sound Designer, Steve Yeager - Screenwriter, Kevin Heffernan - Screenwriter, John Kavanaugh - Additional Cinematography, Sheila Smith - Additional Cinematography
