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Gregg Araki was already at the forefront of the new queer cinema movement, with several critically acclaimed feature films to his credit, when he met actor James Duval in a Los Angeles coffee shop and started making what would become the Teen Apocalypse Trilogy. Tapping teenage energy, confusion, desire, frustration, and angst, the three films also reflect the fallout from the Reagan/Bush era, as gay artists were caught in the crosshairs of the culture wars while the AIDS death toll mounted. Bringing a distinctive visual style and irreverence and humor to each of the films, Araki crafts unique ensemble portraits of diverse LA youth, navigating relationships, drug trips, and good and bad sex. Explicit, visceral, and violent, the films also depict tenderness, innocence, and wonder—often as embodied though the characters portrayed by Duval, who Araki has described as the “soul” of the trilogy—in tandem with the brazen bluster of its protagonists. With a brilliant cohort of young actors—including Margaret Cho, Guillermo Diaz, Heather Graham, Rose McGowan, Ryan Phillippe, Parker Posey, Kathleen Robertson, and Johnathon Schaech—and killer soundtracks featuring The Jesus and Mary Chain, Ladytron, Massive Attack, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Slowdive, and more, the films offer a powerful dose of the 1990s while eschewing nostalgia by remaining all too chillingly relevant. Long coveted by fans who watched the films in swimmy video transfers, beat-up prints, or compromised rips, new restorations of Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation, and Nowhere finally allow the dazzling beauty of the cinematography and meticulous production design to be experienced anew. With special guest James Duval in person!
—Kate MacKay, Associate Film Curator