14 Apr Palmer Rockey: The Lost Auteur Whose Film Will Blow Your Mind
Palmer Rockey takes the notion of “auteur” into uncharted territory in this somewhat episodic amalgamation of genres that would make Tommy Wiseau jealous. On one hand it has the look of an Alan Rudolph film of the same era but the sensibility is Roger Corman by way of the Firesign Theater —and lacking any attempt at irony.
The blend of post-production voiceover, beat-poetry and D.I.Y. psyche-funk musical narration adds a tongue-in-cheek self-awareness on par with Orson Welles’ F Is for Fake if written by Ray Dennis Steckler. While clearly a film from 1974, it has a contemporary feel of nostalgia for its own era. Is this self-parody or a smorgasbord of schizophrenic styles? Nobody knows, but you’re no worse-off for not knowing.
Scarlet Warning 666 is certainly disjointed but never boring. In preparation for this review I watched it three times and I still can’t tell you what it’s about, but I definitely don’t regret the multiple viewings. Each time I felt like I’d gleaned something new but missed something crucial. Palmer Rockey is a damn good cinematographer and somehow managed to blend disparate film stocks into a consistent product in a way that Quentin Tarantino would make his own with Once Upon a Time in Hollywood nearly 50 years later. Rockey’s film evidences a familiarity with Bogdanovich’s approach to drama, Frankenheimer’s affinity for conspiracy, and Godard’s employment of the jump-cut, but there’s also elements of Russ Meyer, John Cassavetes, and Sam Fuller.
If ever a movie lent itself to film club screenings, this is it. It’s pure cinematic insanity from a true maverick and perfect for viewers who think they’ve seen everything. Grindhouse Releasing has a knack for presenting films from passionate weirdos who never got their due. This and Hollywood 90028 are great examples (on opposite sides of the spectrum) of lost films that really deserve a wider audience, and like that prior release this disc is chock full of extra reasons to buy it. I’d say these two films make a great double feature, but they’re both films that you’ll probably want to run again right after they end.
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