The BUFF gets off to a racy start. |
What’s the last time you went to a theater to see a porn movie? That question came up after the screening of American Stag, a 67-minute history of stag films made by Benjamin Meade. The flick kicked off the ninth annual Boston Underground Film Festival at the Brattle Theatre a week ago Thursday.
“Not since the Combat Zone closed,” said festival founder David Kleiler. “Deep Throat,” said Roger Miller, guitarist with Mission of Burma and keyboardist of the Alloy Orchestra. And Jonathan LaMaster of Cul de Sac? “Never.” He grew up with a VCR.
Not even Meade had been to a porn theater when he began collecting 10-minute reels on eBay — to date close to 900 — and began work on his documentary. To supplement the oft-scratchy sex clips, the Kansas City–based filmmaker and college teacher added commentary from Adam Carolla, Melvin Van Peebles, Tommy Chong, and Film Threat magazine’s Chris Gore. And for the festival screening, the Alloy Orchestra created a score. “We are more commenting on the scenes, often with completely contrary music,” said Miller. “So in true early-silent-era style, we approached it with a very healthy dose of slapstick.” The three Alloys also played live to a short collection of Meade’s hardcore clips that preceded American Stag. The young actresses in the clips, true to their time periods, were Marilyn Monroe and Barbra Streisand look-alikes.
After the screening, the scene moved to the Hong Kong Restaurant, where DJ Brother Cleve played what he called “porn beat — Italian and German instrumentals with lots of heavy breathing. It’s more humorous than sexy.” Sample song titles: “Young Stud,” “Sexology,” and an easy-listening, orgasm-infused version of James Brown’s “Sex Machine.” Two couples from Black Cat Burlesque did their horror/striptease act. Pete Sutton, whose bands Temper and Electrolux were playing later during the four-day festival, said, “We just want to provide a musical soundtrack to some of the most cutting-edge films of Boston. . . . Who knows? Maybe next year we’ll work our way up to the regular film festival.”
