The Doom Generation (Gregg Araki, 1995) DVD Review

James Duval in The Doom Generation (1995)...

Synopsising The Doom Generation, the second in writer/director Gregg Araki's 'Teen Apocalypse Trilogy', bookended by Totally F***ed Up (1993) and Nowhere (1997), might just be the silliest task I've ever undertaken on this blog. The cliff notes? Three fatalistic teens bonk their way through a murderous, quasi-apocalyptic landscape to the thunderous sound of mid-90's industrial rock. As today's kids would say, WTF?! Consider that the film contains a scene where Quickiemart clerk Cok-suk (21 Jump Street's Dustin Nguyen) has his head decapitated and lobbed onto a hotdog machine, where it remains animated long enough to spew up mounds of chunky green sponge. That should give you a pretty good handle on the film's tone, which has touches of Godard (primary colours, saturated lighting), Lynch (lost highways, chthonic motels) and, well... MTV (everything else). It's scuzzy, sexy and often irritatingly indulgent, but you've certainly never seen another end-of-the-world movie like it...

The film begins in a hellish, strobe-satin nightclub, throbbing to the furious strings of Nine Inch Nails' 'Heresy' (from the astonishing 'Downward Spiral' album, whose title is a fitting parallel to our central trio's trajectory). In an interview on the DVD Araki states that The Doom Generation was his "Nine Inch Nails movie", reflective of his tastes and attitudes at the time, and a rebellion against the "cookie-cutter teen movies" offered up by mainstream Hollywood. Naturally then, the teens here are more Kids (Clark, 1995) than Clueless (Heckerling, 1995), indicative of an aimless, despondent generation happy to blitz their way through life on the fuel of pot and sex. They know their time is up. They knew it from the moment Kurt Cobain pursed his lips against that iconic shotgun barrel. Anyhow, it's time I introduced the characters. Amy (Rose McGowan) and Jordan (James Duval) are young lovers (well, they haven't done it yet), the former a bobbed nihilist, the latter a softly-spoken no-hoper. Into their lives drifts Xavier (Jonathan Schaech), the chiseled, psychotic loner who accidentally implicates them in the Quickiemart murder. Over several days they drive across the US, encountering all manner of kooks, freaks and killers along the way...

And that's basically it. There are times when The Doom Generation feels like little more than a pop video - NIN's promos are evoked throughout, especially 'Sin' and 'Wish' - but there's something oddly perfect about that, especially given Araki's choice of music. So often we see filmmakers dump current radio hits over their work, giving little thought to how it affects the film's internal texture. Here we are treated to a soundscape including Slowdive, The Jesus And Mary Chain and Lush, whose cuts can often be heard on car radios, blaring out of clubs or underscoring a dream sequence. This music defines the characters lives. They are a generation raised on comic-books, satellite television, ultra-violence and pornography. They're angry, and so the music (loud and drenched in reverb) is their only escape. It's entirely fitting that Araki's portrait of them should resemble a pop video. After all, the only adults seen in the film are a pair of TV anchors, who lump the kids together by their image, describing their gothic clothing as that "commonly worn by satanists, homosexuals and other dangerous cults." No wonder this is the path they've chosen...

The film's central relationships are a little sketchily drawn - Amy is initially repulsed by the brash Xavier, then succumbs to his charms - but it's made up for by a trio of great performances. McGowan is especially effective here, chewing on Araki's no-shit dialogue with a compelling blend of bubblegum innocence and apathetic barb, reveling in the opportunity to deliver lines like "eat my fuck" and "you're like a life support system for a cock." Schaech is solid as Xavier, but little more is required of him than to look pretty and enigmatic. Perhaps the hardest role falls with Duval, whose naive spirit is corrupted throughout the course of the film. But the actor never portrays Jordan as a whimpering fool, instead playing him as an introspective, soft-skinned lover. He's the most relatable of the gang, and always the anchor Araki returns to when the plotting falls into outright insanity, as it often does (look out for Parker Posey in a particularly eccentric cameo). I'd have appreciated a little more depth to the love triangle, as our understanding of each character is reduced to bite-size exposition chunks (such as the scene in which Amy reveals her backstory; "My Mom used to be a heroin addict, and now she's a Scientologist."), but the film's focus is on atmosphere, not dialogue.

In this sense we should consider the work of genius Production Designer Thérèse DePrez, whose other film credits include I Shot Andy Warhol (Harron, 1996) and American Splendor (Berman, Pulcini, 2003). Her understanding of Araki's world is impeccably measured, realising his gonzo interiors without ever slipping into outright garishness. Her work is excessive yet controlled, perfectly exemplified by the checkered motel room which looks like something from a Lewis Carroll nightmare, yet its minimalist decor ensures that it's never too much for the eye to take. When she does indulge, like in the blood-red motel room adorned with a deer's head, she's also careful to offset the palette with something softer - in this case the sterile white of an adjoining bathroom. Technically The Doom Generation is perfect, finding the exact shade of light in each scene to complement McGowan's pale skin, lush lips and red-tinted bob, allowing her to just... glow. Even if you object to Araki's moral codes (the Nazi themed ending might give some people trouble), nobody could argue the audacity of his visual arrangements, nor their individuality. Welcome to the shoegaze apocalypse...

The Disc/Extras

A spotless restoration which only raises the question: why no Blu-Ray? Araki's film is so beautiful that it's hard not to feel short-changed by the decision to only re-release it on DVD. For an independent film it looks extraordinary, with the colour and lighting really coming alive in this new edition. The sound is also crisp and clear, especially noticeable when NIN are blasting out full-throttle in the opening scene. On the disc there's a lively, revealing chat with Araki, although the commentary track, with the director and his three stars, is a little disappointing. They have so much fun re-watching the movie and guffawing at its one-liners that they forget to actually, well, commentate, and subsequently it offers nothing revealing to warrant a listen. It's nice to hear how much passion everyone still has for the project, but their frequently overlapping conversation is too chaotic to engage, and ultimately it feels like a wasted opportunity.

The Doom Generation is released on DVD on March 26th...