PHOTOBOOTHS IN MOVIES & TV

Tarnation

Jonathan Caouette (US, 2004, 105 min.)

Cauoette's film (edited with iMovie, for the most part, though the story is more legend than fact) made a splash at the 2004 Sundance and Cannes festivals. Made for just $218.32 in materials, it was picked up for distribution at the Cannes festival in May of 2004. Early press reports about the film can be found at Wired, The Guardian, and Indiewire.

The film is made up of a combination of video and still images, and features photobooth strips of Jonathan and his mother Renee, the central figure in the film. Ten minutes into the film, Caouette begins a montage sequence that tells about his mom's childhood and teenage years, and about his own early days. Amidst stories of Renee's pyschiatric treatments and troubled trips to Chicago, we see photobooth images of Renee, mother and son together, and Jonathan alone.

Later in the film, we see a few isolated photobooth images of Jonathan himself.

Contributed by Brian

Jonathan's mother as a young girl.
Jonathan's mother in her younger days.
Jonathan and his mother in a few different shots from his childhood.
These images fly by in a montage sequence.
Panning down, we see the second image from each of the strips.
Echoing Jonathan's mother's disintegrating mental health, the photobooth photos begin to multiply and distort.
More mirrored and overlaid photos.
Photographed sideways, this photobooth shot shows Jonathan a little older.
The same photos from earlier are used in the story of Jonathan and his mother's ill-fated trip to Chicago, tinted yellow and multiplied across the frame.
Jonathan, around 13 years of age, with his mother.