05.07.2024 | GEGENkino presents | Double Feature John Waters

Polyester US 1981, R./D.: John Waters, K: David Insley, M: Charles Roggero, D: Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, Mary Vivian Pearce, David Samson, Ken King, Mink Stole, 35mm, engl. OV
The “American Dream” in a dripping wet headlock of AA meetings and fetishes, depression and glue sniffing, religious double standards and a dysfunctional family. Mother and housewife Francine Fishpaw (Divine) is faced with the ruins of her middle-class idyll: husband Elmer (David Samson) turns out to be a wannabe playboy and secretly runs a porn movie theater. The children also indulge in their hedonism; son Dexter, for example, becomes a criminal because of his obsession with feet. Francine takes refuge in alcohol until the real savior, super-hunk Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter), appears on the horizon. “Polyester” is not only the “Filth Maestro’s” first studio production, it also marks Waters’ turn towards established forms of cinema. In terms of narrative and visuals, he seeks to engage with Hollywood melodramas in the style of Douglas Sirk. The humor remains tasteless as usual.
Hairspray US 1988, R./D.: John Waters, K: David Insley; M: Kenny Vance; D: Ricki Lake, Divine, Debbie Harry, Vitamin C, Sonny Bono, Leslie Ann Powers, Ruth Brown, Jerry Stiller, 35mm, OmdU
Waters and his muse Divine love the exalted colors, fashions, gags and characters of the classic Hollywood musical. The “camp” that this shrill world of lived dreams contains. They take it all up, but turn it into something different, something queer: their retro musical, which was to remain Divine’s last appearance, is eye-candy like the classics, but also a critique of puritanism, racism and the body standardization of the post-war decades in the USA. And it is the first film in which Waters enters the mainstream – despite the clear Baltimore underground spirit.
Fr 05. Juli | John Waters double Feature LuRu Kino in der Spinnerei 14 Euro for combination ticket. |
7 pm | Polyester (US 1981 engl. OV, 35mm) € 8 (7 reduced) |
9 pm | Hairspray (US 1988 engl. Original with subs, 35mm) € 8 (7 reduced) |