Kamikaze Hearts

Kamikaze Hearts (alternately titled Fact or Fiction) is a 1986 American quasi-documentary film[5] directed by Juliet Bashore and written by Bashore, Tigr Mennett, and John Knoop. It stars Sharon Mitchell, Tigr Mennett, Jon Martin, Sparky Vasque, Jerry Abrahms, and Robert McKenna. The soundtrack was composed by Georges Bizet, Walt Fowler, and Paul M. Young.

This article is about the film. For the band, see Kamikaze Hearts (band).

Kamikaze Hearts
Tigr Mennett and Sharon Mitchell embrace.
Official re-release poster
Directed byJuliet Bashore[1]
Written by
  • Juliet Bashore
  • Tigr Mennett
  • John Knoop
[1]
StarringSharon Mitchell[2]
Music by
[2]
Production
company
Legler/Bashore[2]
CountryUnited States[3]
Box office$6,669[4]

The film, while partly fictional, is based on the real life relationship between Mitchell and her girlfriend Tigr Mennett, who were both pornographic actresses. In Kamikaze Hearts, a camera crew follows Mitchell, nicknamed "Mitch," as she stars in a porn parody of the opera Carmen that Mennett is directing.

Facets Multi-Media released the film in November 1986. It received a 2K restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and was re-released by Kino Lorber, premiering on May 13, 2022.

Plot

Veteran pornographic actress Sharon Mitchell, nicknamed "Mitch," drives to San Francisco accompanied by a camera crew filming a documentary. She is going to star in a porn parody of Carmen, which is directed by her girlfriend, Tigr, a newcomer to the industry. When Mitch arrives on the set, the documentary crew films her along with various other people involved in the making of the Carmen parody. After filming a rape scene, Mitch dons a mustache, invites the crew to what she calls the "pre-wrap wrap party," and introduces them to more of her coworkers. Each of them are prompted to discuss their own experience with pornography.

Mantra is supposed to perform fellatio on Jon, but pauses mid-scene and becomes distressed, refusing to do so in front of Gerald Greystone, the producer; who then fires her and photographs Jennifer Blowdryer, another actress, coaxing her into displaying more skin than she had initially planned. During another party, cast members fraternize as Tigr speaks to the documentary crew on the role of drugs in her relationship with Mitch.

Mitch disappears from the set before they are about to shoot and Greystone berates Tigr for having paid Mitch in advance. Following a search, Tigr finds Mitch dancing naked at a strip club. After getting into a fight with the club's staff, Tigr is removed from the establishment. When Tigr asks her why she did not show up to the set, Mitch reveals that she had been arrested and spent most of the night in jail. The couple then argues about Tigr telling the people around them about Mitch's drug habit, though Tigr claims that everyone already knows that Mitch is a user. Tigr vents about the situation to Bobby Mac, who converses with her while playing a round of dice.

Mantra returns to the set, asking Tigr to let her redo the oral sex scene as she needs money to pay her rent. However, she requests to do it with Mitch instead of Jon, stating that she no longer does pornography with men. Tigr agrees and Mantra and Mitch film the scene, despite Tigr becoming jealous as it unfolds. Tigr and Mitch get poison oak and take a shower together. Mitch contemplates her career and the people who watch her. As they dry off outside, Tigr expresses her disappointment in Mitch, but notes that she loves her anyways, kissing her before walking off. Sometime later, the couple decide to film themselves injecting themselves with drugs. Comparing the needle to a surrogate penis, Mitch talks to the camera about how she "fucked" Tigr with it with the hopes of maturing their relationship. Tigr expresses her desire to eventually find something more enjoyable than drugs.

Cast

Cast list adapted from Lesbian Film Guide.[1]

  • Sharon Mitchell as Mitch
  • Tina "Tigr" Mennett as Tigr
  • Jon Martin as Jon
  • Sparky Vasque as Sparky
  • Jerry Abrahms as Gerald Greystone
  • Robert McKenna as Bobby Mac

Background & production

Kamikaze Hearts, originally named Fact or Fiction,[6] was conceived after Juliet Bashore, a filmmaking student working on a documentary on the porn industry in San Francisco, met Tigr Mennett. Mennett, an assistant director, was in a relationship with pornographic film actress Sharon Mitchell;[7] the couple met while filming a scene.[8] Obsessed with her girlfriend to the point that she adopted Mitchell's drug habit,[nb 1] Mennett met with Bashore and convinced her to change the focus of the documentary.[7] Mennett not only starred in the film, but is also credited as one of the writers.[8] Bashore later recalled that Mennett worked on the film with her because she wanted an opportunity to have sex with Mitchell, as Mitchell would not perform any sex acts without the presence of a camera.[10]

Multiple elements of the film are fictional, including the Carmen parody and the leading couple's arguments, which were scripted and storyboarded. While actual people who worked within the porn industry starred in Kamikaze Hearts, these performers improvised, portraying different versions of themselves.[5]

Juliet Bashore began shooting the film in the mid-1980s.[8] It was filmed on location in North Beach, San Francisco,[11] Embarcadero Freeway, and the Mission District, San Francisco.[12]

Release

Kamikaze Hearts received a limited theatrical release in November 1986 by Facets Multi-Media[13] before being played across multiple theaters and sold on home video in the years that followed. The May 31, 1988 edition of The Village Voice wrote that, three days earlier on May 28, the film was shown during the America Gay Film Tour in New York City. The following year, it made its Los Angeles debut on January 30. Furthermore, LA Weekly announced that the film would be played at the Nuart Theatre for three days, beginning on April 26, 1991 and concluding on April 28.[10] The film was released on VHS on November 11, 1991.[2]

The film received a 2K restoration from the UCLA Film and Television Archive and was subsequently re-released by film distributor Kino Lorber.[14] It held its premiere on May 13, 2022, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City,[15] generating $1,004. The next screening was at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on May 20 of the same year.[1] Overall the film was played across three theaters and grossed $6,669 from this release.[4]

Kamikaze Hearts won Best Feature Film at the Torino International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.[16]

Reception

Critical response

According to the American Film Institute's Catalog of Feature Films, while Kamikaze Hearts garnered mixed reviews following its release, critics tended to be fascinated by its subject matter.[10]

Multiple critics lauded Juliet Bashore for her directing of the film. In a review published by the Los Angeles Times, Kevin Thomas praised her for "wisely" allowing individual viewers to decide which portions are true.[17] Liz Galst of Boston's Gay Community News called Kamikaze Hearts "amazingly powerful," citing its portrayals of Mitch and Tigr's relationship and how pornographic performers navigate the lines between fiction and reality. She went on to note that the film placed Bashore "at the forefront of U.S. non-fiction filmmaking".[18]

The New York Times's Beatrice Loayza said that many portions were disorienting and tedious, comparing the film to an "opioid-induced delirium," but found it memorable as a whole.[5] Jonathan Rosenbaum, writing for the Chicago Reader, also cautioned that the film had the tendency to confuse its viewers. He attributed this to the several purposes that the camera served within Kamikaze Hearts, which included the "seemingly impartial witness" of and "catalyst" for the film's events.[19]

Writing for Another Magazine, James Balmont said that although the lesbian mainstream rejected the film when it was first released, Kamikaze Hearts "remains a milestone in queer cinema."[20]

L.A. Weekly wrote in 1991 that the film "drags you to a certain place — the world of lesbian-junkie porn stars — and keeps you there for 80 minutes. If you're excited by that place, or even if you find that place disturbing, you'll like this film because it's so relentlessly inside the world of naked bodies, make-believe, addiction, despair, two-bit sleaze and two-bit dreams."[21]

In her 1991 book, Looking for Trouble: On Shopping, Gender and the Cinema, Suzanne Moore calls the film "underground film-making of the highest order." She also said of the final scene: "Like pornography itself, the film promises the one big act, the one scene that will make the whole thing right, but never delivers it."[22]

SFe for Time Out magazine said "sometimes the camera is a coolly discriminating, independent viewpoint, sometimes a goggling, peeping eye."[23]

Notes
  1. In 2004, Mitchell admitted to having been addicted to heroin for approximately twenty years.[9]

References
  1. Darren, Alison (February 17, 2000). Lesbian Film Guide. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 120–121. ISBN 978-1-4411-8364-4. Archived from the original on January 9, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  2. Davies, Ann; Powrie, Phil (2006). Carmen on Screen: An Annotated Filmography and Bibliography. Tamesis Books. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-85566-129-5.
  3. Elia, Maurice (1988). "Le 4e festival international de films et de vidéos de femmes" (PDF). Séquences (in French). Archived (PDF) from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022 – via Érudit.
  4. "Kamikaze Hearts". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on December 22, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  5. Loayza, Beatrice (May 12, 2022). "'Kamikaze Hearts' Review: Truth or Fiction". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 24, 2022. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  6. Neuwave, Robert (February 16, 2021). "PinkLabel.TV to Stream Classic 'Kamikaze Hearts' on March 12 AVN". AVN. Archived from the original on February 16, 2021. Retrieved January 31, 2023.
  7. Faust, Mike (November 19, 1993). "Outrageous! On the Very Edge of Good Taste". Buffalo News. Mondo Video. Archived from the original on December 11, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  8. Gregory, Drew Burnett (July 22, 2022). "Lesbian Classic "Kamikaze Hearts" Asks Questions About Porn and Sex, Fiction and Reality". Autostraddle. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  9. Madigan, Nick (May 10, 2004). "Voice of Health in a Pornographic World". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 15, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2023.
  10. "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2022. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  11. Olson, Jenni (1996). The Ultimate Guide to Lesbian & Gay Film and Video. Serpent's Tail. ISBN 978-1-85242-339-1.
  12. "Film Locations in San Francisco" (PDF). San Francisco. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  13. "Kamikaze Hearts (1986)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  14. Pearce, Leonard (April 19, 2022). "A Landmark of Queer Cinema is Restored in Exclusive Trailer for Kamikaze Hearts". The Film Stage. Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. Retrieved November 23, 2022.
  15. Wissot, Lauren (May 9, 2022). ""We're All Pornographers Now": Juliet Bashore on Her 2K-Restored Kamikaze Hearts | Filmmaker Magazine". Filmmaker Magazine. Archived from the original on January 5, 2023. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  16. Bougie, Robin (2007). Cinema Sewer: The Adults Only Guide to History's Sickest and Sexiest Movies!. FAB Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-1-903254-45-5. Archived from the original on January 13, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  17. Thomas, Kevin (April 26, 1991). "Movie Review: Sexual Power Fuels Porno World of 'Kamikaze Hearts'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 24, 2022. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  18. Galst, Liz (October 15–21, 1989). "A desperate eroticism". Gay Community News. Vol. 17, no. 14. p. 16. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  19. Rosenbaum, Jonathan (October 26, 1985). "Kamikaze Hearts". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  20. AnOther (September 7, 2022). "Great Things to Watch at This Year's BFI London Film Festival". AnOther Magazine. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
  21. "LA Weekly 04 Jul 1991, page 64". Newspapers.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
  22. Moore, Suzanne (1991). Looking for trouble : on shopping, gender, and the cinema. Internet Archive. London : Serpent's Tail. pp. 157–159. ISBN 978-1-85242-242-4.
  23. SFe (September 10, 2012). "Kamikaze Hearts". Time Out. Archived from the original on December 12, 2022. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
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