Crispin Glover Movie: What Is It?

The name of his movie is, What Is It? All the reviews I have read dont have a clue as to what it is about, seems to be the most bizarre movie to come out in a very long time.

On Sunday, I am going to go see Crispin Glover in person at a premier of the film. I know some of his acting work, but I dont think I am prepared for this film. Are there any Glover fans out there that have any words of wisdom or advice about seeing him, his film, and his multi-media slide show?

Here is the trailer for the film.

WARNING: Clip includes nudity and talking snails, view with discretion!!
What Is It?

Totally surreal...

Totally ...

:-|

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118141/

Tagline: Being the adventures of a young man whose principle interests are snails, salt, a pipe, and how to get home. As tormented by an hubristic, racist inner psyche.

Plot Outline: What Is It? is a bewildering, unnerving, surreal, blackly comic film from the visionary mind of Crispin Glover that tells the inner and outer struggles of a young man facing villains and demons on multiple planes.

User Comments: What is it? I really don't know. (more)

User Rating: 2.8/10 (22 votes)

Loki, it sounds cliche, but just be you and be extra-respectful of personal space. As I've "allegedly" heard, Crispin is eccentric (tee hee hee) and might be uncomfortable with too much closeness. But I sure do like him. Have fun and all the best!

FINALLY a movie I can relate to as part of my everyday life!

Loki, it sounds cliche, but just be you and be extra-respectful of personal space. As I've "allegedly" heard, Crispin is eccentric (tee hee hee) and might be uncomfortable with too much closeness. But I sure do like him. The rest I can recommend is the obvious, like read interviews with him, perhaps his book Rat Catching for personal insights, and get a fuller context to appreciate his artistry. Have fun and all the best!

OH MY GOODNESS THE TRAILER SHOWS WATERMELONS AT THE FOURTY-EIGHTH-SECOND MARK. FINALLY a movie I can relate to as part of my everyday life!

Remember the movie Crispin Glover was in where his waterskiing cat could "eat a whole watermelon?"

I think Crispin's been watching too much Guy Maddin and Matthew Barney.

I am a big fan of Crispin Glover! I became aware of him from his role as George McFly in Back to the Future, although his career began several years before that. Later, as I grew into a nonconformist, I discovered that he too was quite unconventional and I've followed his progress ever since.

He's worked in the past with David Lynch in Wild at Heart, played Andy Warhol in The Doors, and recently had small roles in Charlie's Angels. You can read about it in his IMDB bio.


I hear he wears vintage clothing and drives vintage cars. He once lived in an apartment painted entirely in black. He also had a collection of old gynecological tables and mummification equipment in his home. He's the perfect antidote to the mobs of conformist jeans-and-baseball-cap-wearing middle-class automatons that infest this country.

~Ulrika~

that's probably the best and shittiest tagline for a movie i ever saw. anybody seen a poster?

I think this one was being used as a promo:

http://members.aol.com/whatisitx/cen.jpg

Oak Mot!

I still laugh so hard whenever I hear "Automanipulator"!

I also remember his readings on talk shows.

Wayyy back when Letterman had him on in '87, he kicked toward Dave's face, which made Dave "unhappy". There were rumours that he was crazy, or on acid at the time, but I think it was most likely pre-planned - possibly with Dave's involvment - or else he was just sort of waxing Kaufman-esque.

I had always wondered what was in the case he was carrying with him on that night with Letterman - it turns out they were wax replicas of diseased eyeballs. Which makes sense because I remember seeing something about him collecting those eyeballs, apparently they are medical antiques, not suprising given what Ulrika mentioned above about his other collectibles.

The now infamous kick:

http://www.waxy.org/random/images/weblog/crispin_on_letterman_1987.jpg

Excerpt from that night on Letterman: CG: "Oh, yes, now because I've been in movies that are big and I'm a movie star so I've been on talk shows, on the Johnny Carson Show and now I'm here and I've been all across the United States and I feel really good about it."

LOL!

P.S., my cat can eat a whole watermelon.

I loved Bartleby.

I just got back. I saw the movie twice. My friend that invited me is a huge Crispin Glover fan and drove 200 miles to spend the day drenched in him.

The first show was at 4pm. He came out and briefly introduced the film and promptly let us watch it. Afterwards, he spent about 30 minutes answering questions from the audience. Then he went out to the lobby and signed autographs and chatted with his fans. My friend spent about 15 mins with him during this time. She had a ton of stuff she wanted signed and asked him to just pick what to sign, but he was not harried and took the time to sign all of her offerings. He was an all around nice guy and seemed generally interested in the conversations at hand.

The next show was at 8pm. This show also included his slide show. The slide show was stills from his books. He basically just read to us while he showed off the artwork included in the books. This was pretty entertaining, but went a bit long. I felt he could have ended this segment on a stronger note instead of dragging into less interesting works. Then, the second screening of the film followed by a brief Q and A afterwards. Many of the answers were the same responses from earlier in the day. I noticed he even worked in the same answers, even for questions that were not even asked. There was another autograph session afterwards, but we had already done that, so we didnt stick around.

I am going to cop out and not say what I think it is. Not that I dont have an opinion, but taking a cue from Glover himself and allowing you to form your own opinion about it. When asked what it was, his response was basically the tagline that Hiro already posted, those are his words. He said (almost exact quote), "I like to answer that by saying its a movie that stars Down Syndrome actors, but it is not about Down Syndrome. It is about the adventures of a young man whose principle interests are snails, salt, a pipe, and how to get home. As tormented by an hubristic, racist inner psyche." And although that doesnt say a lot about it, it does make sense after seeing it.

He did say that he has no plans for it to be on DVD anytime soon. This work is a trilogy and I suspect the DVD, when it does come out, will include all three films. From his hints, I think a DVD will be five years down the road. Right now he plans to travel with the film and do Q and A across the country. So, watch your local art house for screenings.

Glover is very committed to the need to have "counter-culture" films and believes that they are non existant at the moment. He sited the difficulty he had making this film in its purest form. His belief is that 99.98% of films currently made now are "committee films" and the artists original vision is often muddled and sacrificed for the market share of the project. Once others get involved, it is no longer the artists work. He is very proud that What Is It? is his movie, he did all the editing and sound himself and followed only his direction. He said it took him about $120,000 to make his film and most of the funds came from his work in the movie, Charlies Angels. It was obvious he loathes Hollywood, but he is "in the business" and does roles to provide the income and means to follow his passions.

Would I recomend this film? Yes and No. If you like to be challenged and can appreciate thought provoking content, it is a must see experience. If you need a nice neat story laid out for you to not think about and hope to see a George McFly character, then no, you will be disappointed. I saw it twice tonight and wont need to see it again for awhile, but if the opportunity came up, with the right person, I would see it again.

Attached is a pic I took of him while he was doing his slide show.

This is him signing all her stuff.

Brilliant! Thank you for the heads up Loki!