Sewing Circle

Richard Kern's The Sewing Circle is a brash and deviant little devil of a film, concerning a young woman (played by Kimbra Pfahler, boasting a "Young Republicans" shirt for added humor and irony) who decides to have the lips of her labia sewn together by a punk-rock woman (Lisa Resurrection), whilst her other girlfriend holds her hand for support. It's an immensely cringe-worthy film, as can be expected, due to its content, but the whole time, I must admit, I was unable to turn away.

Kern's films are so experimental and so different from what is socially acceptable that you must look at them through a lens of subversion and cinematic anarchy. One must respect all of what Kern goes for in his shorts: a punk-rock soundtrack, a gritty look to each short's videography, ribald acting, ridiculous costumes and characters, and added grossout elements are just some of what he manages to pack into each one of his shorts and, for the most part, achieves greatness time and time again.

The Sewing Circle is a frightening little film; Kern states it was made during a time when he was struggling with self-identification and body harm and mutilation was something that was going on around him quite pervasively. He, in turn, created a short film that takes the act to incredible extremes and shows what we do in the name of acceptance and beauty. He shows the sewing process in extreme detail, which made me realize that when other directors would decide to look away, Kern, an uncommonly brave soul, decides to zoom in and show process.

Starring: Kimbra Pfahler, Lisa Resurrection, and Carrie. Directed by: Richard Kern.

I don't know Kern's work, but I assume he takes himself seriously. A reader sent me to this interesting little short as an example of intrinsic folding. That's when something purports to be one thing or clearly sets itself in a genre and then turns out to be something else. Usually the reversal is radical.

Here's what happens in this: the locale is an artificial place, a studio space walled with photographers' cloth. Into this walks a performance artist, Kembra Pfahler, who was a post- Warhol New York diva of the absurd. She's wearing the most outrageous thing she could imagine in street clothes: a cutoff shirt that says "young republicans," a garter and black stockings. Nothing else.

For no apparent reason, she lies down and has a piercer and assistant sew about four loose stitches across her vagina. The thing is compressed into 7-8 minutes. It is poorly lit as if there had been no setup. The camera is usually distant as if it weren't in the same space as the three women.

But there are plenty of close-ups as if that were the reason for making the film. But there's clearly a larger statement here, one that is not apparent unless you know something about Kembra. Antisex is her art, and I assume this was simply preliminary to some event she planned where she would do her art as statement. Along the way, she allowed Kern to do his which is to obliterate the erotic by working with a pseudojournalism of the extreme.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Sewing Circle provides one of those rare truly morbid curiosities. From Richard Kern, the master of over the top exploitation Super-8 adventures comes this gem of mutilation and pain endurance. The whole thing is probably no longer than eight minutes and consists of two body piercers sewing another womans vagina shut. Really, that's all that happens. It looks pretty painful, but at the same time it is so damn fascinating that you can't take your eyes off it. Kern is very good at doing this sort of thing to his viewers. Somehow I found this less disturbing then Kern's other short which features a transvestite getting simultaneously plooked (if you don't know what "plooked" means then you really should pick up Frank Zappa's Thing Fish album) by a girl with a strap-on while giving head to another strap-on equiped lady.