ON THE SILVER SCREEN: EXPERIMENT IN GENDER

By Brian Lafferty

May 4, 2012 (San Diego) – The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye – which opens today at the Reading Gaslamp – is not about the progressive rock band first fronted by Peter Gabriel, then later by Phil Collins. I would have rather seen a documentary, any documentary, about that instead of this one. Ballad is a bizarre, pretentious, and ultimately dull sixteen-millimeter home movie.

The subject of this documentary is Genesis P-Orridge, an avant-garde musician and performance artist born Neil Megson. In the 1990s, he married Jacqueline Breyer, who then became Lady Jaye. After their nuptials, they embarked on an experiment in which they became a pandrogyne. In other words, they underwent extensive plastic surgery to resemble each other.

The film is composed entirely of archive footage, much of it shot with a 16-millimeter camera while Genesis, interviewed offscreen, emotionlessly talks. No vim, no vigor, no sense of humor in his voice. It’s a poor contrast to the colorful, sometimes borderline shocking, imagery that takes up the seventy minute running time. This imagery includes explicit footage of Genesis peeing into a milk bottle (which, despite the film’s subject matter, I felt I didn’t need to see), weird performance art, and Genesis and Lady Jaye running around and behaving like fools.

Despite the bizarre footage, I was bored. Staying focused was a chore. I’ve seen two-hour movies that felt shorter than Ballad’s seventy-two minutes. Surreal imagery alone does not make a good movie.

Director Marie Losier attempts to add flavor with wall-to-wall surreal, experimental, and industrial music. The result is like tasting a bland dish that a chef tries to enliven with a heavy array of exotic spices. It quickly becomes an affectation.

The only saving grace is it that it stimulated my interest in the avant-garde and performance art, as well as experimental and industrial music. I wanted the film to end so that I could go online and read more about it. I don’t see many documentaries, even good ones, which make me do that.

D+

The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye is now playing at the Reading Gaslamp.

An Adopt Films release. Director: Marie Losier. Original Music: Bryin Dall. Cinematography: Marie Losier. Cast: Genesis P-Orridge and Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge. 72 minutes. Unrated.

Brian Lafferty can be reached at brian@eastcountymagazine.org. You can also follow him on Twitter: @BrianLaff.