Resident Alien

Originally released in 1991, Jonathan Nossiter's Resident Alien is a refreshing blend of documentary and fiction that will likely stand as the definitive portrait of Quentin Crisp (1908-1999), the flamboyantly gay British writer/raconteur who gained modest celebrity when he moved to New York City in the early 1980s, at the age of 73. Best known for his autobiography The Naked Civil Servant (later adapted as a British TV movie starring John Hurt, a close friend of Crisp's), Crisp is seen here as a self-effacing eccentric and movie buff who consciously viewed life itself as a movie—one not to be taken very seriously. Depending on your point of view, Nossiter's well-made documentary reveals Crisp to have been either a harmless, likable cult figure who deliberately repeated all of his most quotable quips, or a somewhat pathetic semi-celebrity who, in the words of one gay critic, marginalized himself as a clownish stereotype of the conspicuous homosexual. Either way, there's no denying that Crisp was a memorable figure on the fringes of Manhattan celebrity, wearing a velvet coat, flashy ascots and rakish hat, thick mascara, and lavender highlights in his silver hair—serving as the inspiration for Sting's hit song “An Englishman in New York” (the musician, along with Hurt and Fran Lebowitz, is among many famous New York residents interviewed), but Resident Alien seems a bit dated now, and Crisp's literary legacy has become as marginal as his fleeting fame. Still, the film does capture Crisp's offbeat wit and unique outsider's perspective. Also included on this DVD is Losing the Thread, Nossiter's hour-long 2000 documentary about Lorenzo Pezzatini, an eccentric Italian artist whose publicly-created art is made entirely with painted string. Recommended, overall. Aud: C, P. (J. Shannon)