Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis

Even the most fervent cinephile may be forgiven for not recognizing the name of Jack Smith, a flamboyant New York photographer, underground filmmaker, and performance artist whose major claim to fame is the still-edgy feature Flaming Creatures, which stirred up moral outrage in the 1960s. Smith maintained such obsessive control over his work that the little of it reaching presentable form was only seen by a select few. Smith's career was also notable for acrimonious breaks with former friends and colleagues such as Andy Warhol, whom he accused of selling out to commerce, and Jonas Mekas, then critic of the Village Voice, whom he charged with hijacking Flaming Creatures to serve his own anti-censorship crusade. Although Smith is a minor figure in the artistic upheaval of the time, Mary Jordan's documentary Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis presents a revealing and insightful portrait of a highly eccentric (and ultimately self-destructive) man within the larger context of the countercultural movement (the film also introduces viewers to Maria Montez, the exotic Hollywood star of 1940s Technicolor extravaganzas, whom Smith idolized). Presenting a whirling collage of stills, archival footage, splashy graphics, eclectic musical selections, audio tapes of Smith's rants, and observations from friends and collaborators, the film manages to capture both the exuberance that made Smith fascinating to so many and the paranoid tendencies that made it impossible for him to maintain close relationships. DVD extras include bonus interview segments. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)