'Underground Orange' | Michael Taylor Jackson
Kissinger goes down. Finally.
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Dear Moviegoers,
It's such a beautiful thing, to me, when a filmmaking crew manifests something from their film into the real world. The team behind Michael Taylor Jackson's cute and excitable Underground Orange has on their website a "manifesto" that, if you expand from the movie, could be seen as a fiction born from a fiction. If this cancels each other out, does that make something true? Which one? Both?
I wasn't expecting a fanciful feature about an Argentinian anti-capitalist acting troupe to be as surreal as it would slowly become. Reminiscent of the movie magic conjured by Alejandro Jodorowsky, Underground Orange brought me into its life through whimsy and walked me into the sunset, questioning sensible reality. This goes by slowly but surely, as art blends with sensuality and politics mix with mystery. Too heavy for fun? Maybe.
Director Michael Taylor Jackson, who also plays the lead role, has made what is marketed as a "genre fluid" film, and I agree with that label. Underground Orange depicts its characters as a polyamorous and free-living collective, looking for ultimate creative and personal expression. And some political justice, too. I don't believe that Jackson's film or reel-y real manifesto advocates any kind of rebellion other than one of the mind, but it does use the yearning to change society as a wonderful reason to stage revisionist plays, such as one that's a mock trial of Henry Kissinger (one of the film's more impactful scenes).
Between a Kissinger death penalty fantasy and an ending that simulates dream walking with startling socialization, the rest of Underground Orange is a mostly well-captured and emotive hangout flick: less sex and more sensitivity, less action and more contemplation.
Wonderful wanderings and mindful meanderings cover up any confusion or repetitiveness that might linger in the movie. Underground Orange distorts genre, gender, and good gatherings with great (and proud) gusto. Could it be considered a slacker classic? No, and I wouldn't classify it as slacker, even if there's a joy in blowing with an articulated wind. Underground Orange is fun, and that's more than enough. Pushing its story into the world with false mission statements that are more truthful than needed? I'd call that overachieving. And that's ok. 3.5/5
Underground Orange is currently on the cinema circuit and will screen at Zeitgeist Theatre & Lounge in New Orleans on June 20 and 21, accompanied by a live filmmaker Q&A.