Liquid Sky

Last updated
Liquid Sky
LiquidSkyPoster3.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Slava Tsukerman
Written by
Produced by
  • Slava Tsukerman
  • Nina V. Kerova
  • Robert E. Field
Starring
  • Anne Carlisle
  • Paula E. Sheppard
CinematographyYuri Neyman
Edited by Sharyn L. Ross
Music by
Distributed by
  • Cinevista
  • Media Home Entertainment
Release date
Running time
112 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUS$500,000
Box office$1.7 million

Liquid Sky is a 1982 American independent science fiction film directed by Slava Tsukerman and starring Anne Carlisle and Paula E. Sheppard. [1] It debuted at the Montreal Film festival in August 1982 and was well received at several film festivals thereafter. [2] It was produced with a budget of $500,000. It became the most successful independent film of 1983, grossing $1.7 million worldwide. [3]

Contents

The film is seen as heavily influencing a club scene that emerged in the early 2000s in Brooklyn, Berlin, Paris, and London called electroclash. [4]

Plot

A New Wave fashion show is being held in a crowded Manhattan nightclub. Among the models are bisexual, cocaine-addicted Margaret and her similarly cocaine-addicted nemesis Jimmy. Margaret's drug-dealing girlfriend, Adrian, is constantly hassled by Jimmy because he does not have the money to pay for more drugs.

A small frisbee-shaped UFO lands on the roof of the penthouse apartment occupied by Margaret and Adrian. Jimmy accompanies Margaret home before the show, trying to find Adrian's drugs. Margaret and Jimmy return to the club to participate in the show. During preparations, both agree to a photo shoot the following night on Margaret's rooftop. Margaret is subsequently raped by a man she meets in the nightclub.

German scientist Johann Hoffman has been secretly observing the aliens from the Empire State Building. Johann needs somewhere to continue his surveillance when the observation deck closes. He seeks help from the only person he knows in the U.S., college drama teacher Owen, who is on his way to meet a former student. Johann shows him a photo of the alien, which looks like a retina. Seeking a vantage point on his own, Johann stumbles into Sylvia's building. Sylvia, who is Jimmy's mother, invites him to her apartment for dinner. Across town, Katherine states her objection to the heroin use of her boyfriend, failed writer and addict Paul.

Margaret is seduced by Owen, her former acting professor. Owen, after having sex with Margaret, dies, and a translucent crystal protrudes from his head. She removes it, revealing no blood, and when completely free of the wound, it evaporates into thin air.

Adrian returns to the penthouse and discovers Owen's corpse, but she is not bothered. Adrian decides to lead a hell-themed wake for Owen. In a bout of psychopathic narcissism and necrophelia, Adrian mounts Owen's face and climaxes while Margaret watches, pleading for her to stop. A fight ensues, and Adrian draws a switchblade on Margaret. They struggle over control of the knife and eventually give up. Adrian then puts Owen's body in a cardboard box and drags it onto the roof where she comforts Margaret, saying they will leave the body behind and depart for Berlin; she leaves to retrieve food for dinner.

While out at the liquor store, Adrian is confronted by Johann, who attempts to warn her, but is snubbed by a paranoid Adrian, who is convinced Johann is a cop. While Margaret is alone in the apartment, Paul, Adrian's client, returns. When Paul tries to rape her, she vengefully kills him by forcing him to climax, realizing everyone she has sex with dies.

From Sylvia's apartment, Johann continues his observation between dinner and dodging Sylvia's attempts to seduce him. Adrian arrives home and they prepare a rotisserie chicken and potatoes in aluminum pans on their bed. They are interrupted when the crew arrives at the apartment for the fashion shoot.

During the shoot, Margaret is taunted by Jimmy and the crew, so she forces him to have oral sex with her, knowing it will kill him, which it does, baffling everyone (some of whom leave). Adrian, confronted by this anomalous death, antagonizes Margaret into having sex with her, to prove her wrong while playing into her egotistic complex of dominance over the submissive Margaret, who pleads with her not to. Margaret is then held down by the stylist and her companion while Adrian rapes Margaret, achieving climax; she then disappears.

Margaret unplugs all the lights, and applies glow make up while she rants about her identity, upbringing, society, and the culture of 1980's Manhattan. She then goes back to the club and sees the strange man who raped her, and convinces him to go back with her to her apartment, as he is thrilled by her newfound deadly prowess.

Margaret has sex with the date rapist; his body disappears afterwards. She then looks out the window and speaks to the invisible entity "Indian" that she associates with the deaths, and she puts on a white gown. After witnessing the deaths through the window in Sylvia's apartment, Johann goes across the street to Margaret's apartment.

Johann reveals that the alien in the UFO is extracting endorphins produced by the brain when an orgasm occurs. Margaret survived because she never experienced an orgasm. Margaret stabs Johann to death, which Sylvia witnesses through a telescope. Seeing the alien craft leaving, Margaret injects herself with heroin to induce a wild autoerotic orgasm to ensure the aliens take her with them.

Sylvia and Katherine arrive at the apartment together and reach the penthouse in time to see Margaret getting abducted by the aliens. The UFO floats off into outer space.

Cast

Production

Liquid Sky was an adaption and formation from a previous script titled "Sweet Sixteen" from Director Slava Tsukerman. After not being able to fund the script, Tsukerman knew he needed to write a new script that would be producible. His wife, Nina V. Kerova, had been writing scripts based on a woman who could not orgasm. [5] He had an idea for a movie about aliens from outer space. [6] He and his wife started collaborating; because of language barriers and American speech, they hired friend & co-writer Anne Carlisle to help them write the script. After the three writers collaborated over dinner one night, the title "Liquid Sky" was born. [5]

Liquid Sky was produced and directed by Slava Tsukerman, who, prior to making Liquid Sky, had had a successful career as a documentary and TV film director in the USSR and Israel. The screenplay was written by Tsukerman, his wife and ubiquitous co-producer Nina V. Kerova, and Anne Carlisle, who also enacted the film's two leading roles. The director of photography, Yuri Neyman, a Russian émigré, was also the film's special effects expert. Anne Carlisle also wrote a novel based on the film in 1987. [7]

Although the film is loosely centered around early 1980s punk subculture, the film's score uses a series of strident synthesizer music pieces. The music was composed by Slava Tsukerman, Clive Smith and Brenda Hutchinson using the Fairlight CMI. Most of it was original, but included interpretations of Baroque composer Marin Marais's Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris , Carl Orff's Trionfo di Afrodite , and Anthony Philip Heinrich's Laurel Waltz. All of these were orchestrated in a series of ominous, dissonant arrangements and nightmarish marches. Excerpts from "Beautiful Bend" by Boris Midney are also featured. [8]

Release

Home media

The film was digitally restored in 4K resolution in 2017 by Vinegar Syndrome, [9] [10] and released as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on April 24, 2018. [11] [12] [13]

Filming

Liquid Sky was shot without any major actors, large funding, or even permits. It was shot in several downtown New York City locations. [14] "On Variety’s top-grossing film chart for over half a year, Liquid Sky was perhaps the most successful independent film of its day". [15]

Cinematography

Yuri Neyman, A.S.C., is both the cinematographer and special effects director for Liquid Sky. Director Slava Tsukerman, cinematographer Yuri Neyman, and Production Designer Marina Levikova worked closely together to create the distinct, unique cinematic look and vivid feel of Liquid Sky. The overall look and feel of the film was inspired by German Expressionism and Bertolt Brecht. [16] At the time, "punk" was not well known. The crew and cinematographer knew that they needed to "create" a feel and look for "punk". The cinematography in Liquid Sky is a form of expressionism. The film was shot to make you feel the emotions of the characters, expressed through powerful light, colors, contrast, composition, and movement. The reality of the cinematography is a world expressed and painted with emotion rather than practicality. All three department heads were successful filmmakers from the USSR who discovered filmmaking in their teenage years. The cinematography was well received by the community and filmmakers. In a 1984 February issue of American Cinematographer, reviewers of Liquid Sky cinematography were quoted as saying it is "the picture's asset" and "On its simplest level, it could be just as satisfying to be watched with its sound off, as a spectacular work of moving art." The magazine would go as far as to comment "New York has never been photographed better before." [17]

The film was shot on 35mm film and had an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It was re-released in 2017 with 4K master restore to digital.

Sound design

Clive Smith loading a floppy disk into the Fairlight CMI, 1982 Fairlight CMI Synthesizer.jpg
Clive Smith loading a floppy disk into the Fairlight CMI, 1982

To create unusual sounds by manipulating real-world sounds, director Slava Tsukerman chose to use a digital sampling synthesizer known as the Fairlight CMI. Brenda Hutchinson and Clive Smith were the music composers for the soundtrack. [18] During the process, Tsukerman brought over three or four classical music pieces that would be programmed into the Fairlight CMI. Much like a computer, every sound and every note would be programmed with a code. When composing, Tsukerman would tap a rhythm or hum a melody, and Hutchinson and Smith would play around with ideas on the Fairlight. Percussion sounds were used throughout the movie. Tsukerman often rejected re-recording a tape when not perfect, loving the rawness of the imperfections. He was quoted as saying "No, I like it. Let’s make it quick and dirty." During foley and sound design, materials such as wind chimes, metal, glass, and wood were used to create the sounds of the alien creatures. While composing, Smith never saw a visual from the film. He did not see his work integrated with the visuals until the premiere. He created music and sound solely from what Tsukerman communicated to him. He said that he and Hutchinson were the composers, but that Tsukerman had the vision. [19]

Reception

Critical reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93%, based on 27 reviews, and an average rating of 7.2/10. [20]

Awards

Sequel

In a 2014 interview with The Awl, Slava Tsukerman confirmed that he intended to make a sequel, Liquid Sky 2; [21] with Anne Carlisle returning in the role of Margaret. [21]

Novelization

Anne Carlisle wrote a novel Liquid Sky based on the screenplay of the movie. It was published as a Dolphin (Doubleday) paperback in 1987.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Bound</i> (1996 film) 1996 American film by the Wachowskis

Bound is a 1996 American neo-noir erotic crime thriller film written and directed by the Wachowskis in their feature film directorial debut. It stars Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon and Joe Pantoliano. The film centers on Violet (Tilly), a gun moll who longs to escape her relationship with her mobster boyfriend Caesar (Pantoliano), enters into a clandestine affair with alluring ex-con Corky (Gershon), and the two women hatch a scheme to steal $2 million of Mafia money.

Grey aliens, also referred to as Zeta Reticulans, Roswell Greys or Greys, are purported extraterrestrial beings. They are frequent subjects of close encounters and alien abduction claims. The details of such claims vary widely. That said, Greys are typically described as being human-like with small bodies, smooth, grey-colored skin; enlarged, hairless heads; and large, black eyes. The Barney and Betty Hill abduction claim, which purportedly took place in New Hampshire in 1961, popularized Grey aliens. Precursor figures have been described in science fiction and similar descriptions appeared in early accounts of the 1948 Aztec UFO hoax and later accounts of the 1947 Roswell UFO incident.

<i>UFO</i> (British TV series) British TV science fiction series (1970–1971)

UFO is a 1970 British science fiction television series about the covert efforts of an international defence organisation to prevent an alien invasion of Earth. It was created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.

<i>Antropophagus</i> 1980 Italian film

Antropophagus is a 1980 Italian horror film directed by Joe D'Amato, who is also the co-writer along with George Eastman. Eastman also stars as a cannibal. The film also features Tisa Farrow, Zora Kerova, Saverio Vallone, Serena Grandi, Margaret Mazzantini and Mark Bodin.

<i>Sylvia Scarlett</i> 1935 film by George Cukor

Sylvia Scarlett is a 1935 American romantic comedy film starring Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant, based on The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett, a 1918 novel by Compton MacKenzie. Directed by George Cukor, it was notorious as one of the most famous unsuccessful movies of the 1930s. Hepburn plays the title role of Sylvia Scarlett, a female con artist masquerading as a boy to escape the police. The success of the subterfuge is in large part due to the transformation of Hepburn by RKO makeup artist Mel Berns.

<i>Romance in Manhattan</i> 1935 film by Stephen Roberts

Romance in Manhattan is a 1935 American romantic comedy film directed by Stephen Roberts, starring Francis Lederer and Ginger Rogers, and released by RKO Radio Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Carlisle</span> American actress

Anne Carlisle is an American artist, actress, performance artist, acting teacher, author, and model.

This is a list of notable alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in the United Kingdom. Many more sightings have become known since the gradual release, between 2008 and 2013, of the Ministry of Defence's UFO sighting reports by the National Archives. In recent years, there have been many sightings of groups of slowly moving lights in the night sky, which can be easily explained as Chinese lanterns. Undertaken between 1997 and 2000, Project Condign concluded that all the investigated sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena in the UK could be attributed to misidentified but explicable objects, or poorly understood natural phenomena.

<i>Christiane F.</i> (film) 1981 film by Uli Edel

Christiane F. is a 1981 West German biographical drama film directed by Uli Edel. It depicts the descent of Christiane Felscherinow, a bored and depressed 13-year-old coming of age in mid-1970s West Berlin, to a 14-year-old heroin addict. Based on the 1978 non-fiction book Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo, transcribed and edited from tape recordings by Kai Hermann and Horst Rieck, the film immediately acquired cult status and features David Bowie as both composer and as himself. In 2013, Felscherinow published her autobiography Christiane F. – My Second Life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flying saucer</span> Purported disk-shaped aircraft

A flying saucer, or flying disc, is a purported disc-shaped UFO. The term was coined in 1947 by the news media for the objects pilot Kenneth Arnold claimed flew alongside his airplane above Washington State. Newspapers reported Arnold's story with speed estimates implausible for airplanes of the period. The story spurred a wave of hundreds of sightings across the United States, including the Roswell incident and Flight 105 UFO sighting. The concept quickly spread to other countries. Early reports speculated about secret military technology, but flying saucers became synonymous with aliens by 1950. The term has gradually been supplanted by the more general military terms unidentified flying object (UFO) and unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).

<i>Only Yesterday</i> (1933 film) 1933 film by John M. Stahl

Only Yesterday is a 1933 American pre-Code drama film, directed by John M. Stahl, about a young woman who becomes pregnant by her boyfriend before he rushes off to fight in World War I. It stars Margaret Sullavan and John Boles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slava Tsukerman</span> American film director

Vladislav "Slava" Mendelevich Tsukerman is a Russian film director of Jewish origin. He was born in the Soviet Union and emigrated in 1973 with his wife Nina Kerova to Israel. In 1976 he moved to New York City. He is best known for producing, directing, and writing the screenplay for the 1982 cult film Liquid Sky. He also directed the 2004 documentary Stalin's Wife and the 2008 film Perestroika. Today, he resides in New York City with his wife and producing partner Nina Kerova.

<i>Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman</i> (1993 film) Television film by Christopher Guest

Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman is a 1993 American science fiction comedy television film and is a remake of the 1958 film Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. Directed by Christopher Guest and starring Daryl Hannah and Daniel Baldwin, the film premiered on HBO on December 11, 1993, and was later released theatrically in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barney and Betty Hill incident</span> Alleged alien abduction in 1961

Barney and Betty Hill were an American couple who claimed they were abducted by extraterrestrials in a rural portion of the state of New Hampshire from September 19 to 20, 1961. The incident came to be called the "Hill Abduction" and the "Zeta Reticuli Incident" because two ufologists connected the star map shown to Betty Hill with the Zeta Reticuli system. Their story was adapted into the best-selling 1966 book The Interrupted Journey and the 1975 television film The UFO Incident.

"Sub-Smash" is the eighth episode aired of the first series of UFO - a 1970 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth. The screenplay was written Alan Fennell and the director was David Lane. The episode was filmed between 18 November and 28 November 1969 and aired on the ATV Midlands on 11 November 1970. Though shown as the seventh episode, it was actually the seventeenth to have been filmed.

"Destruction" is the ninth episode aired of the first series of UFO - a 1970 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth. The screenplay was written by Dennis Spooner and the director was Ken Turner. The episode was filmed between 4 June and 16 June 1970 and aired on the ATV Midlands on 2 December 1970. Though shown as the ninth episode, it was actually the twentieth to have been filmed.

"The Psychobombs" is the twelfth episode aired of the first series of UFO, a 1970 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth. The screenplay was written by Tony Barwick and the director was Jeremy Summers. The episode was filmed between 30 June and 10 July 1970, and first aired on ATV Midlands on 30 December 1970. Though shown as the twelfth episode, it was actually the twenty-second to be filmed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bettina Gilois</span> American screenwriter (1961–2020)

Bettina Gilois was a German-American screenwriter and author, known for her work on the HBO film Bessie, and Disney's Glory Road and McFarland, USA. Gilois won an Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Writing of a Television Movie and a Black Reel Awards of 2016 nomination for Bessie. She also won two Image Award nominations for Bessie and McFarland, USA. Gilois was a Humanitas Prize nominee in 2006 and a Black Reel Awards of 2007 nominee for Glory Road.

Arthouse science fiction is a combination of art and science fiction cinema.

References

  1. ↑ Maslin, Janet (July 22, 1983). "'LIQUID SKY,' HIGH FASHION AND A U.F.O." The New York Times . Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  2. ↑ Trefz, Linda (February 1984). "Photography for Liquid Sky". American Cinematographer . Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  3. ↑ Russo, Vito (July 1984). "Anne Carlisle and Liquid Sky". Moviegoer Magazine. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  4. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (January 22, 2010). "The 1980s revival that lasted an entire decade". The Guardian . Guardian News and Media . Retrieved June 29, 2018.
  5. 1 2 "A brief history of neon-soaked cult film Liquid Sky". Interview Magazine. 2018-04-16. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  6. ↑ Bramesco, Charles (2018-04-11). "Inside Liquid Sky, the Heroin-Fueled New Wave Alien Invasion Time Forgot". Vulture. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  7. ↑ Carlisle, Anne (1987). Liquid Sky: The Novel (1st ed.). New York: Doubleday. ISBN   9780385239301.
  8. ↑ "AFI|Catalog". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2022-01-24.
  9. ↑ "Liquid Sky (Slipcover)". Vinegar Syndrome. 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  10. ↑ Rife, Katie (November 22, 2017). "New wave cult classic Liquid Sky lands on Blu-ray with a dazzling new 4k restoration". The A.V. Club . Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  11. ↑ "Liquid Sky". Vinegar Syndrome. 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  12. ↑ Halen, Adrian (March 7, 2018). "LIQUID SKY makes Blu-ray/special feature debut April 24". Horrornews.net. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  13. ↑ "Liquid Sky Blu-ray: Standard Edition". Blu-ray.com. 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  14. ↑ "Liquid Sky Revisited". IndieGogo . Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  15. ↑ "Revisiting the Downtown Scene Through Alien Eyes in 'Liquid Sky'". The New York Times . April 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  16. ↑ Razor, Sasha (14 April 2018). ""Trust Your Vision": An Interview with the Filmmakers of the Cult Classic "Liquid Sky" (1982)". Los Angeles Review of Books. Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  17. ↑ "Photography for Liquid Sky". American Cinematographer. Feb 1984.[ dead link ]
  18. ↑ Gallon, Courtenay. "Liquid Sky: Cult Cinema, Film Scoring, and the Fairlight CMI". Florida State University. Retrieved 2020-04-24.
  19. ↑ "Liquid sky – For the love of the Fairlight" (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-04-25.
  20. ↑ "Liquid Sky". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media. 1983. Retrieved December 1, 2022.
  21. 1 2 Ramsay, James (February 18, 2014). "The "Liquid Sky" Sequel Is Coming: A Chat With The Director Of The Best Film About New York". The Awl . Archived from the original on August 8, 2014.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.