Rubber Johnny

Last updated

Rubber Johnny
Rubber Johnny.jpg
DVD cover art of Rubber Johnny
Directed by Chris Cunningham
Written byChris Cunningham
Produced byChris Cunningham
StarringChris Cunningham
Elvis the dog
Percy Rutterford (voice)
Edited byChris Cunningham
Music by Aphex Twin
Distributed by Warp Films
Release date
Running time
6 minutes
LanguageEnglish

Rubber Johnny is a 2005 British experimental short film/music video written, directed, and produced by Chris Cunningham.

Contents

Plot

The film, entirely presented in infrared vision, begins with an out-of-focus closeup of Johnny (played by Cunningham) babbling incomprehensibly while being interviewed by an unseen man. At one point, Johnny mumbles the word "ma-ma" twice, after which the man asks if he wants his mother to come in. This causes Johnny to start breathing erratically and lose control, so the man gives Johnny a sedative injection to calm him down.

The video cuts to a fluorescent light turning on, a mouse crawling over a press-sticker credits list, followed by the title, "Rubber Johnny", which is shown written on a condom in a backwards-playing shot of it being pulled off a penis.

Johnny sits recumbent in his wheelchair with his oversized head hanging over the back of it. He starts dancing to the Aphex Twin track "Afx237 v.7" [1] while his chihuahua watches. His dancing involves him performing balancing tricks with his wheelchair and deflecting light beams with his hands. A door opens and Johnny is interrupted by an aggressive male voice. During this, Johnny is sitting upright in the wheelchair. The voice yells at him indistinctly, a slap to Johnny's face is implied, and the door is slammed shut.

Johnny snorts a large line of cocaine. [1] He screams in the dark and then hides behind a door, avoiding white light beams. Johnny's face smashes repeatedly into a glass surface, and each time chunks of his face articulate the vocals in the song. He is interrupted a second time by the voice, after which Johnny once again reclines back in his wheelchair and babbles at his chihuahua.

The credits roll over a night scene of a train passing in the distance.

Production

Shot on DV night-vision, the film was made in Cunningham's own time as a home movie of sorts. After filming began in 2002, Rubber Johnny took three and half years of weekends to complete. [2]

Cunningham explained that the effect of an exploding head was made using "just a tangerine and Plasticine with a banger inside it". He created some effects in his own kitchen instead of relying on CGI. [2]

Release

Home media

Rubber Johnny was released on DVD by Warp on 20 June and 12 July 2005. The latter release included a book on the film containing 40-odd pages. [3] [4]

Reception

Pascal Wyse of The Guardian referred to it as "virtuosic grossness", stating, "there is more fleeting shock than real haunting. Perhaps, in all the synaptic mayhem, there is just no room for the viewer to contact their own demons." [5] Treble.com listed the film in its "10 Terrifying Music Videos", calling it "both hilarious and terrifying". [6]

Writing for The Telegraph , Chris Campion asserted that the video was "like a Looney Tunes short for a generation raised on video nasties and rave music". [2]

S. McKeating of Stylus Magazine awarded Rubber Johnny a 'B+' rating, lauding it as an "exceptionally entertaining odd short film" but only for viewers "with the right frame of mind". He additionally demanded that Cunningham "take it one step further and give us an hour and a half of warped material". [1]

Founder of fact-checking website Snopes David Mikkelson noted the circulation of claims that the film was a documentation of real happenings. He noted that the "film itself is difficult to describe in ordinary terms". [7]

Related Research Articles

Chris Cunningham is a British video artist and music video director who directed music videos for electronic musicians such as Autechre, Squarepusher, and Aphex Twin on videos for "Windowlicker" and "Come to Daddy", and Björk's "All is Full of Love". All were used in Chris' chapter in Director's Label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spike Jonze</span> American filmmaker (born 1969)

Adam Spiegel, known professionally as Spike Jonze, is an American filmmaker, actor and photographer. His work includes films, commercials, music videos, skateboard videos and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wes Craven</span> American filmmaker (1939–2015)

Wesley Earl Craven was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and editor. Amongst his prolific filmography, Craven was best known for his pioneering work in the horror genre, particularly slasher films, where he mixed horror cliches with humor and satire. Craven has commonly been recognized as one of the greatest masters of the horror genre due to the cultural impact and influence of his work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warp (record label)</span> British record label

Warp Records is a British independent record label founded in Sheffield in 1989 by record store employees Steve Beckett and Rob Mitchell and record producer Robert Gordon. It is currently based in London.

Warp Films is an independent film and television production company based in Sheffield and London, England, UK.

<i>Lost Horizons</i> (Lemon Jelly album) 2002 studio album by Lemon Jelly

Lost Horizons is the second studio album from the British electronic duo Lemon Jelly, released on 7 October 2002. Released by XL Recordings and produced by Nick Franglen, the album generated two charting singles in the UK, "Space Walk" and "Nice Weather for Ducks"; the latter has often been called the album's stand-out track. The album, which is built around a mix of organic instrumentation and idiosyncratic samples, was met with largely positive reviews by music critics, although it was somewhat criticised due to its near-constant mellowness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Heder</span> American actor

Jonathan Joseph Heder is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the title character of the comedy film Napoleon Dynamite (2004). He has also appeared in the films Just like Heaven (2005), The Benchwarmers (2006), Blades of Glory (2007), When in Rome (2010), Walt Before Mickey (2015), Ghost Team (2016) and The Unexpected Race (2018). He also provided voice work for the animated films Monster House (2006), Surf's Up (2007), and Thelma the Unicorn (2024), as well as the Napoleon Dynamite (2012) animated series.

<i>Fantastic Four</i> (2005 film) 2005 film by Tim Story

Fantastic Four is a 2005 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. It was directed by Tim Story, and released by 20th Century Fox. The film stars Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis, Julian McMahon, and Kerry Washington. The film follows the origins of the titular team as they learn to come into terms with their newfound abilities following their exposure to cosmic rays.

<i>Walk the Line</i> 2005 film by James Mangold

Walk the Line is a 2005 American biographical drama film directed by James Mangold. The screenplay, written by Mangold and Gill Dennis, is based on two autobiographies by the American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash: Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words (1975) and Cash: The Autobiography (1997). The film follows Cash's early life, his romance with the singer June Carter, his ascent in the country music scene, and his drug addiction. It stars Joaquin Phoenix as Cash, Reese Witherspoon as Carter, Ginnifer Goodwin as Cash's first wife Vivian Liberto, and Robert Patrick as Cash's father.

Alex Rutterford is a British director and graphic designer working mostly on music videos.

Aaron Lohr is an American actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clark (musician)</span> British electronic musician (born 1979)

Christopher Stephen Clark is a British electronic musician, performing under the mononym Clark. He has produced music for his own albums, as well as music for television, films and video games, having composed scores for award-winning contemporary dance and BAFTA nominated TV series. His records have been released by Warp Records, Deutsche Grammophon and his own label Throttle Records.

<i>Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer</i> 2007 superhero film directed by Tim Story

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer is a 2007 American superhero film, and sequel to the 2005 film Fantastic Four. Both films are based on the Fantastic Four comic book and were directed by Tim Story. The film stars Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, and Michael Chiklis as the title characters, with Julian McMahon, Kerry Washington, Andre Braugher, Beau Garrett, Doug Jones and Laurence Fishburne in supporting roles. The plot follows the Fantastic Four as they confront, and later ally with, the Silver Surfer to save Earth from Galactus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beau Billingslea</span> American actor (born 1944)

John "Beau" Billingslea is an American actor, known as the voice of Jet Black in the critically acclaimed anime Cowboy Bebop, Ogremon in Digimon and Homura and Ay, the Fourth Raikage in Naruto Shippuden. In addition to voice acting, he appeared in many television shows and some films including North and South Book II: Love and War, Just Jordan, The Hannah Montana Movie and Star Trek Into Darkness.

<i>Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins</i> 2000 American animated film by Tad Stones

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins is a 2000 American animated science fiction comedy film directed by Tad Stones, who is also the producer with Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley. It serves as a spin-off of Pixar's Toy Story franchise and released on direct-to-video in the United States on August 8, 2000. The film later led to a television series, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, which aired on UPN and ABC from October 2000 to January 2001, and Pixar's feature film, Lightyear, which was theatrically released in the United States in June 2022, serving as an origin story for the character, voiced by Chris Evans. The film was nominated for two Video Premiere Awards: Best Animated Video Premiere and Best Animated Character Performance for Tim Allen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Wyse</span> American musician

Chris Wyse is an American bassist and vocalist. He is best known for his performances with The Cult, Ozzy Osbourne, Ace Frehley and Hollywood Vampires. He is also the vocalist and bassist for Owl, a band he founded in 2007.

<i>Terrifying Girls High School: Lynch Law Classroom</i> 1973 Japanese film

Terrifying Girls' High School: Lynch Law Classroom is a 1973 Japanese film in the sukeban subgenre of Toei's "Pinky violence" style of Pink film. The second in the Terrifying Girls' High School series, this was the last entry in the series directed by Norifumi Suzuki and to pair Reiko Ike and Miki Sugimoto. It is notable as the first film to depict an omorashi fetish scene to a theatrical audience, in which a girl is forced to drink a lot of water and then is denied permission to go to the toilet, forcing her to wet her skirt in class.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maury Sterling</span> American actor

Charles Maury Wallace Sterling is an American actor. He is known for playing Max Piotrowski in Homeland, Rafferty in the comedy film Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Lester Tremor in the action film Smokin' Aces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Knoxville</span> American stunt performer and actor (born 1971)

Philip John Clapp, better known as Johnny Knoxville, is an American stunt performer, actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as a co-creator and star of the MTV reality stunt show Jackass (2000–2001) and its subsequent movies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Come to Daddy (song)</span> 1997 single by Aphex Twin

"Come to Daddy" is a track by the British electronic music producer Richard D. James, released under his main pseudonym Aphex Twin. It was released as a single through Warp Records on 6 October 1997, coinciding with the lengthier extended play release of the same name. A music video for the song was released, which ranked at number one on Pitchfork's Top 50 Music Videos of 1990s list. In October 2011, NME placed the song at number 42 on its "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years" list. The song peaked at number 10 on the Danish Singles Chart and number 36 on the UK Singles Chart.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Rubber Johnny - Movie Review -Stylus Magazine". 17 May 2005. Archived from the original on 16 February 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 Campion, Chris (28 May 2005). "Cheap but never cheerful". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on 22 June 2018.
  3. "Rubber Johnny (2005) - Chris Cunningham". Allmovie.com. Allmovie. Archived from the original on 19 November 2021. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  4. "Electric Proms - New Music Shorts Labels". 2008. Archived from the original on 24 February 2020.
  5. Wyse, Pascal (27 April 2010). "Chris Cunningham". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  6. "10 Terrifying Music Videos". Treblezine. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  7. "Rubber Johnny". Snopes.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.