Although best known for his photography, Steven Arnold also wrote, designed, and directed several groundbreaking visionary films, The Liberation of Mannique Mechanique being the first. Stuart Comer of the Tate Modern (London) said of Mannique: “a macabre, decadent work presenting mannequins and models that travel through strange universes toward possible self-discovery.” Brooklyn-based artist and writer Kate Wadkins in a recent online article observed: “Arnold’s films are dream-like visions of androgynous beings. Their narratives are modern-day fairy tales and reveries about gender — all through the lens of an acid trip.”
In WW2, twelve year old Soviet orphan Ivan Bondarev works for the Soviet army as a scout behind the German lines and strikes a friendship with three sympathetic Soviet officers.
After a dreadful incident coupled with an ungovernable paroxysm of violence, a butcher will fall into a downward spiral that will burn to the ground whatever dignity still remained in him.
An ultraconservative police officer suffers a debilitating stroke and is assigned to a rehabilitative program that includes singing lessons - with the drag queen next door.
... with real-life portraits of Jayne Mansfield, Frak O'Hara, Ruth Ford, Ned Rorem, Virgil Thomson, Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, William Burroughs, Andy Warhol, Rudy Gernreich, Jonas Mekas and others.
