Jonathan Caouette's autobiographical documentary Tarnation, as you might have heard, is like nothing else you'll see at the movies this year. Famously put together with Apple's iMovie software for around $200, Tarnation is a triumph of editing, a motion-picture collage of home-video footage that 31-year-old Caouette began shooting at age 11, along with old movie and TV clips, still photos, on-screen titles, audio diaries and other found items, strung together with the simple tools of a free computer editing program into a haunting portrayal of mental illness.
Caouette focuses on his troubled relationship with his mother, diagnosed with bipolar and schizoaffective disorders at a young age, and in and out of hospitals most of her life. At times, his constant documentation of every moment in his life, especially the most personal and traumatic, feels strangely contrived and exploitative, but eventually you realize that putting everything down on film is Caouette's only real way of dealing with his problems. In that way, Tarnation is like watching a really artful therapy session, but its insights and raw emotions are arranged in such a way that the film comes off as both deeply touching and aesthetically powerful.