Desperate Visions - the Films of John Waters and the Kuchar Brothers by Jack Stevenson

I just happened upon this book at a thrift store and, being a John Waters fan (and who isn't), I picked it up without really knowing what it was. I assumed that it was an overview of Waters' movies - as the title would suggest - but it turns out to be a compilation of interviews with Waters, Divine, Mink Stole and others who worked with Waters. Unfortunately, the interviewer is not particularly great and tends to try to steer things in lurid ways, sometimes in an almost embarrassing fashion. There are some good insights here'n'there, but for me, it does not read easily and does not really engross you or pull you in. In fact, I keep putting it down and reading other books, but I made a point to finish it now!

The second half of the book revolves around the Kuchar Brothers, twins who have worked together and separately on underground films since the late 50's and who were an early influence on Waters and were contemporaries of Kenneth Anger and Warhol's filmmaking. Previous to this, I knew literally nothing about them and their films are so obscure that I can't find much more than an occasional trailer on You Tube and, in fact, many that are talked about in their interviews are simply school projects, although there are some that are revered in certain circles despite their unusual and sometime pornographic nature.

The book is interesting, but not being a film buff, if did not truly captivate me. Also the fact that it compiles several interviews means that stories are repeated more than once, which caused me to skip bits here'n'there. Overall, the tome is good, not great.