Evento

THE UNICORN directed by Isabelle Dupuis & Tim Geraghty

U.S. THEATRICAL PREMIERE RUN! FILMMAKERS IN PERSON!

This extraordinary, years-in-the-making documentary grabs hold of a truly unique central figure: outsider musician Peter Grudzien, the one-man musical force behind The Unicorn, which has been described as possibly the first openly gay country album. But country doesnt begin to describe the dizzying range of music included on this 1974 release. Peter composed, performed, and recorded The Unicorn entirely in his childhood home in Astoria, Queens, and sold the 500 pressed copies out of a suitcase on the streets of the city. Despite this unpromising genesis, the album was rescued from oblivion and re-released in the 1990s, prompting the music critic and collector Paul Major to declare it the greatest New York LP since the first Velvet Underground or first New York Dolls.

By the time filmmakers Isabelle Dupuis and Tim Geraghty encountered Grudzien, though, mainstream recognition remained elusive, with Peter himself living a marginalized and paranoia-fueled life in Queens with his forbidding, nonagenarian father, Joseph, and his schizophrenic twin sister, Terry. THE UNICORN immerses us in Peters life, a hermetic world transfigured by his musical talent and stubborn resilience, but full of shadows both real and imagined.

THE UNICORN is at once an invaluable act of cultural excavation, an unforgettable character study, and a cracked family portrait in the vein of Terry Zwigoffs CRUMB. But while it may superficially resemble other biographical documentaries, its unusually alert to the messy contradictions and intermingling of creative inspiration and mental psychosis that characterize its remarkable subject, his even more unhinged family members, and by extension American culture itself. Ultimately its a powerful depiction of a troubled soul for whom music represents a vitally important survival mechanism in the midst of a difficult existence.

An incredibly moving, extremely beautiful film. Jonathan Caouette (director, TARNATION)

PLEASE NOTE: Ticket sales here close 4 hours before the show; if it's later than that, please purchase your tickets at the box office.

THE UNICORN
Directed by Isabelle Dupuis & Tim Geraghty. 2018, 92 min, digital.
-Fri, Feb 15 through Thurs, Feb 21 at 7:00 & 9:15 nightly. Additional screenings on Sat & Sun at 4:45.