An alien the size of plate lands on a rooftop, while punk/new wavers dance their heart out at a new wave club… then we are given the POV of the shapeless aliens as they peer into a rooftop apartment with decor Andy Warhol would have loved (the mask over the bed makes quite an impression). The alien POV are worth the movie alone. Surreal colors that blend into the oddest shapes while the Fairlight CMI, the first digital sampling synthesizer in history, gives us a pretty eerie (if somewhat cheesy) foreboding tune (but then again, the movie is a child of its time).

And so begins Liquid Sky (1983), a gem of Independent filmmaking and a statement of counterculture life in the 80’s. Part satire, part feminist manifesto with a pinch of Sci-fi, a lot of Punk and New Wave mixed in together, Liquid Sky is more than just a quirky midnight flick. At times it’s profound… fascinating, with dialogue that leaves you wondering where it all comes from:

Owen: All your costumes are just participation in some kind of phony theater. I’m only telling you this for your own good. It’s a freak show.
Margaret: Oh, are you trying to say that your blue jeans weren’t theater?
Owen: It’s not the same thing.
Margaret: So your professor wore a three-piece suit and blamed you for your jeans. And your jeans were “too much.” And he didn’t understand that his suit was also a costume. You thought your jeans stood for love, freedom and sexual equality; we at least know that we’re in costume.

Or performances pieces such as Me and My Rythymbox, beautifully delivered by Paula Sheppard (Alice Sweet Alice) who was wonderful as Adrian. Sheppard also has a monlogue worthy of Sylvia Plath (note the resemblance to Lady Lazarus):

Well go to hell I’ll go to hell too, But i know I’m damned and you never knew, So you weren’t ready to toll the bell, For me it’s easy, from hell to hell, I’m not dancing in marijuana jungles, I live in concrete mazes stone and glass, Hard like my heart, sharp and clean, With no romantic illusions of changing the world, (….) Suits you well, you go to hell

Good stuff.

In short, Anne Carlisle, who plays both Margaret and Jimmy, was responsible for co-authoring the script. Some say the project was entirely hers and the producer/director Tsukerman just put up the money as he needed a green card and this was the way to get one quick.

Whatever the case, the end product is a film so fascinating in its weirdness that you just cannot look away. Nicely done.