Posts Tagged ‘Seeking Wellness: Suffering Through Four Movements’

Vore King – A Man And His Monsters

Posted 23 May 2017 — by Ezra Stead
Category Film Reviews, Movies I Got

By Ezra Stead 

Vore King, USA, 2016

Directed by Daniel Schneidkraut

Let’s get your first question out of the way now: “vore” is short for “vorarephilia,” a fetish involving a desire to be consumed by—or to be the one consuming—another person or creature. Yes, it is a sex thing, and yes, as per Rule 34, there is pornography for this fetish. Daniel Schneidkraut’s latest feature is a documentary about Raymond P. Whalen, sometimes known as Rock & Roll Ray (full disclosure: both the director and his subject are friends of this reviewer), who holds claim to the title of the most successful purveyor of vore porn.

Still with us? Good.

Of course, no one is actually eaten or otherwise harmed in Whalen’s vore videos. Instead, they are bizarre playacting sessions in which Whalen, dressed as one of various foam rubber monsters he designs and creates (with affectionate nicknames like Bumper Humper and Kitty Gulp), admires and then engages in simulated intercourse with a nude model, before ultimately “devouring” her. The sex is no more real than the cannibalism, and this is part of what makes a documentary that is (at least sort of) about pornography so unexpectedly charming.  Read More

Invincible Force

Posted 10 Jan 2013 — by Ezra Stead
Category Film Reviews, Movies I Got

By Ezra Stead

Invincible Force, USA, 2011

Directed by Daniel Schneidkraut

Invincible Force indicts our modern society's empty worship of physical perfection without preaching or pandering to its audience. To my knowledge, Daniel Schneidkraut’s second feature, Invincible Force, must be the only film ever to have this unique amalgamation of genres attached to its IMDb page: documentary, drama, horror. All of these descriptions are accurate to some degree, and to them I would personally have to add comedy, though it is certainly comedy of the very darkest variety. Schneidkraut’s previous film, Seeking Wellness: Suffering Through Four Movements, could also be described in much the same way, though it lacks the distinction of any true documentary trappings and is, in fact, a collection of short films tied together by a common thread of suffering. In this way, Invincible Force could be seen as Schneidkraut’s feature film debut, and what a bracingly unique debut it is.  Read More

Seeking Wellness: Suffering Through Four Movements

Posted 29 Aug 2011 — by Ezra Stead
Category Film Reviews, Movies I Got

By Ezra Stead

Seeking Wellness: Suffering Through Four Movements, USA, 2008

Written and Directed by Daniel Schneidkraut

Seeking Wellness: Suffering Through Four Movements is a disturbing and darkly funny first feature from Twin Cities filmmaker Daniel Schneidekraut. “This is not a film,” proclaims the opening title card of Daniel Schneidkraut’s Seeking Wellness: Suffering Through Four Movements. “It is a video ritual. Watch and receive.” This unsettling (some would say pretentious) announcement is followed by an opening credits sequence that seems directly inspired by the diabolical French provocateur Gaspar Noe (I Stand Alone, Irreversible, Enter the Void). Another apparent influence is the German filmmaker Michael Haneke (The Seventh Continent, Funny Games, The White Ribbon) – in fact, I would say this is second in line, after my beloved Dogtooth, for the title of Best Michael Haneke Film Michael Haneke Never Made – so clearly, this is a dark and twisted creation that could generously be described as “not for everyone.” That said, for fans of transgressive and artistic cinema, this is undoubtedly the Minneapolis-based independent feature I would recommend above all others, despite my more direct involvement in a few others (full disclosure: I am thanked in the credits for this one, though I had no idea of this fact until I finally saw the finished product and was never on set). Read More