It is Fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE.
**/****
starring Margit Carstensen, Steven C. Stewart, Carrie Szlasa, Lauren German
screenplay by Steven C. Stewart
directed by David Brothers & Crispin Hellion Glover
by Alex Jackson An unlikely figurehead of Salt Lake's independent film scene, Crispin Glover shot portions of his directorial debut What is It? in the city and cast local native Steven C. Stewart in the role of "Duelling Demi-God Auteur and the young man's inner ego" against his own "Duelling Demi-God Auteur and the young man's inner psyche." (A great deal of the affection the townies seem to harbour for Glover and his films apparently stems from foolish local pride.) Stewart, who suffered from severe cerebral palsy and died from a collapsed lung shortly before the release of What is It?, wrote and stars in It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE.. The script was dictated almost thirty years ago to scenic artist and production designer David Brothers, who worked on several Utah-area productions such as The World's Fastest Indian. Brothers introduced Glover to Stewart's script and co-directed it with him; as with What is It?, It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. is a lot more interesting to hear about than it is to watch. The film is basically Stewart's sexual fantasies–which are certainly a bit on the sadistic/misogynistic side–realized onto celluloid. Women throw themselves at him, he has sex with them, and then he strangles them. Oftentimes they'll ask, as their dying wish, to be penetrated one last time. These fantasies come across as overcompensation for his disability, which has more than likely caused women to view him as asexual and unattractive. His idea of sex is to turn the tables on the gender that had rejected him; Glover and Brother's rationale for filming this material is to provide a voice to somebody who hasn't one, and, quite surprisingly, it's a sound justification. Seeing Stewart act out his sad fantasies reminds us on a very basic level that people with cerebral palsy have both sexual feelings and a working mind that interprets and recasts the world around them, and the "Make-a-Wish" backstory lends the film a peculiar pathos. Other than that, though, It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. is actually pretty useless, increasingly tedious, and even a little dull; Glover has traded off all the gonzo heat he generated with What is it? for something borderline conventional. Although he's become a director with a unique cinematic aesthetic, he was probably more interesting when he was a simple Hollywood eccentric jerking himself off. Without any screaming snails, soapbox puppets, or naked women in monkey masks, It is fine! EVERYTHING IS FINE. is unable to sustain itself on Glover's childish, if ambitious, anti-art agenda. Maybe it's me who's changed, but this is the first time that the image of a woman performing fellatio on a man with cerebral palsy actually felt passé.
