| Rubber Johnny | |
|---|---|
) DVD cover art of Rubber Johnny | |
| Directed by | Chris Cunningham |
| Produced by | Chris Cunningham |
| Written by | Chris Cunningham |
| Starring | Chris Cunningham Elvis the dog Percy Rutterford (voice) |
| Music by | Aphex Twin |
| Edited by | Chris Cunningham |
| Distributed by | Warp Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 6 minutes |
| Language | English |
Rubber Johnny is a 2005 British experimental short film/music video written, directed, and produced by Chris Cunningham.
Plot
The film, entirely presented in infrared vision, starts with an out-of-focus closeup of Johnny (played by Cunningham) babbling incomprehensibly while being interviewed by an unseen man. At one point Johnny mumbles the word "ma-ma" twice, after which the man asks if he wants his mother to come in. This causes Johnny to start breathing erratically and lose control, so the man gives Johnny a sedative injection to calm him down.
The video cuts to a fluorescent light turning on, a mouse crawling over a press-sticker credits list, followed by the title, "Rubber Johnny", which is shown written on a condom in a backwards-playing shot of it being pulled off a penis.
Johnny sits recumbent in his wheelchair with his oversized head hanging over the back of it. He then starts dancing along to the Aphex Twin track "Afx237 v.7" while his chihuahua watches. His dancing involves him performing balancing tricks with his wheelchair and deflecting light beams with his hands. A door opens and Johnny is interrupted by an aggressive male voice. During this, Johnny is sitting upright in the wheelchair. The voice yells at him indistinctly, a slap to Johnny's face is implied, and the door is slammed shut.
Johnny snorts a large line of cocaine. He screams in the dark and then hides behind a door, avoiding white light beams. Johnny's face smashes repeatedly into a glass surface, and each time chunks of his face articulate the vocals in the song. He is interrupted a second time by the voice, after which Johnny once again reclines back in his wheelchair and babbles at his chihuahua.
The credits roll over a night scene of a train passing in the distance.
Release
Home media
Rubber Johnny was released on DVD by Warp on June 20th, and July 12th 2005. The latter release included a 40 page book on the film.[1]
Reception
Pascal Wyse of The Guardian referred to it as "virtuosic grossness", stating, "there is more fleeting shock than real haunting. Perhaps, in all the synaptic mayhem, there is just no room for the viewer to contact their own demons."[2] Treble.com listed the film in its "10 Terrifying Music Videos", calling it "both hilarious and terrifying".[3]
References
- ^ "Rubber Johnny (2005) - Chris Cunningham". Allmovie.com. Allmovie. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
- ^ Wyse, Pascal (27 April 2010). "Chris Cunningham". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
- ^ "10 Terrifying Music Videos". Treblezine. 27 October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
External links
- Original commercial at drukqs.net
- Rubber Johnny at AllMovie
- Rubber Johnny at IMDb
- Rubber Johnny at Rotten Tomatoes