• Trending
    • Certified Fresh & Verified Hot
    • TV Premier dates
    • New horror Movies
    • Best Movies of All Time
  • Movies
    • Movies In Theaters
    • Movies at Home
  • TV Shows
    • New TV
    • Most Popular TV
  • News
    • What to Watch
    • Guides
    • RT News
    • Awards
  • Games
    • Find Your Next Horror Watch
  • Video
  • Showtimes
  • Fanstore
  • About Rotten Tomatoes
  • Critics
  • Download the App Now
  • Logout
Rotten Tomatoes
Suggestions will appear as you start typing. Submit search Movies Tv shows RT App New News Showtimes

Tarnation

Play trailer Poster for Tarnation 2003,  1h 27m,  Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist 94% 95 Reviews Tomatometer 82% 5,000+ Ratings Popcornmeter
94% Tomatometer 95 Reviews 82% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette examines his family history in this inventive low-budget documentary. Collecting decades' worth of home movies and videotapes, answering machine messages and family snapshots, the film documents both the mental illness of his mother, Renee, and Caouette's own early recognition of his homosexuality. The pair's survival in an atmosphere of pervasive abuse, addiction and abandonment is balanced by Caouette's stable adult relationship with his caring boyfriend.
Tarnation

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Using music and home video footage to great effect, Jonathan Caouette has made a very personal and moving film.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View More
Nick Schager Lessons of Darkness May 4, 2005
B+
A twisted pastiche of pain, suffering, and narcissistic indulgence. Go to Full Review
Tom Dawson BBC.com Apr 19, 2005
4/5
There's no doubting the deep love Caouette feels for his troubled mother, nor his achievement in forging such a rawly emotional film from his own traumatic experiences. Go to Full Review
Bill Muller Arizona Republic Mar 24, 2005
4/5
A soul-baring scrapbook of a film, its audacity surpassed only by its tragedy. Go to Full Review
Sean Nelson The Stranger (Seattle, WA) Aug 23, 2017
Tarnation is one of the most powerfully emotional movies I've ever seen. Go to Full Review
Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com May 14, 2011
B+
An original, personal, emotionally touching documentary, which represents a new type of indie, based on innovating filmmaking. Go to Full Review
Nick Rogers Midwest Film Journal Oct 21, 2010
4/4
As performance art born of personal pain, "Tarnation" stares teary-eyed into how genetics, culture, environment and susceptibility conspire to trigger mental illness - a documentary more to be experienced than simply viewed. Go to Full Review
Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View More
Kylo W May 12, 2017 4.1/5 A joruney through a troubled life has never felt so appropriate for its exposure as a documentary film.
Read all reviews
Tarnation

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING

Cast & Crew

View All

Jonathan Caouette

Director

Jonathan Caouette

Screenwriter

Jonathan Caouette

Producer

Marie Therese Guirgis

Executive Producer

Vanessa Arteaga

Executive Producer

John Cameron Mitchell

Executive Producer

More Like This

View All
La Sierra 100% 92% La Sierra Watchlist Manufactured Landscapes 83% 80% Manufactured Landscapes Watchlist Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time 99% 90% Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time Watchlist The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill 95% 85% The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Watchlist TRAILER for The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Los Angeles Plays Itself 98% 85% Los Angeles Plays Itself Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All

Tarnation

A scene from the film Tarnation. A scene from the film Tarnation. A scene from the film Tarnation. A scene from the film Tarnation. A scene from the film Tarnation. Tarnation (2003) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette examines his family history in this inventive low-budget documentary. Collecting decades' worth of home movies and videotapes, answering machine messages and family snapshots, the film documents both the mental illness of his mother, Renee, and Caouette's own early recognition of his homosexuality. The pair's survival in an atmosphere of pervasive abuse, addiction and abandonment is balanced by Caouette's stable adult relationship with his caring boyfriend.
Director
Jonathan Caouette
Producer
Jonathan Caouette
Screenwriter
Jonathan Caouette
Distributor
Wellspring Media
Production Co
Wellspring Media, Inc.
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 19, 2003, Original
Release Date (DVD)
May 17, 2005
Box Office (Gross USA)
$592.0K
Runtime
1h 27m
Join The Newsletter Join The Newsletter Cookie Settings