{{short description|1993 film by Gregg Araki}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox film | name = Totally F***ed Up | image = TFU_Cover.jpg | caption = DVD cover | director = Gregg Araki | producer = Gregg Araki<br/>Andrea Sperling | writer = Gregg Araki | starring = James Duval<br/>Roko Belic<br/>Susan Behshid<br/>Jenee Gill<br/>Gilbert Luna<br/>Lance May | music = Marston Daley (song)<br/>Al Jourgensen (song)<br/>Frank Nardiello (song) | cinematography = Gregg Araki | editing = Gregg Araki | distributor = Strand Releasing | released = {{Film date|1994|8|19}} | runtime = 78 minutes | country = United States | language = English | budget = | gross = $101,071<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=totallyfedup.htm|title=Totally F***ed Up (1994) - Box Office Mojo|publisher=Box Office Mojo|access-date=2010-02-26|archive-date=2021-03-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319070001/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl24610305/|url-status=live}}</ref> }} '''''Totally F***ed Up''''' (also known as '''''Totally Fucked Up''''') is a 1993 American avant-garde drama film written and directed by Gregg Araki. As the first installment of Araki's ''Teenage Apocalypse'' film trilogy, it is considered a seminal entry in the New Queer Cinema genre.
The film chronicles the dysfunctional lives of six gay adolescents who have formed a family unit. Over the course of the movie, they struggle to get along with each other and with life in the face of various major obstacles. As classified by Araki, it is "a rag-tag story of the fag-and-dyke teen underground....a kinda cross between avant-garde experimental cinema and a queer John Hughes flick." Because of the film's 15-part structure and use of documentary-like interviews, it has earned comparison to Godard's Masculin Féminin, which Araki has cited as significant inspiration.<ref name = "screenslate"/><ref name="indiewire"/> ''Totally F***ed Up'' first premiered at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival.<ref name="indiewire"/>
==Plot== ''Totally F***ed Up'' is concerned with six teenagers, four of whom are gay men, the other two a lesbian couple. The plot is episodic, spliced together with various segments and occasional tangents. The story itself is framed through the amateur documentary filmmaking of Steven, one of the teenagers, but it mainly follows a linear series of events. Araki has constructed the film in 15 parts, which is described in the opening titles.
The film follows the lives and romances of the teenagers. In terms of notable events, Steven and Deric break up due to Steven's infidelity, Deric is the victim of a gay bashing attack, and Michele and Patricia attempt to conceive a child. The narrative ultimately culminates at a climax where Andy dies of suicide. There is an epilogue-like reaction from the other five characters before the film ends.
==Cast== * James Duval as Andy * Roko Belic as Tommy * Susan Behshid as Michele * Jenee Gill as Patricia * Gilbert Luna as Steven * Lance May as Deric * Alan Boyce as Ian * Craig Gilmore as Brendan * Nicole Dillenberg as Dominatrix * Michael Costanza as Everett
==Production== As a smaller production with "virtually no crew," Araki himself operated as cinematographer, accompanied by a sound person, the producer/PA, and necessary cast members depending on what scene was being shot.<ref name="indiewire">{{cite news |last1=Hernandez |first1=Eugene |title=5 Questions for Gregg Araki, Writer/Director of "Totally Fucked Up" |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2005/07/5-questions-for-gregg-araki-writerdirector-of-totally-fucked-up-78155/ |access-date=27 November 2020 |publisher=Indiewire |date=1 July 2005 |archive-date=19 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319070002/https://www.indiewire.com/2005/07/5-questions-for-gregg-araki-writerdirector-of-totally-fucked-up-78155/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108366/fullcredits/ |title=Totally F***ed Up (1993) - Full cast & crew - IMDb |language=en-US |access-date=2025-11-15 |via=www.imdb.com}}</ref> The film was recorded using a 16 mm film camera. Without a production designer, Araki also scouted locations that "had a weird surreal quality to them."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Conor |date=2023-09-13 |title=“It's Disturbing to Me How Relevant They Are”: Gregg Araki on New Restorations and His Teen Apocalypse Trilogy |url=https://filmmakermagazine.com/122873-gregg-araki-teen-apocalypse-trilogy/ |access-date=2025-11-13 |website=Filmmaker Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> In terms of casting, to ensure that the film felt authentic, Araki chose real teenagers to embody each of the roles.<ref name="bombmagazine.org">{{Cite web |title=BOMB Magazine {{!}} Gregg Araki by Lawrence Chua |url=https://bombmagazine.org/articles/1992/10/01/gregg-araki/ |access-date=2025-11-15 |website=BOMB Magazine |language=en}}</ref>
==Style== ''Totally F***ed Up'' makes extensive use of a handheld video camcorder, which one of the characters uses to provide insight into the lives of other characters through interview-like discussion. The technique — first seen in a major theatrical release with ''Sex, Lies, and Videotape'' (1989) — became popular throughout the 1990s, evident also in later films such as ''Reality Bites'' (1994), ''American Beauty'' (1999), and ''The Blair Witch Project'' (1999).<ref name = "screenslate">{{cite news |last1=Lukenbill |first1=Mark |title=Totally Fucked Up |url=https://www.screenslate.com/features/1539 |access-date=27 November 2020 |publisher=Screen Slate |date=8 January 2020 |archive-date=19 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319065943/https://www.screenslate.com/articles/totally-fucked |url-status=live }}</ref> Araki revisited the camcorder idea in his 1997 film ''Nowhere''.
== Themes ==
=== Adolescence and Queer Identity === As part of the New Queer Cinema movement, a term coined and established by B. Ruby Rich, the film initially set itself apart in its narrative and aesthetic representations of queer identity. With the significant increase in gay and lesbian movies during the 1990s as a response to the AIDS crisis, Rich noted how these projects were "irreverent, energetic, alternately minimalist and excessive. Above all, they’re full of pleasure. They’re here, they’re queer, get hip to them."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Betancourt |first=Manuel |date=2024-06-14 |title=These films changed queer representation forever. We spoke with their earliest champion |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2024-06-14/new-queer-cinema-b-ruby-rich-academy-museum-full-of-pleasure-interview |access-date=2025-11-17 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> Much like Cheryl Dunye's ''The Watermelon Woman'' or Todd Haynes' ''Poison'', ''Totally F***ed Up'' fit within this niche of cinema that was experimental, political, and featured queer characters at the forefront of the narrative.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Nathan |title=Gregg Araki's Teen Apocalypse Trilogy: No Fucks Given |url=https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/8611-gregg-araki-s-teen-apocalypse-trilogy-no-fucks-given |access-date=2025-12-04 |website=The Criterion Collection |language=en}}</ref> Throughout the film, the group of teenagers for the most part are fully out and sure of their respective sexualities. By focusing on queer teenagers specifically, Araki considers the tumultuous political climate and how issues of love, romance, break-ups, and romance operates differently in relation to the queer community. While the characters try to hold onto their friendships and partnerships at a formative moment in their lives, the question of safety and larger social repercussions looms large.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Queer coming of age in the Teen Apocalypse Trilogy |url=https://lwlies.com/queer-cinema/teen-apocalypse-trilogy-gregg-araki-queer-coming-of-age |access-date=2025-11-17 |website=Little White Lies |language=en-GB}}</ref>
=== LA Life and Culture === Like the rest of the ''Teenage Apocalypse'' film trilogy, LA serves as an important backdrop for the cast of characters to grapple with issues of loneliness and isolation. Although the group of teenagers achieves a sense of queer community behind doors, it is the reality of 1990s American politics within the broader landscape of the city that enforces various social pressures. Not only is there an expectation for the group to be or act a certain way, the consumerist culture of LA is ever-present and inescapable. Although the characters seek to exist outside of the mainstream, the larger culture of the city makes it almost impossible. As an LA native himself, Araki also noted that his experiences growing up informed the logic of the film, stating that the project is "filled with that kind of like L.A. talk and shopping malls."<ref name="bombmagazine.org"/>
==Home media== The film was released on Region 1 DVD on June 28, 2005. The film also has a region 2 release in the UK and Germany. These releases feature a commentary track with Araki, Luna and Duval. On September 24, 2024, The Criterion Collection released the film as part of its ''Gregg Araki's Teen Apocalypse Trilogy'' set. The film was restored in 2K resolution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Gregg Araki's Teen Apocalypse Trilogy |url=https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/7581-gregg-araki-s-teen-apocalypse-trilogy |access-date=17 June 2024 |website=The Criterion Collection}}</ref>
== Reception == In a negative review for ''Variety'', Todd McCarthy called the film "a rather stale serving" and "murkier and harder to watch than Araki’s last picture." He criticized the film's "arbitrary structure and lack of interesting characters" as well as "the passive, victimized mind-set of [Araki's] characters."<ref>{{Cite web |last=McCarthy |first=Todd |date=1993-10-04 |title=Totally F***ed Up |url=https://variety.com/1993/film/reviews/totally-f-ed-up-1200433814/ |access-date=2025-07-26 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref>
In ''The Austin Chronicle'', Steve Davis wrote that the film centers on teens who are “disengaged from everything, both as a function of their age and sexual identity,” praising Araki’s unpolished style for amplifying this detachment.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Movie Review: Totally F***ed Up |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/events/film/1994-11-04/totally-fed-up/ |access-date=2025-07-26 |website=www.austinchronicle.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Davis also stated appreciation for how "there's little angst about being queer" in the film. He cited how the narrative instead explores "the emotional baggage associated with being gay or lesbian," thus offering a refreshing and nuanced perspective.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davis |first=Steve |date=1994-11-04 |title=Totally F***ed Up |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/screens/totally-f-ed-up-12003608/ |access-date=2025-11-18 |website=The Austin Chronicle |language=en-US}}</ref>
''Los Angeles Times'' critic Kevin Thomas noted that "Araki presents none of his young people, all of whom are played so expertly by his cast, as gay stereotypes but rather as indistinguishable in dress and mannerisms from other L.A. teen-agers," commending the film's rejection of caricature and its representational performances,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Kevin |date=1994-11-02 |title=MOVIE REVIEW : Charting Troubled Life of Gay Teens |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-11-02-ca-57555-story.html |access-date=2025-07-26 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> adding to the reception of the film's authenticity.
In an interview with ''IndieWire'', Araki said that young people are still being moved by his work "and there’s a whole new generation of kids accessing the Trilogy via DVDs, etc.,"<ref name="indiewire" /> solidifying its status.
==Year-end lists== * 6th – Kevin Thomas, ''Los Angeles Times''<ref name = "LATimesYE">{{cite web|last=Turan|first=Kenneth|date=December 25, 1994|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-25-ca-12998-story.html|title=1994: YEAR IN REVIEW : No Weddings, No Lions, No Gumps|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=July 20, 2020|archive-date=March 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319070002/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-12-25-ca-12998-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
==See also== * Gregg Araki * ''The Doom Generation'' (1995) * ''Nowhere'' (1997) * New queer cinema * Independent film
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|0108366}} * {{mojo title|totallyfedup}} * {{rotten-tomatoes|totally_fed_up}} *[https://www.screenslate.com/features/1539 Screen Slate write-up by Mark Lukenbill]
{{Gregg Araki}}
Category:1993 films Category:1990s teen drama films Category:1993 LGBTQ-related films Category:American teen drama films Category:American teen LGBTQ-related films Category:1993 English-language films Category:Films directed by Gregg Araki Category:American independent films Category:Gay-related films Category:Lesbian-related films Category:HIV/AIDS in American films Category:Films produced by Andrea Sperling Category:1993 drama films Category:1994 drama films Category:1994 films Category:1993 independent films Category:1993 American films Category:English-language independent films Category:LGBTQ-related independent films Category:Films distributed by Strand Releasing