FLAMING EARS: A Unique Piece of Underground Filmmaking Resurfaces in 4K
Newly restored in 4K by Kinothek Asta Nielsen e.V., the queer sci-fi spectacular that is Flaming Ears must be seen to be believed…and even then, you’ll likely be left with a strange sense of disbelief about what you just watched. Originally shot in 1991 by the Austrian filmmaking trio of Ursula Pürrer, A. Hans Scheirl, and Dietmar Schipek, the film takes you on a wild, borderline-incomprehensible trip to the burned-out city of Asche in the year 2700—a post-apocalyptic landscape populated by artists, pyromaniacs, and even aliens.
Fire and Blood
The film revolves around three women living in Asche and the various ways their lives intersect and pull apart again in a marvelously messy tangle of aggression and attraction. We’re immediately thrown into the fray when pyromaniac performance artist Volley (co-director Pürrer) burns down the printing presses belonging to comic book artist Spy (Susana Helmayr). Spy tracks Volley down to the club where she performs, but instead of getting the revenge she seeks, she is attacked and left for dead on the street. Enter Nun (co-director Scheirl), an oddball extraterrestrial clad in red latex, who rescues Spy and takes her home. The only problem? Nun just happens to be Volley’s lover.
What follows is a bizarre triangle less of love than of obsession, a tale of lesbians at the end of the world that bucks genre and narrative conventions almost to a fault. Indeed, I’m still not entirely sure what happened in Flaming Ears. What I do know is that the film’s extraordinary aesthetic and rebellious attitude make it impossible to tear your eyes away from what’s happening on screen…even if you’re not sure what that is.
High Style, Low Budget
From the silver tinfoil pyramids that Volley wears on her head like buns, to the grungy urban landscapes that feel like disused backdrops from Blade Runner, to the bare-bones interior of the lesbian club where Volley performs, everything about the look of Flaming Ears is unabashedly homemade—and why wouldn’t it be, given it takes place after the apocalypse? I love films that look like this because they’re a reminder that if you are truly creative and willing to think outside the box, you can bring your high-concept vision to life no matter how low your budget is. There’s no reason why a lack of funds should also equal a lack of style; Flaming Ears is proof of that.
The restoration process for Flaming Ears seems as though it was anything but straightforward, as per Kino Lorber’s notes:
Flaming Ears was shot on Super 8 in 1991. The film was distributed as a 16mm blow-up. The original image and sound material were lost. Restoration of the film was based on the 16mm internegative which had been edited in an A/B process using two 16mm distributor’s prints as a reference. The negative showed evidence of vinegar syndrome and shrinkage of about 1%.
Phew. In light of that, we should consider ourselves lucky to be able to see anything of Flaming Ears at all. But it does mean that, even in 4K, some aspects of the film are a bit hard to see and thus fully appreciate, albeit rich with the lovely, grainy texture that can only come with being originally shot on real film. (It doesn’t help that most of the film takes place at night, in the dark, though that does add to the mysterious, dangerous vibe of it all.)
The trio of leads and the various other characters who pop up in support are all colorful and intriguing, but it’s Pürrer’s vicious, vivacious Volley—and her extravagant costumes—that steals the show. She’s the sun around whom the other characters revolve; she acts, and they react to her. In addition to starring and co-directing, Pürrer also co-edited the film with Scheirl, who wrote the script; Schipek serves in a small onscreen role as well as director of photography and composer of the film’s electronic score. Together, these three smash your ideas of what a film should be to smithereens, leaving you with far more questions than answers but a hell of a lot to think about regardless.
Conclusion:
A strange, surreal film that may as well have “destined for cult status” emblazoned across every frame, Flaming Ears is guaranteed to be unlike anything you’ve seen before.
What do you think? What other underground films could use new restorations? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
The new 4K restoration of Flaming Ears opens at Metrograph in New York on November 18, 2022.
Watch Flaming Ears
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