Product Description

A story of a schizophrenic man's desperate search for his young daughter. Scene Access, Interactive Menus, Filmographies, Original Theatrical Trailer

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #108861 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-01-04
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 80 minutes

Amazon.com
Amidst a glut of more conventional independent films in the mid-1990s, Lodge Kerrigan's Clean, Shaven signaled the arrival of a gifted filmmaker with a singular vision. A controversial sensation on the film festival circuit when released in 1994, this riveting first feature (filmed over a two-year period on a meager budget of $60,000) is perhaps the first film to authentically convey the subjective experience of schizophrenia. This all-too-common mental illness essentially serves as a substitute for plot; instead of telling a conventional story of a murder investigation, Kerrigan leaves crucial details ambiguous as he focuses on the tormented existence of a young man named Peter (played by Peter Greene in a brave debut performance) who may or may not have brutally killed a young girl in one of the film's early scenes. His world--or rather, the world as perceived by his dysfunctional brain--is metaphorically compared to the random tuning of a radio, as schizophrenia prevents Peter from forming a cohesive reality out of the sights and sounds that constantly invade his consciousness. To express this fractured perception in cinematic terms, Kerrigan uses a truly extraordinary soundtrack--worthy of comparison to David Lynch's Eraserhead--that's frequently divorced from the visuals, emphasizing the disorienting symptoms of Peter's illness. The effect is both fascinating and deeply disturbing, especially in a notorious scene (definitely not for the squeamish) in which Peter removes one of his fingernails for reasons best left for viewers to discover. It's one of the creepiest, most unsettling moments in the history of American independent cinema, but it's also one of the things that makes Clean, Shaven a timeless and sensitively compassionate study of a condition that's mysterious and frequently misunderstood. A full decade later, Kerrigan would return to the subject of mental illness with his critically acclaimed film Keane, and David Cronenberg's Spider covers similar territory with equally unsettling results. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker
A soulless, unlikable, and yet arresting film about a child murderer. The writer-director, Lodge H. Kerrigan, bleaches the color out of the poor rural areas that he shoots in and keeps the dialogue to a minimum. (The unnerving soundtrack, by Hahn Rowe-composed mostly of buzzes and radio hiss-is worthy of David Lynch's great sound man, Alan Splet.) There's no plot; you just follow the killer (Peter Greene) around in his car until he's caught. Although the simultaneous tedium and creepiness suggest bad porn, there is something in the zombielike performances, cold skies, and occasional skin gouging that gets to you. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

One of the best indie flicks in recent memory
I caught attention of this hardly known gem at a local video store, noticing bold statements as "Dare to watch it" and "Boldest, most unforgettable film of the year." This is one film where you can believe the hype. Not since "Henry: Portrait of a serial killer" has a movie really shown an in-depth cinematic representation of the mind of a serial killer. But "Clean, Shaven" is a step above films like "Henry" and "Man Bites Dog". Winner of many awards, it tells a simple story of Peter Winter, a very dangerous schizophrenic just released from an institution, and his search for his daughter, while at the same time police are trying to catch up with him. Peter Greene is absolutely convincing as the deranged schizophrenic...he shows no emotion as he shaves his head and cuts his scalp in the process, nor is oblivous to pain during a very notable scene involving his fingernail and a very sharp object. And Kerrigan's excellent direction is what moves this film to near brillance...Instead of just telling the story with characters speaking to one another, he forces us into the mind of the schizophrenic. The movie is told mainly by images and sounds, as if what Winter was really experiencing...scenes are made unsettling by disturbing sampling and music, with long scenes of almost surreal images, intesifying the tension of the movie. After watching "Clean, Shaven", you'll have the feeling of meeting a real-life schizophrenic. Not many movies can boast this fact, nor make it realistic, but "Clean, Shaven" does that, and more. One of the most unforgettable films, indie or not, in the past few years.

Jawdropping Cinema
My, oh my...This is the direction that more filmmakers should take. I don't believe that I have ever been so impressed by the imagery of a film from a first-time director as this. Lodge Kerrigan sees angles, shots, and displays mood better than most experienced directors, bar none. Picking Peter Greene to play the lonely schizophreneic is a stroke of casting genius, and all the more amazing, given Greene's penchant for self-destructiveness. The movie is very disturbing, particularly if you have children, and I wouldn't hesitate to keep them out of the viewing room, but the attention to detail is truly jawdropping, given the minute budget. This film was made over the course of 2 years, and although Greene doesn't appear to age, Kerrigan's film shows a tremendously well thought out visual flair. Visually, it reminded me of some early David Lynch works, minus the strange pointlessness and perverse sexuality. Altogether, a wonderful first effort, and an amazing, although largely unseen, performance from Greene. If you can keep your eyes on the screen, you will be shocked and mesmerized.

Disturbingly Clever!
Clean, Shaven will shake the audience as they follow a young schizophrenic man frantically attempting to find his adopted daughter. The young man is traumatized by serious hallucinations and severe paranoia that emotionally and socially shake his everyday life . As the audience is following the footsteps of the young man, it is next to impossible to avoid attributing some additional characteristics to his other bizarre behaviors. These attributions will influence the audience's perception of the young man and his behavior among other people. Clean, Shaven uses the psychological disorder of a young man as an engine to create a story with true realism that will, in the end, cause pondering.