I was not expecting my Friday night to include watching porn on a projector in a room of about 50 others, but it ended up being the most refreshingly transgressive experience of my life! I have the Brunswick Underground Film Festival (BUFF) to thank for this. The festival, which took place from 14 to 17 May, sought to showcase underrated titles and cult classics from freaky genres all around. As a lover of freakish movies, I had to attend at least one film at BUFF, and Kamikaze Hearts had been on my watchlist ever since I entered the depths of more niche films. There also aren’t that many weird, psychosexual, queer films around that are controversial and intense yet mainstream enough to survive. So, the screening of Kamikaze Hearts at BUFF (with a relevant porno to kick it off!) seemed like a good chance to watch it. 

Kamikaze Hearts is a fascinating, intense, meta pseudo-documentary directed and co-written by Juliet Bashore. The two leads are porn stars Sharon Mitchell, who plays Mitch (that is, herself), and Tigr, who plays herself and was Bashore’s co-writer. The characters Tigr and Mitch are partners at work, with Tigr directing a porno that Mitch is acting in, and in their personal lives, as they romantically involved with one another off-screen. Their relationship is made even more complex by the fact that they have filmed pornos together in the past. Kamikaze Hearts is a tale of how they have navigated being in the adult industry, and the strains that arise when working with one’s lover in an unconventional trade.

Kamikaze Hearts is a film within a film, interspersing “on-camera” documentary scenes with “real life” scenes where Mitch and Tigr argue “off-camera”. This begs the question of what is real and performed in the film, reflecting the complexities of Mitch and Tigr’s relationship with each other, the adult film industry and their drug use. Tigr laments that “it's like [Mitch] fucks on-camera the same way she fucks off-camera […] you don't ever really know what's real,” explicitly interrogating the blurred line between reality and fiction. This is complemented by Mitchell’s electric performance every time she graces the screen. Her performance of “herself” is so charismatic; it’s hard not to look at her. 

At the Brunswick Underground Film Festival, we were shown a 20-something minute condensed and cut version of the porno Sulka’s Wedding (1983), which was the first time Mitchell and Tigr worked together on a set and was briefly featured in Kamikaze Hearts. As with all pornos, it was heavy with the amount of sex for absolutely no reason and had the most absurd plot, which was, of course, hilarious. I had a blast watching Sulka’s Wedding because it was cut in a way where the plot—a trans woman getting married to a man—shone alongside the porn itself—wedding guests masturbating and having orgies. I also found it interesting that Sulka’s Wedding was one of the first trans-centered pornographic films. There is not much online about niche pornos in general, but I was so happy to learn about it and its history. It was a highlight of the night.

Seeing so many people turn up to a film I thought was otherwise incredibly niche was heartwarming to me. I am always grateful for film initiatives like this that keep independent cinema alive. I am equally grateful for this film being made and the everlasting impact Sharon Mitchell and Tigr have left on the adult industry. Long live freaky cinema!