A scathing portrait of the Hollywood/LA arts milieu of the late
70’s, Chameleon follows the amorphous day of its lead
character, an Armani-jacketed peddler of high-class dope, fraudulent
art, and preening postures suited-to-fit the changing victims, though
as with all such fakery, the real victim in the long run is the person
who lives such a life.
1978 | 16mm blown-up to 35 | Color | Sound | 90 minutes
Producer, writer, director, editor cinematographer
: Jon Jost
With: Bob Glaudini, Nick Richardson, Lee Kissman,
Kathleen McKay, Ellen Blake,
Norman Gibbs, Fox Harris, Lola Moon, Winifred Golden, Gene Youngblood,
and others.
Shown at Taormina, Toronto,
Sydney, Melbourne, US (now Sundance,
Best of Fest, 1978; Edinburgh
Festival, Deauville, Florence 1979;
and others.
Broadcast by UK’s Channel Four, 1981
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“Jost’s Chameleon cost a mere $35,000 to make (including
the 16 to 35mm blowup) and is a triumph of artistry over budget. Jost’s
day in the life of a lean, mean Los Angeles hustler (Bob Glaudini) is
a cautionary tale about the self-destructiveness of American opportunism.
The main character - hero or villain, according to taste - moves reptile-like
through a land of easy-prey gullibility, sucking dry his victims and his
own humanity alike. The film is packed with bold visual metaphors. When
a gun is fired, the whole screen explodes into white; when the hustler
changes his “act” for different clients, the screen, chameleon
like, changes its colors. Chameleon is a nervy, intelligent,
exciting advance on Jost’s last film, Angel City.”
- Nigel Andrews, American Film, 1979
“...but I also like the film because Bob Glaudini’s performance
as Terry is absolutely riveting (why this man isn’t better known
I’ll never understand) ; because Jost seems to have captured, more
or less exactly, the kind of California life-style that makes a convention
of the unconventional, and because Jost’s inventiveness, undoubtedly
born out of necessity, has an irrepressible edge to it that stops pretension
in its tracks. In a way he is the American Wenders, equally attracted
to but critical of Hollywood prototypes.”
- Derek Malcolm, Guardian
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