What Is It?

What Is It? is a 2005 American surrealist film written, edited, co-produced and directed by Crispin Glover and starring Glover, Fairuza Balk, and Steven C. Stewart.

For the Baby Bash song, see What Is It.
What Is It?
Theatrical release poster
Directed byCrispin Hellion Glover
Produced byCrispin Hellion Glover
Matt Devlen
Ryan Page
Mike Pallagi
Written byCrispin Hellion Glover
StarringCrispin Glover
Fairuza Balk
Steven C. Stewart
Michael Blevis
Rikky Wittman
John Insinna
Kelly Swiderski
Lisa Fusco
CinematographyWyatt Troll
Edited byCrispin Hellion Glover
Production
company
Distributed byVolcanic Eruptions
Release date
  • January 27, 2005 (2005-01-27) (Sundance)
Running time
72 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

What Is It? is the first entry in a planned trilogy directed by Glover, followed by It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine. (2007) and continued with It Is Mine.[1][2]

Synopsis

The "adventures" of a young man with Down syndrome whose principal interests are snails, salt, a pipe, and how to get home, who is tormented by a hubristic, racist inner psyche.[3]

Production

Production of the film started in 1996 as a short film that was to be used as a proof of concept for the as of yet unproduced third film in Glover's It trilogy, It Is Mine. After completing the filming the initial short, Glover decided to turn it into its own feature film and filmed an additional eight days over two years.[4]

Release

The film premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and played at several other film festivals. Aside from this, it has only been shown at independent theatres, typically accompanied by a question-and-answer session, a one-hour dramatic narration of eight different profusely illustrated books as a slideshow, and a meet-and-greet/book signing with Glover.[5]

Reception

The film had received a 50% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10.[6]

References
  1. Goodbye, McFly: Crispin Glover’s ‘It’ Trilogy and the Cinema of Reaction·Senses of Cinema
  2. "Glover's 'What Is It?' aptly describes film". The Salt Lake Tribune. July 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
  3. Brows Held High What Is It HD-Internet Archive
  5. Taboo You: Crispin Glover and What Is It?-Film/TV-The Stranger
  6. "What Is It? (2005)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
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