This occasionally disconcerting film by the wayward documentary-maker Kirby Dick is more than a portrait of the extreme masochistic performance artist Bob Flanagan. Flanagan did not only allow himself to be filmed in the most shocking and gruesome performances by Dick, but also allowed Dick to visit him in his sick bed, where he eventually lay imprisoned as the victim of a deadly and hereditary lung disease. Moreover, Flanagan cooperated actively on the film and designed spectacular actions especially for it. Such as the most widely-debated scene from the film in which Flanagan knocks a nail through his penis. He does this above a sheet of glass, under which Dick has set up his camera, that shows the provocatively painful deed extremely close. At the moment when Flanagan pulls the nail out of the wound, blood spurts over the glass sheet; the picture turns red. As well as these obviously arranged moments, the film also comprises much purer documentary material. Dick followed Flanagan and his S.M. partner Sheree Rose for several years and was able to collect a large amount of explosive shots. The film also comprises many fragments from videos made by Flanagan himself, usually with Sheree Rose (see also the Cruel Machine programme of Kirby Dick).Sick was screened at several festivals (e.g. Toronto) in the horror & cult section, but this is undoubtedly a true document. Even the corpse of Flanagan, who regarded his body as an instrument for art and entertainment, is real. (GjZ)
