Chumlum uses superimpositions dense with visual elements such as people and fabrics.
Chumlum is largely non-narrative, with no dialogue or clear succession of events. It begins with the exterior of a building before moving to a loft inside, where Jack Smith is swinging. Many more people, dressed in elaborate costumes with ambiguous gender presentation, join. They lie in hammocks, smoke opium, caress each other, and dance. Smith appears as a wizard who has cast a spell to entrance and pacify them. The setting shifts to a forest and finally a beach.[1]
The film uses multiple superimpositions to create abstract patterns. Visual elements such as sheets, hammocks, dancers, limbs, pearls, waves, and birds are layered over each other.[2] It contains exoticist visual references to ancient Rome, tropical Latin America, and Orientalism.[3]
Production
During the production of Smith's Normal Love, Rice often accompanied the director to film shoots. After the day's shooting was complete, Smith and the cast members, still in their costumes from the film, sometimes congregated at Rice's loft on Canal Street. Chumlum was made during these visits. Actors in the film include Smith, Beverly Grant, Mario Montez, Gerard Malanga, and Barbara Rubin. One of its outdoor locations was a field of goldenrods that also serves as the setting for Smith's Yellow Sequence.[4]
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