There will never be another film quite like this shot-on-video mind-roaster from 1991. WAX, OR THE DISCOVERY OF TELEVISION AMONG THE BEES, created by writer/producer/director David Blair, was and is a completely unique creation (the only remotely comparable film I can think of is the following year’s TRIBULATION 99) that encompasses science fiction, political satire and video image-making that seemed cutting-edge in ‘91.
The proceedings take the form of an extended spoken word narrative, related in the manner of an old BBC documentary: by a largely indistinct, nonspeaking character viewed mostly from a distance, with accompanying imagery that consists largely of vintage documentary footage and CGI animation.
The storyteller is Jacob Maker (Blair), a Pentagon employed computer programmer whose grandfather James “Hive” Maker (William S. Burroughs, whose role seems to be composed entirely of found footage) was a bee enthusiast who sought to photograph the spirits of the dead, and had purchased a batch of telepathically endowed Mesopotamian bees. Jacob, who resides in New Mexico, has inherited his ancestor’s love of bees, and experiences hallucinogenic visions when staring into his hive. Those visions involve biblically oriented motifs, including the Garden of Eden (the name of Hive Maker’s home), Cain and Abel and the Tower of Babel.
Jacob later “discovers television,” courtesy of a “Bee TV” inside his head, through which the bees transmit information. Among the things Jacob learns: that the spirits of the dead are shaped like letters of the alphabet and ensconced on the moon, that after being destroyed missiles reincarnate as UFOs, and that a planet exists inside the Earth containing both the Tower of Babel and Hive Maker’s Mesopotamian bees, which are apparently “the dead of the future.” Jacob also changes sex, travels through time, dies and gets resurrected at least twice and is transformed into various objects, including an atomic bomb.
Fully coherent this film isn’t and nor am I entirely sure that Blair ever properly thought the story through. The script feels like it was based on the documentary footage Blair amassed rather than the other way around, with a narrative that tends to repeat its points and circle back on itself (not unlike an especially nutty WEEKLY WORLD NEWS story stretched to feature length).
Regardless, Blair’s conceptual fecundity sets the film apart (this is the only movie you’ll see involving telepathic bees, malevolent spirits and sentient weaponry), as do the innovative visuals. The images, be they grainy documentary snippets or newly filmed video footage of the protagonist wandering around New Mexico, are made to stretch, bend and fold in a manner that fits the subject matter quite well. As is stated in the narration, “It occurred to me that the soul of a person could fragment and decay,” which would appear to sum up Blair’s conception.
The major problem? A full eighty minutes of all this, contained in a sustained montage with a never-changing tone of muddled detachment, is a bit too much of a good thing (the aforementioned TRIBULATION 99, let’s not forget, only lasted 48 minutes).
Vital Statistics
WAX, OR THE DISCOVERY OF TELEVISION AMONG THE BEES
David Blair Productions/Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen/Jasmine Tea Films
Director/Producer/Screenplay: David Blair
Cinematography: Mark Kaplan
Editing: Florence Ormezzano
Cast: David Blair, Father Bessarion, William S. Burroughs, Florence Ormezzano, Meg Savlov, Clyde Tombaugh