Theory of Obscurity: a film about The Residents

Don Hardy’s film plunges us into the Residents’ unique aesthetic from lost video epic Vileness Fats to unlikely MTV stardom.

A Louisiana art-rock outfit who have guarded their anonymity and studiously avoided success for the past forty years, the Residents would seem like tricky subjects for a documentary. Happily their ‘colleagues’ from the Cryptic Corporation are on hand to help tell the story, along with various collaborators and fans including Matt Groening and Penn Jillette. Bulging with fun facts (eg: the pupils on their eyeball masks are made of fabric so they can see where they’re going), Don Hardy’s film plunges us into the Residents’ unique aesthetic from lost video epic Vileness Fats to unlikely MTV stardom.