George McFly no more — Crispin Glover will answer questions about his avante-gard film What Is It at the Plaza this week

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Crispin Glover is an anomaly in the best sense of the word. An impassioned eccentric and non-conformist at heart, he has successfully channelled his idiosyncrasies into some of Hollywood’s most intensely unique onscreen performances. Yet, his career is a nuanced balancing act where small personal projects (be they indie films, experimental spoken-word concept albums or even old books illustrated and reworked into an entirely new art form) are financed by occasional big-budget paycheques from commercial cash cows like Charlie’s Angels and Beowulf.

“I definitely have been utilizing the fact that I am known from work in the corporate media I have done in the last 25 years,” says Glover. “This is something I rely on for when I go on tour with my films. It lets me go to various places and have the local media cover the fact that I will be performing a one-hour live dramatic narration of eight different books, which are profusely illustrated and projected as I go through them.”

Glover is referring to the dramatic slideshow preceding What Is It?, the first film of his “it” trilogy and one of two that he is currently touring with. The film, which follows the adventures of a salt- and snail-obsessed young man, is personally presented by Glover at each stop in a vaudeville style all his own. He sets the tone via the opening narration and slide show, and follows up the film with what is often a heated Q & A session.

“What Is It? deals with many taboo elements, and audiences can have very strong questioning after the film,” says Glover. “It is important not to explain the film to people in terms of symbols and meaning, but to put the film in the context of what it is reacting to and let people know that this is not just an exercise in something random.”

It’s an understandable concern, considering What Is It? is Glover’s most avant-garde work. It features a cast of actors with Down syndrome, though it is not at all a film about Down syndrome. Written, directed, produced and edited by Glover, this labour of love was 10 years in the making with its $150,000 budget financed entirely by Glover and the goodwill of financial backers.

“[The film] is my psychological reaction to the corporate restraints that have happened in the last 20 to 30 years in filmmaking,” Glover explains. “Specifically, anything that can possibly make an audience uncomfortable is necessarily excised or the film will not be corporately funded or distributed. This is damaging to the culture. What does it mean to the culture when it does not properly process taboo in its media? [It] stupefies the culture. So, What is It? is a direct reaction to the contents of this culture’s media.”

For all its surreal imagery and controversial subjects, though, Glover’s goal for the film is simple. “I would like for people to think for themselves,” he declares.