Teeth. 2007. Written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein

Film

No upcoming events

Held on Thu, Jul 14, 2022, 4:30 p.m.

MoMA, Floor T2/T1, Theater 2

The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2

Teeth. 2007. USA. Written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein. Courtesy of Everett Collection.

Teeth. 2007. USA. Written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein. With Jess Weixler, John Hensley, Josh Pais, Hale Appleman, Ashley Springer and Lenny Von Dohlen. 35mm. 94 min.

Perhaps best known prior to Teeth for his performances as leading gay characters in Robert Altman’s Streamers (1983) and Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet (1993), writer-director Mitchell Lowenstein brings a queer comic perspective to the themes of genital difference and gender equality that fuel his film. Attractive High School student Dawn O’Keefe, a devout member of a Christian abstinence group, discovers she has a unique and shockingly effective biological defense mechanism against the unwanted intercourse forced on her by the sexually aggressive men in her life, be they a wannabe romantic partner or an incestuous stepbrother. Body horror like this may not be comforting, but it can deliver an empowering message.

This film accompanies Messaging the Monstrous: Gender and Horror.
This film is part of Horror: Messaging the Monstrous.

Licensing

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit https://www.moma.org/research/circulating-film.

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].