Many things contribute to a film gaining cult status. "Linda's Film on Menstruation" offers several cult-worthy characteristics. Firstly, it's a film from 1974 that features accurate and helpful information on its subject-- according to my wife, better than anything she saw as a schoolgirl in the 1970s. Secondly, it features mind-bending sequences of the sort typical of its period. Thirdly, title notwithstanding, there's nary a Linda in sight. Fourthly, it stars now-veteran character actors before they were famous.
Really, that's why the internet rediscovered this health-class curiosity. The excellent and distinctive Jonathan Banks (of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul fame) made his debut as newly-bleeding Judy's (Mady Kaplan) befuddled boyfriend.
Fifteen-year-old Judy, lagging behind her friends, finally gets her period. She goes through her usual activities with her boyfriend, while facing such challenges as public washrooms, product options, and a missing wastebasket. When she and Jonathan watch TV, the programming consists of a trippy cartoon about the uterus. When Judy goes to sleep, she dreams of menstruation-related myths. We also see sporadic interviews with people on the street about the subject, and a bizarre pan from our young couple to a doctor in a bowling alley who provides helpful tips. Judy and Johnny end their odyssey by ferrying past the Statue of Liberty and deciding she's bloated.
Kaplan, in her late teens, almost passes as fifteen. Banks was already married by the time he took his first film role. Not even the sporadically-cracking voice he affects can disguise his age.
So what about Linda?
The titular woman is the co-author and director, Linda Feferman. She went on to write and direct a few more films (Seven Minutes in Heaven) and work as crew on many more (The Blues Brothers). This early effort, however, may well be her magnum opus.
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