Hi, Mom! 1970

Rubin is hired to make a pornographic film

Vietnam veteran Jon Rubin is hired by producer Joe Banner to make a pornographic film. The assignment anchors his ambitions as a filmmaker and sets the course for the personal and moral tensions that follow. It also foreshadows how his new project will intertwine with his spying on Judy.

Rubin spies on Judy and films her secretly

Rubin uses a camera mounted on his apartment window to secretly film his neighbor Judy Bishop while attempting to seduce her. He seizes the opportunity to turn intimacy into film, blurring the line between art and intrusion. The spying marks the start of a disturbing pattern in Rubin's actions.

Filming goes wrong and Banner withdraws the offer

During the attempt, the camera tilts and ruins the footage Rubin hoped to use. Banner is displeased and withdraws his offer, ending Rubin's chance at the initial project. Rubin is left to cope with the fallout of his failed plan and his entanglement with Judy.

Rubin joins Be Black, Baby! and the troupe

Rubin joins an experimental acting troupe led by a neighbor and participates in their production Be Black, Baby!. The provocative show pushes boundaries and pulls Rubin deeper into the avant-garde theater scene. His involvement marks a shift from private filming to publicly staged performance.

White patrons enter the Be Black, Baby! experience

A group of white theater patrons attend the performance and are subjected to a ritual that includes soul food and face-paint shenanigans. The white audience is made to wear shoe polish on their faces while African American actors perform in whiteface and terrorize them in blackface. The sequence blurs spectacle and oppression, escalating tension into violence.

Escape attempt and elevator ambush

White audience members attempt to escape from the building but are ambushed in the elevator by members of the troupe. The confrontation spills from stage into physical danger and demonstrates how quickly art can turn punitive. The scene is a shocking blend of performance art and real aggression.

Rubin arrests the audience as a policeman

In the chaos, Rubin arrives in character as an NYPD policeman and arrests members of the white audience under the pretense that they are Black. The act reveals his moral decline and his complicity in racial theatrics. The moment is broadcast as part of the performance on public television.

Audience ends up praising the show on public TV

The battered audience ends up raving about the show on public television, turning a brutal experience into a spectacle. The media framing amplifies the shock value and cements the performance's controversial legacy. Rubin's work is now inseparable from the media stage.

Rubin decides to stay in the city with the troupe

Rubin chooses to remain in the city and continue with the troupe rather than return to his former life. He finds a sense of belonging in the provocative group and its art, despite the personal costs. This decision anchors his new identity within the ensemble.

Rubin marries Judy

He marries Judy, formalizing a personal bond amid growing professional turmoil. The marriage ties his home life to the troupe's volatile world and foreshadows further upheavals. The couple's union becomes a focal point of his complicated life.

Rubin becomes an insurance salesman

Rubin takes a job as an insurance salesman, providing a conventional livelihood that contrasts with his radical artistic pursuits. The steady work offers financial stability while the rest of his life remains unsettled. This career shift signals a pull back toward normalcy even as he stays entangled with the troupe.

Rubin plants a bomb in their building

Rubin plants a bomb in the building where he and Judy live, demolishing it in a calculated act of violence. The act exposes his complete moral breakdown and willingness to inflict harm on his own life. He watches the destruction from the street as a reporter interviews him, revealing the sensationalism of the moment.