The Notorious Bettie Page

Amazon.com

The cult pin-up idol Bettie Page gets the full-fledged biopic treatment in The Notorious Bettie Page, a movie that somehow seems as tame and innocent as the naughty photographs Bettie made in the 1950s. After a few scenes of Bettie growing up, the film quickly leads us to her more-or-less glory years, when she posed for countless peekaboo photos and some nudie films. These would make her an underground star for decades--long after she gave up modeling for religion, in fact. Gretchen Mol, a premature starlet in a redemptive role, does nicely at suggesting Bettie's too-trusting nature, maintaining her equipoise in a sleazy world. Her nude scenes are as liberated and no-sweat as those old nudist films always wanted people to believe. Director Mary Harron plays most of the film in the black-and-white that Bettie thrived in, which seems fitting enough (although the Kodachrome-bright color interludes are welcome). There's an air of "Ed Wood" about the project, and Harron maintains a similarly jovial tone, but the film does have a tendency to fall into the and-then-this-happened metronome rhythm of film biography. Even a promising venture into the Senate hearings on pornography is a minor joke. Jared Harris and Lili Taylor, veterans of Harron's "I Shot Andy Warhol," play colorful characters out of the grindhouse world, but few supporting players get a chance to make an impression. The main draw is Mol's commitment to the role and the film's goofy re-creation of a most peculiar subculture at an unlikely time. --Robert Horton

Description

In an incandescent performance, Gretchen Mol (The Shape of Things) stars as Bettie Page, who grew up in a conservative religious family in Tennessee and became a photo model sensation in 1950s New York. Bettie?s legendary pin-up photos made her the target of a Senate investigation into pornography, and transformed her into an erotic icon who continues to enthrall fans to this day. Complemented by an ensemble cast of acclaimed actors, such as David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck) and Lili Taylor (High Fidelity), the film brings to vivid life Bettie?s fascinating world.

Customer Reviews:

tame but interesting.......2007-07-28

I thought that *The Notorious Bettie Page* was tame in a general sense. However, that did not keep me from reminding myself that things were entirely different back then.

Keep in mind that this film is mostly focused on Bettie's modeling career with few other aspects of her personal life. One reviewer here mentioned that a lot were skipped on Bettie's life. In addition, there are other things mentioned here but there are no in-depth information. So, I Wikipedia'd her and found so much more infomation on Bettie.

This film was interesting. One, Bettie is portrayed as a country Southern girl with such naive innocence. And this is the person that models in certain clothes and poses that were considered obsence and illegal. Her pictures and films are considered tame compared to today's bondage scenes. Nonetheless, she seemed to be enjoying her modeling career.

Even though she was a successful pin-up model, she struggled with her religious beliefs. She could never really answers if what she was doing was wrong in the eyes of God. In the end, she comes to terms with God and ceased modeling.

All I can say is that you're not going to find anything hot and spicy if that is what you're aiming for. Instead, it's a biography of a Southern girl who has made it big as a pin-up girl that has eventually made it as one of the many aspects of a retro pop culture.

Love the black & white filming which will switch to color whenever she vacations in Florida.

Gretchen Mol makes this movie.......2007-07-22

There are few actors who can portray an historical figure with such accuracy that you forget it's an actor and only see the real person. Gretchen Mol is now one of those actors. She became Bettie Page without a doubt. I never saw Mol as a notable actress before this movie, I am now a true believer. She was made for this role. She WAS Bettie Page.

A Gem.......2007-07-13

This little known movie--despite its well known subject--came and went with little fanfare. What the Hollywood crowd let slip through its fingers was one of the most gorgeous and unique films to have ever been produced. Although the subject matter is fetish pornography and one of its iconic stars, the movie is really a crystal ball that allows us to return to the 1940's and 1950's, which its director, Mary Harron, along with her production designer, costumer, set decorator and cinematographer recreate and capture in stunning frame after frame and set after set. The black and white photography is remarkable, crafted with a passion for lighting, filters and developing that has not been seen since Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. The music is spot on, and Gretchen Mol as Bettie and the brilliant Lily Taylor as her friend, agent, publisher and photographer turn in delightful performances. Someday when Mary Harron has collected her second or third Oscar, a lot of people are going to wonder "what was I thinking?" when they look back and finally appreciate the masterpiece they let get away.

keeping your eye on the actor.......2007-07-09

a charming, stimulating and engrossing film that provides a surprisingly heartwarming take on an extraordinary person. As others have mentioned, the acting is superb. This ultimately satisfying film captures her innocence, her mischief and a vivid snapshot of the indulgences and controversies of the time.

Great Performance in a Mediocre Film.......2007-07-05

Mary Harron, one of a slew of concerned filmmakers to appear in Kirby Dick's recent indictment of the MPAA This Film is Not Yet Rated, writes and directs her third picture. The Notorious Bettie Page is about the cult icon and pinup and bondage model that influenced pornography's entry into the cultural mainstream. Bettie Page unwittingly became kind of symbol of women's liberation long after she rediscovered Christianity. She slipped into the mainstream in variable flashes in comic books, music, television, and of course a new generation of inspired Goth burlesque models. This film is her biopic and unlike many biopics the melodrama is downplayed which is of course good for both the subject matter as well as the length of the picture (just 90 minutes). It comes off as a bit more honest and real then some other biopics but on the other hand it sacrifices being as entertaining for these same reasons. Strange considering the rumors of her violent life after she left modeling.

Bettie Page is played by Gretchen Mol and the rest of the cast is good but they are truly drowned out by a boring script, and of course Gretchen herself. Mol's performance is anything but boring and shows a deep understanding of what makes Page a worthy icon. Mol seemingly disappeared for years and then suddenly showed up and did this. I don't want to dwell on how daring she is for the nudity she does in this movie, because even without that kind of commitment and risk Mol deserves the highest praise possible. She was outstanding and was arguably snubbed of some awards.

Mol is the only great thing about this movie. Page was naive to her situation and just happens to not be shy about showing off her body. You can even see in some of the bondage photos with whips in her hand that she may as well be holding a duster instead...while delicious cookies are being prepared in the kitchen. That innocence combined with the suggestive subject matter is what makes Page so enticing and exceptional. Gretchen Mol got that vibe just right and it permeates throughout this film.

In short, Bettie becomes a model and eventually meets Irving and Paula Klaw who begin shooting her bondage photos. She then goes on to model for Bunny Yeager and those photos show up in Playboy. Bettie gets caught up in a senate hearing about pornography and then she finds Protestantism and leaves modeling. The film doesn't bother to address the more controversial and debated elements to her later life (those mentioned in The Real Bettie Page: The Truth about the Queen of Pinups).

Mary Harron's vision focuses on her career and then just before her disappearance. These early years are worth knowing about even though the story doesn't contain some of the dramatic elements we might find in say Walk the Line or Ray. So it sticks to the public's perception of Bettie. Instead of going with the tabloid drama of her later life it focuses on why she is an icon and that is overall probably more important anyway. There is more that troubled me though as the film also doesn't even touch on the political commentary it could have. Maybe that's alright as well because Bettie Page didn't seem to understand or even care about her role in fighting censorship. Something tells me there could've been a more exciting story here but on the surface The Notorious Bettie Page is a beautifully shot film with one great performance...perhaps that is all it needed.

Average customer rating:

Crash crashes.
Are You Freakin' Kidding Me?
[3.5]--Different yes but fascinating to watch really depends on you
A Sick & Perverted Fetish!
A collision of brutality and the erotic

Crash
Starring: Rosanna Arquette , Boyd Banks , Nicky Guadagni , Holly Hunter , and Yolande Julian
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Cult Movies | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: 6305161968
Release Date: 1998-11-17

Amazon.com essential video

Adapted from the controversial novel by J.G. Ballard, Crash will either repel or amaze you, with little or no room for a neutral reaction. The film is perfectly matched to the artistic and intellectual proclivities of director David Cronenberg, who has used the inspiration of Ballard's novel to create what critic Roger Ebert has described as "a dissection of the mechanics of pornography." Filmed with a metallic color scheme and a dominant tone of emotional detachment, the story focuses on a close-knit group of people who have developed a sexual fetish around the collision of automobiles. They use cars as a tool of arousal, in which orgasm is directly connected to death-defying temptations of fate at high speeds. Ballard wrote his book to illustrate the connections between sex and technology--the ultimate postmodern melding of flesh and machine--and Cronenberg takes this theme to the final frontier of sexual expression. Holly Hunter, James Spader, and Deborah Unger are utterly fearless in roles that few actors would dare to play, and their surrender to Cronenberg's vision makes Crash an utterly unique and challenging film experience. It's rated NC-17, so don't say you weren't warned! --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Crash crashes........2007-08-03

Watched this movie for the first time last night, simply because it starred James Spader. As I watched it became clear to me that there's a lot of stuff I know nothing about. People actually become aroused seeing cars twisted and broken from crashing other cars? Who'd have thunk it! Being human means (doesn't it) that we have some emotions? These characters generate heat, but no emotion. You can't really care about them, just feel a mild curiousity as to the why of it. At some point it became so ridiculous that I was going to turn it off, and yet, I wanted to know what happens to them. I wasn't disgusted or disturbed by either the sex or nudity; but the sickening lack of real caring any of them felt for another human being. Like the cars, the people were machines, tools to use for "enjoyment". Cold.Way too cold for my taste. There's room for all kinds of movies and themes and this movie may appeal to some. But I like a movie that gives me something or someone to care about. I cared about none of them. Two question I had are how much money does this guy have that he can keep buying cars and how come the police didn't arrest him after the first crash when it was fairily obvious that he caused the accident. If that's the best response a movie can elicit from me, then for me this film was a failure. But I still love James Spader and think he's a wonderful actor.

Are You Freakin' Kidding Me?.......2007-06-25

I really tried to like this movie, but with every scene it became more and more ridiculous. So many things bugged me about this film, this is a small summary.

1. Everybody speaks in these whispered tones; annoying.

2. Nothing really happens, they just follow/watch/talk about car crashes and everybody has sex with each other.

3. Not one character in this movie was likeable. It's like a collection of weirdo's, each one a little more neurotic than the first.

4. The storyline was so unbelievable to me. Exhibit A) who can get off watching crash test dummy footage?? Huh? Exhibit B) at one point they just show up at a major car accident and take photos and roam around the crash site. The Police, victims and Fire Rescue are completely oblivious; yeah right.

5. The music was horrible.

I can say the acting was good as I was convinced they were all complete idiots and nut jobs. I found this to be a completely dull film, I was bored to tears. How a movie with so much sex could manage to be such a major yawn festival is beyond me.

[3.5]--Different yes but fascinating to watch really depends on you.......2007-06-05

"Crash" is a weird and original movie about something you probably don't see very often. Director David Cronenberg has made some weird movies in his career and I have to admit that I like most of them, find them entertaining. With 'Crash' it is hard to say what I really think. The movie itself is not bad, but its subject is people who get sexually aroused by car crashes. The car crashes could have been anything but if they were, let's say, flowers, the movie was not that weird and original and Cronenberg would not have been the director. In here we have James and Catherine Ballard have become so jaded about sex that they can only get aroused by sharing each others infidelities with each other. When James gets into a car crash he begins an affair with the woman whose husband he killed in the crash. The affair is based around the thrill of injuries and crashing. Both James and Amanda get involved with Vaughan - a man who leads a group that stages famous car crashes and watch crash footage for his excitement.

Cronenberg gives the whole thing a cold detached air; this has a good side and a bad side. The good side is that the sex isn't glamorized - it is cold ad unattractive, making it hard to call this pornography in any way. Unfortunately this cold air also makes us not care about the characters. By using a cold eerie score and using flat detached characters, this is hard to get into on an emotional level, so even when the ending sees the reunion of the two lead characters - it doesn't mean much because we don't care enough about them. However the overall effect is beneficial - with a tackier approach this could have been soft-porn instead of a film.

The cast are good despite the fact that they are mostly remote and dull! Spader does a decent job, but really I would have liked more emotion from a man on a journey into the dark bits of his soul. Unger is alright but appears to only be in it because she's sexy. Arquette is not given much to do, but Hunt gives a good emotional performance. However the stand out of the film is Koteas. Here is a man who can make Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles good when he's onscreen! So here he's by the best, his cold border-line insane role is perfect and his character is by far the most interesting.

Overall, this film isn't the monster that the papers painted it - it isn't going to kill us all in our beds! It is interesting but the cold detached way it is made makes it hard to bet into, and the flat characters don't help either. Not one of Cronenberg's best, the point is lost deep inside the flesh.

A Sick & Perverted Fetish! .......2007-05-27

When David Cronenberg first bursted on the scene with one of his first horror films, "Rabid" in 1977; he featured porn star Marilyn Chambers in the lead role. Fast forward 20 years later and he seems to have come full circle with this bizzare release. A couple who become involved with a group who stages famous crashes and become sexually aroused by the sheer thrill of it all. The characters have a serious fetish problem. At the end, I'm wondering "...why should I care about these people?" The film is sick & perverted and not a pleasant film to watch. Leave the kiddies at home! Don't get this film confused with the 2005 Oscar winning drama! It certainly doesn't deserve any awards! Bypass this one!

A collision of brutality and the erotic .......2007-05-25

This movie is profusely bleeding the bizarre. It probes deeper than most care to go into the sexual psyche of some strange, emotionally detached people. Their fetishes explore a completely unparalleled level of the abnormal.
James Spader and Holly Hunter play the main characters who survive a horrific car crash. This near-fatal accident apparently provokes their sadomasochistic urges. A neurotic scientist introduces them to his twisted passion--restaging famous car accidents. They all find an intense connection with the adrenaline induced by a car wreck and their own libido.
Obviously this movie is not for everyone. Many will dismiss it as a glorified soft porno. But I think there is a bold statement behind the repetitive sexual images. People possibly trying to adapt and deal with tragedy. Or trying to squench some extreme carnal instincts.
It's obvious that these people are not "normal", but would regular therapy with a counselor be a viable alternative? Or maybe a prescription to defreak the freaks? Who knows, but watching this freakshow is appalling but also oddly mesmerizing.

Average customer rating:

About the DVD release
Sensual and Erotic
See it
Not bad, but lackluster for Greenaway.
Beautiful and intriguing

The Pillow Book
Starring: Vivian Wu , Yoshi Oida , Ken Ogata , Hideko Yoshida , and Ewan McGregor
Director: Peter Greenaway
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Cult Movies | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( P ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0767819772
Release Date: 1998-12-15

Amazon.com

Peter Greenaway (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, Drowning by Numbers) continues to delight and disturb us with his talent for combining storytelling with optic artistry. The Pillow Book is divided into 10 chapters (consistent with Greenaway's love of numbers and lists) and is shot to be viewed like a book, complete with tantalizing illustrations and footnotes (subtitles) and using television's "screen-in-screen" technology. As a child in Japan, Nagiko's father celebrates her birthday retelling the Japanese creation myth and writing on her flesh in beautiful calligraphy, while her aunt reads a list of "beautiful things" from a 10th-century pillow book. As she gets older, Nagiko (Vivian Wu) looks for a lover with calligraphy skills to continue the annual ritual. She is initially thrilled when she encounters Jerome (Ewan McGregor), a bisexual translator who can speak and write several languages, but soon realizes that although he is a magnificent lover, his penmanship is less than acceptable. When Nagiko dismisses the enamored Jerome, he suggests she use his flesh as the pages which to present her own pillow book. The film, complete with a musical score as international as the languages used in the narration, is visually hypnotic and truly an immense "work of art." --Michele Goodson

Customer Reviews:

About the DVD release.......2007-05-14

This is a great movie and i love Greenaway.
But iam very very disappointed that the viedo transfer quality is so bad.
This release has the worst transfer in my over 2000 dvd collection.

Sensual and Erotic.......2007-04-19

"The Pillow Book"

Sensual and Erotic

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

To describe "The Pillow Book" is a very difficult task. Is it exotic or is it erotic or maybe both? It is sensual, delicate and beautiful. The music is mysterious and the cinematography is stunning.
As a young girl in Japan, Nagiko's father paints characters on her face. Her aunt reads to her from "The Pillow Book" which was the diary of a lady-in-waiting during the tenth century. As Nagiko grows up she is obsessed with papers, books, and writings. Her sexual odyssey (and her own "Pillow Book") is a combination of modern Chinese, classical Japanese and Western film images.
At the beginning of the movie we see a little girl being written upon by her father. We then shift to see the girl as an adult who s looking for lovers who will write on her body once again. She meets a bisexual Englishman who also enjoys being written upon and she learns that he was once the former lover of a man who had once betrayed her father.
This is one of those rare films that transcend the limitations of film and text and this is probably due to its handling by Peter Greenaway. The movie is loosely based on writings from the tenth century of the imperial court observer, Sei Shonagon. Greenaway brings a visual feast to the screen that uses stunning sets and the physical beauty of actors Vivian Wu and Ewan McGregor as well as the ancient and modern writing systems that are known as the art of calligraphy.
What Greenaway does so brilliantly is to incorporate art, numbers, books and architecture into film. As a young child Nagiko celebrated her birthday by having her father write the story of creation on her face. With adulthood and marriage, her husband was neither interested nor did he want to continue this tradition. When she becomes frustrated that she cannot find a lover who is also a good calligrapher, she finally meets a bisexual translator, Jerome (McGregor). Who offers himself to her as a living canvas for her erotic creativity. Nagiko is inspired by the chance to get revenge on a publisher who had once blackmailed her father when she learns that Jerome's lover is the very same man. She creates the ultimate love poem which she illuminates in red, gold and black characters and delivers it to the publisher on Jerome's naked body.
This s pure visual eroticism and the story revels in the binaries of both the profane and the grotesque but it also is a delight for the eye in the way that Greenaway is able to translate a vision of both love and horror in a single statement of pure physical beauty and very passionate sexuality. Sometimes the beauty of the film detracts from the ability to concentrate on what is actually happening. Vivian Wu as Nagiko is very good and so is McGregor. This is quite a different role than he usually plays but he does a good job--and he also looks good naked. His character is innocent and gullible while Nagiko is very strong and overpowering.
As a film "The Pillow Book" is an erotic masterpiece. It unravels like a scroll and it teases and excites with floating images. Our attention is captured from the very start and our emotions are toyed with. Watching this film is an experience for the senses in which the ending is beautifully done. You will feel enchanted, perhaps even hypnotized by the film and if you like sensual eroticism, this is the film to see.

See it.......2007-03-10

A different sort of story. Creative. Worth seeing. Sometimes difficult to read the captions on TV. Still worth seeing. Beautiful photography. Not for children generally, but not offensive. Rare comfortablness with male nudity without being sexual or pornographic. If "five" is reserved for the absolute "best" ever, then this is a four; otherwise I'd have given it a five.

Not bad, but lackluster for Greenaway........2007-01-04

The Pillow Book (Peter Greenaway, 1996)

I've long had a hypothesis that every bad actor gets one good movie; Julia Roberts has Flatliners, Kevin Costner A Perfect World, Albert Brooks Taxi Driver. I've been trying to figure out for a number of years now whether Ewan MacGregor used up his allowance with Little Voice or not, and every once in a while I check out another Ewan MacGregor flick to see if it's the good one. The Pillow Book is not it, though it's the first of his films I've seen that at least achieves the same level of competence and watchability as Little Voice.

Peter Greenaway is known for creating plotless swirls of artistic film, and The Pillow Book did little to damage this reputation. It's less of a plot-based film than an extended character study of Nagiko (The Last Emperor's Vivian Wu), a woman obsessed with Sei Shonagon's erotic masterpiece The Pillow Book and determined to create a version of her own. During the course of her exploits, she meets Jerome (MacGregor), and the two start a tumultuous relationship. Nagiko has been trying to get her writing published by a top Japanese publishing house, headed by a character we know only as The Publisher (Madame Butterfly's Yoshi Oida), and is continually frustrated; Jerome hatches the idea of submitting her work not on paper, but on the bodies of men. Hilarity ensues.

As with all Greenaway's movies, this is quite nice to look at, but it's got that empty calorie feeling to it; you enjoy it while it lasts, but it's not filling, and you feel vaguely guilty for having consumed so much of it at once without really remembering what it tastes like. ** ½

Beautiful and intriguing.......2006-11-11

I should start by saying I'm a huge Ewan McGregor fan, so that was one aspect of this film that I enjoyed. The Pillow Book is lovely and tender as a father lovingly applies the calligraphy to his daughter, Nagiko's face each year on her birthday. With Jerome, her first choice of calligrapher in adulthood, she finds a wonderful lover, a less than acceptable writer, the perfect canvas for her book, and a link to unsavory character who brought her father so much pain. I don't want to give away too much, but this movie kept my attention throughout! If you are uncomfortable with full frontal nudity (both male and female), this movie will likely make you quite uncomfortable! But for all the rest, I highly recommend it - especially for Ewan McGregor fans.

Average customer rating:

Polyster Review
One of John Water's best
Oh Tad, be gentle!
"For a quarter I will!"
A hillarious mockery of Americana!

Polyester
Starring: Divine , Tab Hunter , Edith Massey , David Samson (II) , and Mary Garlington
Director: John Waters
Manufacturer: New Line Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Satire | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

Domestic Comedies | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( P ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B0002RQ3L6
Release Date: 2004-09-07

Amazon.com essential video

Director John Waters broke new boundaries of bad taste with this hilariously trashy tale of suburban misadventure. His favorite leading lady, transvestite Divine, plays Francine Fishpaw, a dissatisfied suburban housefrau who longs for a little romance in her life because her husband and children drive her crazy. Salvation arrives in the form of Tod Tomorrow (Tab Hunter), a drive-in owner who sweeps Francine off her feet (a mean task, given Divine's girth). But he's not all he's cracked up to be. Filmed in the miracle of Odorama, video viewers now have to imagine the scents (actually, odors) that came on the Odorama scratch-and-sniff card during the film's theatrical release. It won't be too hard. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews:

Polyster Review.......2007-07-30

Funny movie, a little wayout! Just wanted to buy it because Tab Hunter was in it.

One of John Water's best.......2007-06-02

Not all of John Water's films are great, but this one is. Full of absurb humor a campy aesthetic. The Odorama card included is fun to scratch and sniff while watching the movie.

Oh Tad, be gentle!.......2007-04-11

This one ties with Desperate Living as my second favorite by John h20's. My favorite scene; Elmer Fishpaw driving around the neighborhood in a van with a loud speaker making announcements about his estranged wife. "She eats an entire cake in one sitting!"
Poor Francine, the main character played by Devine, even her mom is against her. She bursts into the bathroom where Francine is on the toilet; "I dont know why you bother, you've always retained your fluids!" Great cult flick.

"For a quarter I will!".......2007-01-12

I love John Waters and will watch anything he creates. Polyester is one of my favorites. Silly, campy, and just a bit off and I love it. Hundred's of quotable lines and funny moments. If you like John Waters and haven't seen this, get it.

A hillarious mockery of Americana!.......2007-01-08

John Waters is written all over the place in this one! Everything about suburban middle class Americana is lampooned in Polyester! Divine's mother sums up the whole thesis of this movie when she utters the epitome of the American Dream...-"Free, White, Rich and Happy!"

Divine plays Francine Fishpaw, a 30'ish housewife trying HIr best to live the American Dream. Except that HIr husband is a fat loudmouth pornographer! And HIr son is a glue sniffing foot fetishist! And HIr daughter is a punk whore who goes out with the slimiest guy in town! And HIr mother is a gold digging witch! And HIr dog hangs itself on the refrigerator! And HIr best friend is the deliciously ugly Edith Massey! And HIr new lover, Todd Tomorrow, (Tab Hunter) is in cahoots with HIr mother to inherit the house and Divine's American Dream!

My favorite scene is where Divine (Francine Fishpaw) goes to her first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting! The attendees mercilessly taunt and coach her to say the "Magic Words"---"I'm Francine Fishpaw! And I am an alcohoooooolic!" and they all cheer!

As if the theme and plot isn't zany enough for you, John Waters adds the spectacle of "ODORAMA" to the movie. At predictable times in the film a number flashes, to have you scratch and sniff the corrosponding number on you "odorama" card to enjoy, for the first time, SMELLEVISION! Smell all the delightful smells of Divine's life, from old moldy sneakers, to farts, to gasoline!

This is perhaps the only John Waters movie you can enjoy with your parents, providing your parents are from the Manson Family!

Average customer rating:

Simply beautiful
bad horsie

Zoo (Widescreen)
Starring: Richard Carmen , CJ , and John Paulsen
Director: Robinson Devor
Manufacturer: Velocity / Thinkfilm
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000Q66QFQ
Release Date: 2007-09-18

Customer Reviews:

Simply beautiful.......2007-06-27

Devor has created an aesthetic masterpiece with this film, which I first saw at Sundance this year. Don't let the debate over the subject matter impact your decision to watch this film. It is too weird and beautiful to focus on such a hollow point. I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a good introduction to the Gonzo Filmaking that is sweeping the documentary world.

bad horsie.......2007-05-28

This is an idiot who ends up on the business end of a horse flounder.
These are not normal folks, they're about as broken as it gets. I don't care that this movie is attempting to make them seem like yer next door pals.
Darwin is laughing, Pookie is laughing,
and Mr. Ed just popped a guys O ring.

Female Yakuza Tale - Inquisition and Torture

Average customer rating:

Pretty Bad Even for a Pink Film
Brilliant sequel
lame soft porn
Stylish sleaze-fest
Better Than Sex and Fury!

Female Yakuza Tale - Inquisition and Torture
Starring: Reiko Ike , Arumi Kuri , Meika Seri , Jun Midorikawa , and Emi Jo
Director: Arumi Kuri , and Teruo Ishii
Manufacturer: Panik House Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Crime | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

General | Indie & Art House | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( F ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000AQKUWW
Release Date: 2005-09-27

Amazon.com

If you want to know where Quentin Tarantino got some of his inspiration for Kill Bill, check out Female Yakuza Tale: Inquisition and Torture, a spicy slice of Japanese sexploitation from 1973. It's a brazenly unrestrained sequel to Norifumi Suzuki's similarly trashy Sex & Fury (another cult favorite among fans of Japanese pulp cinema), and director Teruo Ishii demonstrates his disdain for sequels by dishing up a lurid crime tale filled with rampant sex, female nudity, and blood-spurting ultraviolence. Set in Meiji-era Tokyo circa 1905, the outlandish story kicks into high gear when renegade thief and gambler Ocho (Reiko Ike, fully recovered from the bloodbath in Sex & Fury) is joined by a "lone wolf" drifter (Ryohei Uchida) in pursuit of a gang of murderous thugs with connections to the gruesome "crotch gouge" murders (involving deadly injuries that are best left to the imagination). By the time they close in on a disgusting kingpin who's been enslaving prostitutes to smuggle Chinese heroin in their nether regions, Ocho has recruited a small army of sexy, sword-wielding hookers who aren't feeling the least bit merciful. The result is an outrageous orgy of boobs, bullets, and bloodshed, carried out with abundant humor, chaotic choreography, and dazzling use of colorful low-budget settings. Befitting such a delirious dose of sexplo-trash, this high-quality, beautifully mastered DVD release caters to its intended audience with an authoritative audio commentary by Chris Desjardins (author of Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film), whose expert programming of this and other "Pinky Violence" films (at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles) resulted in a renewed appreciation for mind-blowing Asian action films that are defiantly off the beaten path. High-minded prudes and the weak-of-heart are advised to stay away! --Jeff Shannon

Description

Female Yakuza Tale - Inquisition And Torture is an anarchistic apex in the career of Japanese cult director, Teruo Ishii, whose fifty year resume includes Horror of Malformed Men and Blind Beast Vs. Killer Dwarf. Notoriously lacking restraint, sexy 'pinky violence' star, Reiko Ike, returns in this gonzo sequel to Sex & Fury following the further exploits of Ocho, a thief and gambler running afoul of evil yakuza in Meiji Era Tokyo. Aided by a lone wolf adventurer (Ryohei Uchida), Ocho investigates a ruthless gang of cutthroats who are using indentured prostitutes as drug mules to smuggle heroin from China. Director Ishii throws everything but the kitchen sink into this mind-altering sexploitation action saga, all culminating in a bloody mobster massacre replete with sultry swordswomen. Full of intoxicating mayhem and uproarious kabuki-striptease antics, Female Yakuza Tale - Inquisition & Torture is freak-out filmmaking at its finest!

Panik House is proud to present Female Yakuza Tale uncut, uncensored and totally restored from the original vault elements. Available for the first time anywhere on DVD!

FEMALE YAKUZA TALE DVD Features

- Audio Commentary with Chris D., American Cinematheque film programmer and author of the book Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film.

- Director & Star Bios for Teruo Ishii and Reiko Ike, written by Chris D.

- Original Theatrical Trailer.

- Poster and Still Galleries

- Production Notes

- Special Insert Sticker

- Optional English Subtitles

- Brand New 16x9 transfer with completely re-mastered video and audio

- Special Packaging - stunning transparent amaray and the first 10,000 units debut in a clear O-Sleeve

Customer Reviews:

Pretty Bad Even for a Pink Film.......2007-09-01

Almost two years ago I watched Suzuki Norifumi's film Sex and Fury and while the film was far from being a great movie, it was a fun film because of its over the top action sequences and pumping psychedelic rock soundtrack. There were also quite a few scenes of nudity, especially with the film's female protagonist Ike Reiko, but, for the most part, they fit into the film and did not seem overly gratuitous. Also, the inclusion of Swedish sex film starlet Christina Lindberg was also a nice added touch. Unfortunately the second and final film in the series Female Yakuza Tale: Inquisition and Torture pales in comparison to its predecessor.

Female Yakuza Tale: Inquisition and Torture opening pretty much sets the standard for the entire film when our heroine Inoshika Ocho is attacked by several men and, for some reason or another, within the film's first two minutes she is completely nude. (Maybe it is easier to sword fight in the nude than wearing a constricting kimono.) Anyway, after this opening, Ocho has just arrived in a new city that is crawling with seedy individuals. After being led to a rickshaw by a young woman, she is taken a building where she is at first drugged and then molested. When she comes to, she finds herself nude and next to a dead girl who was killed by having her crotch gouged. A man, who we later learn was a former member of Ogi family gang informs Ocho that she will be accused of being a notorious killer called the "crotch-gouger." The film then continues to degenerate in a senseless mush introducing such characters as Christ Yoshimi, a woman who must kill after she prays, a crime lord called Big Tiger whose past is wrapped up with Ocho's and a few others including a group of prostitutes who smuggle in vials of drugs which have been hidden in their most secret places.

From its opening sequence Female Yakuza Tale: Inquisition and Torture is a complete train wreck. Maybe if the plot had centered on one plot the film might have seemed less disjointed and more coherent and enjoyable. However, if one is just looking to see a lot of flesh, than this is the perfect film for viewers who desire to do so.

Brilliant sequel.......2006-12-17

I love Japanese post-war cinema more and more as my knowledge of the land people and cultures of Japan are increased incrementally with each small experience. I would watch this after we understand who OneTwoThree is and with an understanding of Yakuza culture as a component of Japanese culture as a whole. Some of the imagery of this film will repulse and horrify Americans who are not used to the sincerity and intensity of Japanese feelings towards those violating the rules of their culture. We Americans often talk about some of the things done herein but rarely portray it in our films and written works. There is a poetry and a savagery to this film that raises it far above a simple exploitation film or softcore pornography. It is relevant today for showing how a system may lose its relevance and be abused by some when the polity fails to enforce its rules, and the brutality of the imbalances thus created being righted-are you listening Messrs. Bush and Cheney?

lame soft porn.......2006-07-13

Teruo Ishii stretches the patience of his viewers again with yet another 'pinky violence' offering, continueing the tradition of bad story line, absolutely lame sword-fighting choreography and unappealing sex scenes. Yes, the tale does include women forced to smuggle drugs in their apparently gigantic private parts, but that's not enough reason to watch this. Two stars is generous. My recommendation is to buy yourself some good porn or a good samurai movie, but this combo does not work.

Stylish sleaze-fest .......2005-12-20

Directed by seasoned veteran of Japanese exploitation cinema Teruo ISHII, FEMALE YAKUZA TALE - INQUISITION AND TORTURE is the unrelated sequel to SEX AND FURY (also available on amazon), again starring beautiful and very sexy Reiko IKE as tough as nails female gambler Ocho. Set in Kobe ca. 1920, the story with various fractions of yakuza, revenge and double - crossing is a bit too overconvoluted for its own good. To cut a long story short, let`s just say you can expects LOTS of nudity, sex, violence and sleaze. Some examples of what you can expect here: there are some nasty yakuza who force women to smuggle drugs in their private parts (!) As incentive the poor drug addicted gals get their fix injected in their naked breasts (!) In one particularly sleazy scene our heroine is engaged in a card game with mean yakuza mobster Big Tiger, who foolishly accuses her of cheating and insists that Ocho strips naked (!) to prove she did not hide cards. On the condition that he cuts off some of his fingers in time honoured yakuza-tradition, should he be proven wrong, she drops her clothes (in the process clandestinely disposing of an incriminating card). Now it's time of the unfortunate yakuza to cut off his fingers, but his girl comes to his rescue and asks Ocho for a favour "from woman to woman": Making an obscene gesture with her hand, she begs Ocho to spare Big Tiger's middle finger. It's up to the viewer's dirty imagination, why she asks his finger be spared...
The showdown, involving sword- and gunplay, explosions, blood geysirs and about two dozen naked girls (!) is particularly over the top. As if this was not enough there is some downright silly slapstick and funny dialogue ("trashy boss" being my favorite) thrown in for good measure.
When all is said and done, FEMALE YAKUZA TALE - INQUISITION AND TORTURE is surely a pleasureable and entertaining way to spend an evening. The film is well-shot with stunning cinematography. Reiko IKE is great. However, I found the film still a bit disappointing. The story is convoluted and over blown. Personally, I found SEX AND FURY a far better film. Sure, there is more sex and violence in INQUISITION (though there is not a shortage of it in SEX AND FURY either), but SEX AND FURY has a better story and is overall a far more rewarding viewing experience.
Technically the DVD is great. The film is presented in its original widescreen aspect ratio, colours are nice and the print is pristine. There are also several interesting extra features. First of all the excellent trailer. Then there are picture galleries of promotional art and stills from the film. There are also excellently written production notes and bio- and filmographies of director Terou ISHII and star Reiko IKE.

Better Than Sex and Fury!.......2005-12-19

Female Yakuza Tale is the sequel of Sex and Fury in which the geisha pick-pocket, played by Reiko, is embroiled in a yakuza plot to use geisha prostitutes to smuggle drugs to China in their crotches. The conclusion features the nude swordswomen and the Japanese mafia was so bloody and perverse, it would make Tarantino look like Harold Ramis lol. Please note that like Sex and Fury, Female Yakuza Tale is not intended for children.

Average customer rating:

Womans Film
A Fascinating Experiment, Hobbled by Its Conventions and Artifices
On crossing bondaries
Warning: Censored, 'cleaned-up' american DVD version
Foreign Film Lover

An Affair of Love
Starring: Nathalie Baye , Sergi López , Jacques Viala , Paul Pavel , and Sylvie Van den Elsen
Director: Frédéric Fonteyne
Manufacturer: New Line Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: B000055YV3
Release Date: 2001-01-23

Amazon.com

Nathalie Baye and Sergi López are lonely lovers who meet through an ad in a singles magazine for anonymous sex and fall in love. Frederic Fonteyne's tender portrait of a brief affair is framed in flashback: the two lovers recall their relationship for an unseen interviewer (a technique that recalls Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf and Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives), putting on a tough, scarred front that hides their regret. In the flashbacks, however, Fonteyne captures a sense of discomfort and anticipation in their first meeting that turns relaxed and passionate as their relationship deepens. Baye's nervous smiles become genuine and joyful as she grows more confident in López's company, and he nicely straddles the line between nonchalant openness and emotional defensiveness. Fonteyne's naturalistic style is broken only for the almost surreal vision of the hotel where they meet: they pass through a hellish crimson hall before entering their room, a cool blue sanctuary--a heaven on the other side of purgatory. It was released under a different name in France, an ironic title that translates to A Pornographic Affair, but the film is a sensitive, delicate portrait of fragile souls who allow self-doubts and second guesses get in the way of their own honesty. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Womans Film.......2007-07-28

This is a film made for women,but i must admit it almost had me in tears. it is so sensual, only the french can make films like this. no full on sex just a story about two people who meet,and how their relationship grows into love,that is not to be. i saw it on bbc four in england late one night under a french title,its subtitled , and that almost made me switch off, but i didnt,instead i bought the dvd, ladies if you want a good cry,this is for you.
E.W.Hunter

A Fascinating Experiment, Hobbled by Its Conventions and Artifices.......2007-05-27

This is certainly not my favorite film, but it was fascinating to watch and is worth seeing just for the astonishing Sergi Lopez, who is one of the sexiest men working in pictures today.

The film concerns a woman and a man who meet through a personals ad posted by the woman, in order to explore a long-desired kink of hers. The external world intrudes when a neighbor in the building where they meet suffers a medical crisis and together they accompany him to the hospital. As their regular assignations continue, they flirt with developing something deeper, but "pull out" as it were. The movie is presented as separate post-mortem interviews as well as scenes from the affair.

Each work of art has its conventions and artifices. It is not the obviousness of the conventions used here that bothered me -- indeed, I found them admirably rigorous. I can even grasp the purpose of these conventions, but in the end I felt that some of them worked against the filmmaker's intentions and encumbered the film.

The conventions imposed by the filmmaker revolve around an artificial absence of context: not knowing the protagonists' names, not knowing the particular kink that brings them together, knowing nothing of their outside lives. This underlines a very important point -- it is precisely the lack of context that fuels affairs based on casual or adulterous sex. It's easy to have great sex if the arrangement omits day-to-day trials and tribulations, if neither partner is exposed to the other's B.S. It's also a truism that the longer a casual or adulterous affair continues, the likelier it is that real life will bleed into it. To this extent, the trajectory of the film is quite true to life. And the conventions of the film serve to codify the conventions of the affair. Lack of context is the foundation of the affair and the framework of the movie.

I even understand why the only sex we are "allowed" to see is the vanilla encounter -- and, indeed, this scene (shot if I'm not mistaken in one continuous take) is a veritable tour de force. Again, there is a certain rigor and irony to asserting that the particular kink is irrelevant and then sharing the straight sex as something "kinky" and even risky in this context, an encounter demanding vulnerability, an encounter that could bridge the couple to real life.

In sum, though, the conventions seem coy and encumbering in their extremity, hence counterproductive. That the characters don't even have names (just "Lui" and "Elle") is coy and annoying. It's not like these characters are representing Everyman and Everywoman. We're all grown-ups, so failing to acknowledge the particular kink just strikes us as silly, and it makes the straight sex scene rather gratuitous. The quasi-documentary style reinforces this reverse prurience. On the other hand, the subjects are entitled to reveal whatever they want about themselves. To that extent, I aver that superficially at least the conventions of this movie are consistent and airtight. But for me, somehow, they didn't hang together.

On crossing bondaries.......2006-09-05

Frederic Fonteyne's Une Liaison Pornographique (US title, An Affair of Love) is an unusual love story, insofar as it unfolds "in reverse." Every Thursday, at the same hotel, at the same café, "He" and "She" (they are totally anonymous) meet in order to satisfy their sexual phantasm. Their anonymity is not without recalling Alain Renais' characters in Hiroshima Mon Amour (1958) or Last Year at Marienbad (1961). But here the ordeal is not that of the memory nor of the bomb, but that of a trite story of two people who do not know how to love and communicate.

"She" (Nathalie Baye), a mid-fortyish, confident, unattached woman, felt the need to realize a sexual phantasm. To this end, she placed a classified ad in a pornographic journal (or was it on the internet?). "He" (Sergi Lopez), a handsome man, ten years her junior, answered it. Now sitting at two different locations, they recall their adventure to an unseen man, answering his questions, as the camera goes back and forth between the two characters. Their descriptions of the circumstances which lead to their first meeting are remarkable by their lack of consistency. But, if their recollections of specific facts have grown vague, the strong emotions engendered by their love for each other and their tragic break-up are still very much alive. The rest of the story is presented in a series of flashbacks, interspersed with the characters' comments to the interviewer.

In spite of their national origins, young Belgium director Frederic Fonteyne and Iranian scenarist Philippe Blasband have managed to create the quintessential French film: a film created for adults, with a theme to match, unusual maybe, but still taken out of "real" life, psychological, philosophical and challenging to the viewer. Fonteyne, in spite of his young age (he was born in 1968), speaks about love and feelings with great maturity. He mystifies the viewer with his approach to modern sexuality. No longer is it about a budding love implicating sexuality, but about sexuality implicating love, the latter being reconsidered by the urban individualism and a fear of commitment prevalent in our modern society.

Blasband's scenario presents his love story "upside-down." Starting from a fantasy, which will eventually end up in love, he surrounds the slow but inevitable drift of the protagonists' feelings for each other. Refined, with simple and subtle dialogue, he facilitated enormously the director's work. For these two protagonists, it is not even a question of a "love at first sight" incident which leads to an immediate sexual encounter, and which, with time, gives birth to romantic love. In this story, they meet, not having even seen each other (although "She" first states that he had sent her his picture, but she seems to contradict herself later on, and "He" says he had not sent a picture) for the only purpose of satisfying a very particular fantasy that she has proposed in her ad and that "He" had, at one point, obviously considered himself. It could have been a complete mismatch of personality, physicality, mentality, and emotionality. As it turned out, however, there seemed by some stroke of fate to be some mutual attraction right from the start.

The two characters recount to a third party, with emotion and an air of propriety, the passion that they were unable either to control or to really confess to each other. We know that their experiment was a failure, because from the outset, their testimonies indicate that they are apart. But the way each talks about "the other" makes us want to discover this "other." We would like to get involved in their story, know their pasts, their presents, and understand why they speak about the "other" with so much nostalgia. They will never know each other's names, their ages, professions, what they do after their trysts, and we'll never know, either.

The rhythm and content of the story is controlled by the two protagonists who refuse to disclose the nature of their fantasy, allowing the director to impose upon the viewer the role of voyeur by limiting the viewer's space to that of the fantasy never revealed. Actually, the word "pornographique" in the original title, Une Affaire Pornographique, is a joke, as there is nothing pornographic about this film. Unfortunately, the distributor's arbitrary change of the original film title for the distribution in the United States, in order to conform to its apparent puritanism, denies Fonteyne's intention to fully condition, right from the start, the viewer's state of mind. Each time the camera in the red hotel hallway bumps against the closed door of room 118 (red is the color of a phantasm that remains a secret), it renews and heightens the voyeur-viewer's interest. This contrasts sharply with the only time the camera penetrates in the lovers' blue room to witness a banal love scene, which in fact leaves the viewer even more bewildered as to the nature of the fantasy.

The success of this film rests entirely on the flawless acting of Nathalie Baye and Sergi Lopez. In this film, these two actors developed chemistry, which is the undeniable sign of mature actors. Their interaction is totally genuine in their exchanges, both verbal and unspoken. We can read on her face the birth of her love for "He": she wants to be happy next to this man, this one and none other. "He" drinks cognac and dips sugar cubes into it while undressing her with his eyes. We can tell that this man knows how to love women, mixing tenderness with desire. There are also their gestures: "Her" expressing herself with her hands, admitting her need to always talk, even during love-making. "He" is reserved, observant, always answering her many questions.

The original film score is some electronic music, unfortunately up to now unavailable on CD, by Andre Dziezuk, Marc Mergen, and Jeannot Sanavia. There is a Rachel's track, "Lloyd's Register," which is available on their album, "The Sea and the Bells." When the credits are rolling, one hears a downtempo/trip-hop, drum and bass music, which recalls Funki Porcini. It all fits perfectly with this unreal situation.

The shooting of the film took place in Paris, more exactly on the Avenue Kleber, which runs between the Place Charles de Gaulle and Place du Trocadero, right at the metro stop, Boissiere, where the cafe is located. However, the hotel which in the story is just nearby the cafe is in fact physically located near Pigalle.

The main theme of this film is boundaries and their perilous crossings. At the beginning of the film, "She" is within her own world, inside her own boundary. This is symbolically represented during the opening as a crowd of pedestrians seen from her point of view, out of focus. "She" has a sexual fantasy, but in order to satisfy it, she will have to cross the first boundary, one set by society. Her fantasy cannot be fulfilled with members of her own entourage, husband, or intimate friends. For this, "She" must look beyond the boundaries of sociially accepted behavior, to a stranger. As both meet, they will be beyond society's boundaries in their fantasy world. This accomplished, they breach another boundary when feelings develop: the boundary fixed by love. A whole new world appears to them, a totally unexpected world. Finally, there are the boundaries of understanding and commitment, which they are unable to cross. At the very end of the film, we see again a crowd of pedestrians out of focus: she is back within the confines of her own boundary.

As a result, Fonteyne shows us a modern society where sex is no longer taboo, but love is becoming such. He never moralizes or resolves these apparent contradictions, but instead brings them into harmony as never done before him: the modern world denying love and the Judeo-Christian world negating sexuality. In the process, Fonteyne destroys the actuation of the phantasm and reinstates it in the secret, in the intimacy, both personal and private of the viewer.

Finally, the film tackles another great theme in the relationship between man and woman: the incommunicability. The fears that each feels: the fear of love, the fear of confessing this love one bears for the other to the other, the fear of appearing ridiculous, the fear that the feeling may not be reciprocated or has not progressed as rapidly in the other. The final scene at the café reveals and underscores a cruel, intense moment, the like of which I do not remember having ever witnessed in any film before. Very little is actually said, as most of the dialogue is in individual voice-overs. All the walls come crashing down on one woman and one man who, by all accounts, we judge were meant to be united for life. And this failure in a relationship which we were starting to take for granted is due to their incapacity to communicate.

Warning: Censored, 'cleaned-up' american DVD version.......2006-08-28

This is an adult movie, for adult audiences. A love affair between two strangers. A misunderstanding and a memory of what it could have been.

I longed for this DVD and just received it from Amazon last week.

But to my disappointment is was a CENSORED version, for the american audiences: Ten minutes were cut from the original european version! All the sexually explicit scenes were banned (true: the movie still keeps it's atmosphere).

I never tought I was ordering a 'clean movies' version.

I'd rather have ordered it from Amazon.fr (integral full-version, with english subtitles)

:-(

Foreign Film Lover.......2006-07-14

I watch mostly Foreign Films, Documentaries,and or Cannes types of Films and I have to say I really liked this film. It has a little of everything. Love, humor, sex, realism. It is just a "nice" film without being boring at all. Most French Films I have watched end and then one has to come up with their own ending. This one does leave some mystery as to exactly what they "did" but you find yourself ok with the ending instead of being frustrated (like many French Films can leave you feeling)(think "Irreversible", for one). It is never fully explained what exactly it is they "did" and to think it as simple as a shallow love affair would mean one really missed the point. You can "assume" you know for sure but I like that it is never exactly defined, so you cannot really judge the characters since you do not know exactly what it is they did.I intrepreted that they "made love" .I like that there was not a lot of "drama" in this love affair and I think we always associate love to being dramatic. I think some people would not like this film also because it comes and goes without a lot of drama. The acting was great and to me,both characters are just really likeable nice people. Ok I made it sound boring but trust me it is not! Same with another movie I loved called In the Mood for Love.
An Affair of Love is for people who like a lot of dialogue and who are into Foreign Films with some depth so it is not for everyone. Another great "nice" love movie with an outstanding director and cast is In the Mood for Love,by Wong Kar-Wai.

Average customer rating:

Fantastic Fantasma
Satire or Commentary? You decide
What happened at the last 15 mins
Even kink can be boring
powerful and uncompromising

O Fantasma
Starring: Ricardo Meneses , Beatriz Torcato , Andre Barbosa , Eurico Vieira , and Joaquim Oliveira
Director: João Pedro Rodrigues
Manufacturer: Picture This
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Gay & Lesbian | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Gay & Lesbian | Genres | DVD | Video

( O ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

ASIN: B0000C508N
Release Date: 2003-11-04

Description

No one can live without love . . . By day, brooding, lonely Sergio works as a trash collector in the streets of Lisbon. By night, Sergio embarks on an increasingly intense odyssey of random, anonymous sexual encounters. Quickly, Sergio becomes fixated on a hot, young stranger and begins to retreat further and further into his dark dream life, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, love and obsession. In Portuguese with English Subtitles

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic Fantasma.......2007-08-17

I gotta say this film is a checklist of everything a good film needs. The sight of a garbage man rummaging about his local dump clutching a bunny by the ears, drinking dump water and generally behaving in a manner that would disturb most common folk. Actually, in spite of his good looks, you would cross the other side of the road when you see this guy coming your way.
I think this film is a gay "Taxi Driver". That's the best way to put it.

Satire or Commentary? You decide.......2007-04-03

It's hard to know what to make of "O Fantasma" (The Phantom) based on casual viewing. Is it a satirization of how sexually debased society has become and the devaluation of sex to the point where it's disposable? Or is it merely an excuse to masquerade soft porn as an "art film"? The film follows the exploits of Sergio, the protagonist of the film. A garbage collector in Lisbon the film follows his life, mostly his nocturnal activities, alternately working his garbage route and his sexual liaisons with both men and women. Largely devoid of dialog, O Fantasma follows Sergio's slide into sexual depravities and perversions until he is largely divorced from daytime and any semblance of what passes for normal activities and sexual appetites. Sergio's life spins out of control when he becomes obsessed with a young man who becomes the object of his obsession. Obsession turns to compulsion as Sergio begins to stalk the object of his obsession, finally climaxing in a profoundly disturbing ending.

By turns disturbed and disturbing "O Fantasma" is a profoundly unsettling movie on an order of "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover," the equally disturbing Peter Greenaway film from 1989. While it is NOT a movie I would care to watch again I am sure it does have some appeal with some cineastes.

What happened at the last 15 mins.......2006-11-13

I agree with most of the reviews here that the movie is just so bad. The director had the wrong idea of an art film, methophors and strange incoherrent ending is not the only thing you need to make an art film. I was pretty intrigued by the lead's obssession with the Hunky Swimmer but it just did not end the movie satisfactorily ... Can anyone explain like when did he have the rubber suite, whats with the garbage dump ending, it is just too pointless !!! I felt cheated of 90 mins of my life.

Even kink can be boring.......2005-10-01

If you crave a gay-themed film full of brooding obsession, gloomy (and very well done) night photography, the occasional graphic sex scene, and METAPHORS so obvious even a high school film class could catch them, then this just might be your cup of tea. Howewver, if you are looking for a film that sustains its running time and subject, then you are out of luck.

To be fair, Portugese director João Pedro Rodrigues has made some daring choices here. Dialogue is minimal--this might as well be a silent film with sound effects. He's working one of the great themes--the boundary between dream and reality and the dangers of ignoring that boundary. There is the further theme of sexual oppression triggering further oppressions. And yes, there is more than a little boundage mixed in. (This is no 50s MGM musical.) It looks good--night photography, lots of backlight and black surfaces, either dull or glittering. Sergio (played by Ricardo Meneses, a garbageman in Lisbon, drifts further and further into his obsession with a hunky young swimmer (and Sergio is pretty hunky himself). While not obsessing, he drifts from one random sexual encounter to another. Finally, he goes off the beam completely (I won't go into all the details in case you decide to see it).

The problem is the same that so many self-consciously arty films, from Greed to The Unbearable Lightness of Being, share--their metaphors are too obvious (here, among others, it's human and animal behavior--Sergio's best relationship is with his dog and he lapses into canine behavoir periodically) and they are just too long. O Fantasma would make a pretty good 40 minutes festival film--at 90 minutes, it just drags, particularly the ending with Sergio wandering interminably in a landfill in a rubber bondage suit. (Come to think of it, kind of
an echo of the equally tedious final sequence of Greed.) I admit it--I really haven't the patience for films that scream out how ARTFUL they are and have little or nothing except style, attitude, and angst. Style and attitude--think Fred Astaire--can be a winning combination. Unfortunately, in spite of lashings of kink and plenty of existential hysteria, this is not a winning film. Basically, it's a bore.

powerful and uncompromising.......2005-03-07

Portuguese director Joao Pedro Rodriguez has created a film of austere beauty and sinewy power, dark and brooding like its striking protagonist. Ricardo Meneses, as the sensual, very sexual Sergio, gives a truly astonishing performance - especially considering his youth and inexperience, the nature of the material, and that this was his first and, I'm sorry to say, only film. Sergio is a lithe, muscular young garbage collector working the graveyard shift in Lisbon, but all we see of the city are its fringes. He roams forsaken moonscapes (the dumping grounds), jungle-like parks, forsaken roads. Sergio's compulsions and the force of his lust are reflected in these primitive terrains, and manifested in the increasing aberrance of his sexual behavior. The action takes place almost entirely indoors, or outside in darkness and shadow. There is, symbolically, only one moment of sunlight in the entire film when a magnificent Sergio stands, his lean body beautifully and boldly bare, on the roof of his pensione.

Ricardo Meneses, who was born to play this extraordinary part, is sensuous, narcissistic, exhibitionistic, and profoundly sexy. Mr. Rodriguez draws us into Sergio's life like voyeurs as the camera follows him, drinking in his flawless feline form as he showers, swims, admires and touches himself, prowls his habitat, has sex (with his girlfriend, his lover, his boss, a policeman, tricks), and stalks a handsome swimmer with whom he becomes obsessed. It is this last ephemeral human connection - one awkward gesture towards a world with sun - that dooms the boy. Sergio quietly asks his paramour for help and is coldly rebuffed. He becomes ever more animalistic, spiraling unremittingly downward. The tragedy which ensues is startling and seductive, like Sergio himself.

Average customer rating:

poor recording
Essential French cinema: Rohmer's 'Le Genou de Claire .'
Not the kind of plot I generally think is likely to turn into a good movie...
Join the cast
Where thought strangles feelings

Claire's Knee
Starring: Jean-Claude Brialy , Aurora Cornu , Béatrice Romand , Laurence de Monaghan , and Michèle Montel
Director: Eric Rohmer
Manufacturer: Fox Lorber
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( C ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

ASIN: 1572522445
Release Date: 1998-03-31

Amazon.com

Abrasive, self-deluded humor tinges the prickly exploration of sexual politics in French director Eric Rohmer's world and it often makes for less-than-comfortable viewing. Though Rohmer has made movies for several decades, his best-known films comprise a cycle loosely dubbed "The Six Moral Tales" (one short, one featurette, and four features), which also includes La Collectionneuse, My Night at Maud's, and Chloe in the Afternoon. Rohmer's comedies are full of the disillusion and jaded settling that come with age and adulthood, and he sharply contrasts cynicism against the naiveté and easy, innocent wisdom of youth. In Claire's Knee, Jean-Claude Brialy plays a diplomat named Jerome Montcharvin, who agrees to housesit a friend's rural but lavish country estate for a month. Jerome appears contented with life as he's recently become engaged to Lucinde, a woman he's known for six years. He takes refuge in the fact that she is his opposite, and placates his doubts by reminding himself that "a woman made for me would bore me." Into this summer idyll and Jerome's predictable, ordered life come two teenage girls who threaten his faithful but passionless ardor for his fiancée. To temper his awakening libido, Jerome pretends to "experiment" with the young women's affections and, in doing so, exposes himself as a cruel, callous man who is clueless as to his true nature. Though a close woman friend cautions him that "in love, there is will," he dismisses the possibility yet in the end performs an act of "pure will" with one of the teens, the lovely Claire, and brashly hurts that which he most desires. Claire's Knee was shot by the brilliant cinematographer, the late Nestor Almendros, and the color palette in the film is a masterpiece of style and scheme. It's a Monet on celluloid, and its visual prowess, combined with the provocative, unsettling theme, earned the National Society of Film Critics' Best Film prize in 1971. (Unfortunately, the first "reel" of the DVD transfer contains several noticeable scratches and the color is also faded and purple.) --Paula Nechak

Customer Reviews:

poor recording.......2007-08-05

This DVD looks like it was made from a VHS tape. Save the money and get the VHS tape, it will look the same

Essential French cinema: Rohmer's 'Le Genou de Claire .'.......2007-07-24

"Why would I tie myself to one woman if I were interested in others?" Jerôme wonders, as he plans on marrying a diplomat's daughter by summer's end.

Éric Rohmer (1920) challenged traditional Hollywood cinema with his provocative New Wave cycle of films, Six Moral Tales ("Contes moraux"). Inspired by F.W. Murnau's Sunrise, each "tale" follows the same basic story: a man is tempted a woman, but he ultimately resists the temptation. Claire's Knee (Le Genou de Claire) (1970) tells the story of a career diplomat, Jerôme (Jean-Claude Brialy), who meets a teenager, Laura, and her beautiful, blonde stepsister, Claire, at a lakeside boardinghouse on the eve of his wedding. While Laura flirts with him, Jerôme is tempted only by Claire's knee on a ladder under a blooming cherry tree. This film reveals how conversation can be the best foreplay.

Filmed by the brilliant cinematographer, Nestor Almendros, this DVD edition of Claire's Knee contains several unfortunate DVD transfer problems, corrected in the more recent Criterion Collection of Eric Rohmer's Six Moral Tales - Criterion Collection.

G. Merritt

Not the kind of plot I generally think is likely to turn into a good movie..........2006-09-29

The story told in "Claire's knee" is pretty strange, and certainly not the kind of plot I generally think is likely to turn into a good movie. In a nutshell, a man in his late thirties (Jean-Claude Brialy) develops an obsession for a beautiful teenager, Claire (Laurence de Monaghan). To be more precise, he is obsessed with Claire's knee, and needs to touch it, exactly as her boyfriend does.

That sounds boring, doesn't it? However, it isn't. This movie isn't about Jerome, the mature bachelor who begins to believe that Claire's knee is everything he wants, or about his friend Aurora (Aurora Cornu), that spurs him to flirt with young girls so she can have inspiration for her writing. It isn't about Laura (Béatrice Romand), Claire's sister, eager to flirt with Jerome, and it is certainly not about Claire, that doesn't pay Jerome too much attention. It is a film about wanting what you can't have, and forgetting about it as soon as you get your hands on it. Moreover, it is also story about love and infatuation, and the difference between them.

Will you like this film? I think so, because even though "Claire's knee" is not one of Rohmer's best films, it is a movie that you will enjoy watching, not for the story, but rather for the conversations between the characters. This film doesn't have any answers, but it allows you to ask yourself some very interesting questions, and that is the reason why I give it 3.5 stars...

Belen Alcat

Join the cast.......2006-08-20

An Eric Rohmer film is not a typical film by US standards, or by European stardards either. But it's a very interesting piece of entertainment, at least very beautiful to see.

The story in Claire's Knee is very simple, but even if it was more ambitious or complicated it wouldn't be the point. And this is what people miss when they watch Rohmer's films. It's the pace, the background scenery, the natural ambience. It's an invitation to the viewer to join the cast, and feel like one more character, a very attentive and quiet character. And this is truly the magic of Rohmer's beautiful films, specially this one. Among his films, I prefer My Night At Maud's, because it's not only beautiful to the eye, but the story interests me more too.

Claire's Knee is such a delicate and precious work of art for its simplicity, and it really feels like being sucked into the scene by the characters interactions, and becoming more and more involved in the conversations. You can pick your own sides, and most of all, you can study (try to understand) the characters by staring at their faces without being impolite. And you can also just enjoy the beautiful scenery and breathe fresh air from the Alps.

So I recommend it but warn you that it should be viewed without any expectations as for plot or big excitements. Take it as an invitation to join a few friends for a few days in the French Alps during the summer. Get into the European mood and have a nice vacation.

I wish is had a better quality dvd. The other option is the Criterion edition that just came out.

Where thought strangles feelings.......2005-10-27

Eric Rohmer seems to be especially fascinated with two ideas: (1) a man over-stepping his intellectualized feelings and then s