A film review: "Tag der Idioten" [1981, West Germany]

Werner Schroeter's films are pretty much like the man himself, less talked about but theatrical and larger than life in person. Among his last films acknowledged as part of the Neuer Deutscher Film canon, "Tag der Idioten" [Eng. Title: Day of the Idiots] is an exploration of people's fear of accepting their own eccentricities, idiosyncrasies and imperfections in a conformist world.











Carole (Carole Bouquet) snaps one day, unsure anymore of everything she had cared about thus far; her boyfriend, job, and standing in society. Frustrated with the real world, she leaves home, and after flushing the contents from her handbag down the toilet, orders three Viennese coffees for herself at a posh cafe, only to smear them all over her face and the table. "I need to breathe...", an angst-ridden Carole mutters.

She gets herself declared clinically insane after accusing a neighbour of being a terrorist and leading police on a wild goose chase. In order to avoid prison, she voluntarily checks into Dr. Laura's (Ingrid Caven) Victorian-era asylum; the doctor is aware that Carole isn't insane in a conventional sense, but nevertheless accepts her as a patient. She'd been experimenting on patients 'healing themselves' through anti-psychiatry and hopes it might help Carole too.

Carole finds the patients in the asylum simultaneously fascinating and repulsive, and notices among them the very woman she'd reported as being a terrorist. She 'escapes' the asylum more than once, but turns herself in each time, for she's no longer sure if the world outside is any more saner than the asylum. Carole isn't happy with either worlds and begins to find the very idea of living meaningless...

The impressionistic melodrama however abandons any attempt at making a point and gets consumed by its own madness, by becoming a voyeur to the excess on screen. The film isn't nearly as depraved as some of the exploitation films of the era, but will regardless shock viewers unaccustomed to seeing scenes of urophilia (golden showers) in mainstream cinema.

The relative obscurity of the film, despite the director's auteur-credentials and featuring a then current 'Bond girl' in a starring role, has prevented one of Carole Bouquet's most memorable performances from being seen by a wider audience. The film also features an ensemble cast that include Schroeter's long term muse and collaborator Magdalena Montezuma, the beautiful Christine Kaufmann, and Ida Di Benedetto. This might not be one of Shcroeter's masterpieces, but his signature style and feminist message is written all over the film, and for that at least, it is Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon.de 2-DVD Link
Willow Springs, Tag der Idioten [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Carole Bouquet, Mostefa Djadjam, Dana Medrická, Magdalena Montezuma, Ida Di Benedetto, and others
The film begins with a long scene of a stunning Carole Bouquet pacing up and down the room completely in the nude as her oblivious boyfriend (Mostefa Djadjam) sleeps. She appears nude in two other scenes later in the film. Czech actress Dana Medrická appears topless on a few occasions as a patient with an urge to flash in front of others. Magdalena Montezuma walks nude into a party, asking to be placed in prison for an imagined crime. Ida Di Benedetto, who plays a deeply religious nurse, is briefly seen topless while punishing herself. There is further nudity in a bathroom scene where for probably the first time in mainstream cinema, an actor is shown actually urinating on another (unlike 'Salo, or 120 Days of Sodom' where everything was simulated). The scene is nonsexual, but the shock value is in the banal manner of its presentation.



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A film review: "Vientos de la Habana" [2016 Cuba, Spain]

Félix Viscarret's crime thriller, "Vientos de la Habana" [Eng. Title: Four Seasons in Havana: The Winds of Lent] is a feature-length spin-off of a TV mini series that was rather well received in Spain. Since I've neither seen the TV series nor read the novel from which the film's adapted, this one's
gonna be brief.

Set in Havana, the film begins with the murder of young school teacher Lissete (Mariam Hernández) in her apartment, and the arrival of detective Mario Conde (Jorge Perugorría) to investigate. A post-mortem indicates the presence of drugs, alcohol, and semen in Lissete's body. Conde sets out to piece together events leading up to the fateful night, which will reveal hitherto unknown facets of Lissete and her dealings with some of her colleagues and students.

Running parallel to the above storyline is Conde's own story. A recovering alcoholic, he meets Karina (Juana Acosta) - his neighbour's daughter and a city-based lawyer, and falls in love. They date for a while but Conde wants to take their relationship to the next level. His circle of loyal old friends will help Conde in different ways on both his endeavours...

Of late, I'd become addicted to Scandi and Belgian crime thrillers and felt the need for a 'healthy' change, and a passionate Latin crime thriller could just be the ticket. But the film cannot be called a traditional noire; yes there are elements of noire in it, but the plot is straightforward and the characters are far too well-rounded with barely any conflicts and rough edges. It can more honestly be described as a grey-noire. I did however love the cinematography and editing that authentically captures the sultry and faded-glory of Havana, and the casting were great too. Recommended Viewing!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Mariam Hernández, Pilar Mayo, and Juana Acosta
Mariam Hernández who plays school teacher Lissete is nude or partially nude in most of her scenes in the apartment. A nude Pilar Mayo is briefly seen in the bed of a crime boss. As Lissete, an ageless Juana Acosta appears nude in at least three scenes in the company of veteran Cuban actor and protagonist Jorge Perugorría.



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A brief film review: "Dora oder Die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern" [Switzerland 2015]

Stina Werenfels's film "Dora oder Die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern" [Eng. Title: Dora or The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents] is an unusual drama concerning a young woman growing up with a developmental disorder.










After Dora (Victoria Shulz) turns eighteen, mother Kristin (Jenny Schily) decides to discontinue her daughter's medication after finding her in better spirits without them. The opening scenes are of Dora enjoying her birthday party among friends and relatives.

Stopping her medication also paves the way for Dora's sexual awakening. Naturally inquisitive, she becomes increasingly interested in sex and apart from exploring her body, is also keen to experience sex, sometimes leading to awkward situations within the household.

She sets her eyes on a dashing and sporty car driving Peter (Lars Eidinger), and one day follows him into a public toilet to befriend and offer him a fruit as gift. Before she could realise what was happening, Peter takes advantage of Dora and abuses her sexually in the toilet.

But Dora enjoyed that experience and keenly pursues Peter for more such encounters, who willingly obliges despite Kristin objecting to his exploitation of a vulnerable Dora. Kirsten also pleads unsuccessfully with mental health authorities to stop Peter from approaching her daughter. Before long, things become more complicated when Dora becomes pregnant and a question arises over her ability to raise children normally. For Kristin, it couldn't have come at a worse time when she was hoping to conceive another child of her own..!

It's not very often that we get to see sexuality among people with disabilities depicted in film, even more so when it comes to those with mental disorder. It could also become a vexing topic when normal actors end up performing characters with disabilities, but to their credit, the director and Ms. Shulz have brought to life a convincing and sympathetic character in Dora. However, I felt the film was overreaching itself when it tried to add additional plot points that perhaps were not really necessary. But Dora does redeem the film, and at least for her soaring spirit, this film is Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Victoria Schulz, Jenny Schily, and others
It is not often than we get to see mentally disabled characters depicted as sexual beings; something of an unspoken taboo in films, and that's why I think the film's nude scenes cover new ground. There are at least four scenes in which Victoria Shulz appears nude. Jenny Schily appears nude in one scene shot from a distance. Assorted characters also appear nude during a swingers' sex session.



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A review: "Cambio de Sexo" [1977 Spain]

One of Vicente Aranda's lesser known (and until recently, quite rare) films, "Cambio de sexo" [Eng. Title: Forbidden Love] was also the beginning of a collaboration with his life-long muse Victoria Abril. The film, about a hitherto taboo topic concerning gender identity and sex-change, remains a landmark in Spanish mainstream cinema despite any of its technical shortcomings.








Seventeen year old José María (Victoria Abril) is a gawky effeminate lad who's bullied and harassed at school for his looks and inability to fit-in, to the extent that the school even suggests moving him to a different school. Furious at the suggestion and determined to man up his son, José María's father (Fernando Sancho) sends him away, boot-camp style, to his uncle in the countryside to get used to some hard manual labour. What the father fails, or refuses to understand is that José María actually sees himself as a girl trapped in a boy's body.

Consequently, the father takes José María to a cabaret-brothel to initiate him in  heterosexual sex with the help of Fanny (Rosa Morata), the lead performer and also one of the father's lovers. Things obviously don't go as predicted for the father and before long, José María had left home unannounced to begin life anew as María José in glitzy downtown Barcelona.

Working as a hairdresser, María José meets and gets acquainted with Bibi Andersen (Bibi Andersen), a star transsexual performer at the cabaret she visited with her father earlier. Bibi introduces María José to the cabaret owner and also becomes her mentor by giving her some much needed worldly advice and encouraging her to train as a cabaret dancer.

As María José's showbiz career blossoms and adulthood beckons, she goes through the familiar exhilarating, and at times painful journey through rejection, defiance, and camaraderie, and in the process discovers love. The film ends with María José successfully transitioning into a woman after gender reassignment surgery.

Even though the teenage Abril was already a well known name in Spain through TV when the film came out, she had yet to find her feet in cinema, and this film would mark the beginning of Victoria Abril's stellar career. It goes without saying that apart from her exemplary performance, Victoria Abril is at her adorable best. I couldn't resist sharing this rather subversive scene from a sequence that's disturbingly reminiscent of a oh-so-innocent Judy Garland from The Wizard of Oz. "Mi cosita" is anything but, and is surprisingly also well choreographed.

A unique product of Spain's destape, the film succinctly captures the spirit of openness, liberty, and optimism following the end of Spain's fascist era. While the amazing Bibi Andersen - a transgender in real life, had been a regular in Almodóvar's twisted classics, she often played the female even when there were transgender characters in the same film; those roles were typically played by women. This is one of the rare films where Bibi Andersen actually plays herself. For followers of Spanish cinema and its evolution, this film is essentially Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon Blu-ray Link [Region 2]

 

The Nudity: Rosa Morata, Maria Elias, Victoria Abril, Bibi Andersen, and others
As one would expect, the film features several scenes of nudity. Rosa Morata and others appear nude on stage during a cabaret. Maria Elias who plays María José's sister is seen briefly nude while changing. Victoria Abril is nude often, including a couple a scenes on stage, and Bibi Andersen performs a memorable striptease.

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A film review: "Zheleznaya doroga" [2007 Russia]

I'd been working backward through the filmography of Aleksey Fedorchenko, and was pleased to see that his Fellini-esque surreal comedy from 2007, "Zheleznaya doroga" [Eng. Title: The Railway] was as much an allegory as a visual feast.











The hilarious premise posits a school headmaster hatching a rather unusual plot to make up for a shortfall in the school's funding - by smuggling out coal from abandoned mines in the town's vicinity, on a disused railway line that was heading south into the vast Russian Steppes. Thanks to a mistaken belief that coal was in high demand in that region, he sets about laying his plans in secret so that others wouldn't catch wind.

He persuades a pal (Sergey Belyaev) with his kid Mishka (Daniil Shavkunov) to join the endeavour, and after dusting off a beast of a Soviet-era locomotive languishing in a museum, they enlist the services of an equally ancient driver (Pyotr Zaychenko) who'd apparently gone feral in the rusty overgrown railway yard. As the film progresses, the driver and his relationship with the locomotive become an important part of the narrative.

After stocking the lone wagon in the train with sacks of coal collected by the school children, the foursome set-off on a surreal journey passing through disappeared stations, abandoned towns and meet some extraordinary characters along the way, including the remnants of a circus troupe that had gone missing in the Steppes many years ago.

By the time they reach their destination, they'd used up and bartered away the coal that they were transporting for largely worthless bric-a-brac, exchanged by desperate locals still surviving in middle-of-nowhere towns. Perhaps they were waiting for the trains to return, or perhaps they'd given up all hope of making it elsewhere. Much of the narrative is from the viewpoint of Mishka who observes goings on armed with a creative license.

We meet giants, acrobats, and man-eating school children, and Luisa (Olga Degtyaryova), a sex-hungry redhead who boards the train after the headmaster proposes to her with a ring exchanged for coal by an old woman without fingers. Mishka listens to his father give varying accounts of his mother's (Elena Veshkurtseva) gruesome/heroic death, and imagines each time saving her in a miraculous manner. Their journey, it turns out, is in fact a yearning for love...

Almost every aspect of the characterisation can be seen in an allegorical or literal sense, depending on your frame of mind. But they're equally absurd, delightful, and moving either way, thanks to Fedorchenko's genius and sense of humour. Steeped in irony and loaded with dry wit, the film is a prime example of Russian cinema at its creative best. Needless to say, this little gem is Highly Recommended Viewing..!

 

The Nudity: Olga Degtyaryova, Elena Veshkurtseva, and others
Olga Degtyaryova, as the redhead, appears nude in a couple of scenes, and there is brief nudity from other actors during the rest of the film.



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A film review: "La región salvaje" [2016 Mexico]

Amat Escalante is renowned/infamous for gritty and at times shocking realism in his films. But his 2016 erotic Sci-Fi fantasy drama (or dark comedy even) "La región salvaje" [Eng. Title: The Untamed] is quite different, and happily so.












The film begins with what we assume to be an asteroid in space heading our way. The next scene is of a young Verónica (Simone Bucio) writhing in ecstasy in the arms of a tentacled creature, wearing the expression of a painfully dependent opium addict. As Marta (Bernarda Trueba), wife of scientist Verga (Oscar Escalante), clears away the blood-stained sheets from the bed, an injured Verónica is shown limping across mist-laden woodland to make it to her parked cross motorbike.

Dr. Verga who'd housed and studied the tentacled creature from his cabin since its discovery, is convinced that it represents the most primal of nature's instincts in its purest state, with even the wild animals getting irresistibly drawn towards the crater site to copulate. He also opines that Verónica's recent rendezvous with the creature turned out bloody because it'd lost interest of her.

A parallel storyline develops around unhappy Alejandra (Ruth Ramos) and her family. Her husband Ángel (Jesús Meza) had been having an affair with her brother Fabián (Eden Villavicencio), which the latter had wanted to end. Verónica strikes up a friendship with Fabián at the hospital where he works and divulges about a 'lover' who lost interest and 'dumped' her lately, and suggests he visit the cabin to find out for himself...

During the course of the film, it dawns on us that rather than a supposed sci-fi thriller along the lines of Alien, War of the Worlds, or even Andrzej Zulawski's Possession (with which it shares some plot similarities), we're indeed watching something allegorical. It is in effect a critique of everything that's gone wrong in modern society. Some scenes are darkly funny even when something tragic is happening, which can hardly be considered unintentional, especially with someone of Escalante's notoriety at the helm.

The film happily defies categorisation - like an early Almodóvar who didn't worry too much about having to be audience-friendly, this is Escalante simply having fun with different genres whilst striding the thin line between homage and parody. Yes, there is social commentary, but that's not the film's main purpose. To me it's a celebration of the film making process itself; the film has integrity and pays enough attention to detail, and even if we'd seen more convincing FX creatures in Hollywood, it shouldn't matter too much on this occasion. That said, the bizarre scene where various species of animals are seen merrily shagging away in a crater-like pit is a sight to behold. And we all know that even Stanley Kubrick would struggle to direct wild beast porn, so the effects department clearly earned their keep here. Recommended Viewing..! :-)

Amazon Blu-ray Link | Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Simone Bucio, Ruth Ramos, Jesús Meza, and Eden Villavicencio
Nudity from newcomers Simone Bucio (Verónica) and Ruth Ramos (Alejandra) are largely due to scenes featuring tentacular groping and masturbatory activity. Jesús Meza (Ángel) and Eden Villavicencio (Fabián) appear nude in a sex scene too.



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My body, my choice: "Vergine giurata" [2015, Italy, Albania]

There's no need for alarm; we needn't fear a militant or agenda-driven feminist narrative in Laura Bispuri's debut feature "Vergine giurata" [Eng. Title: Sworn Virgin]. It is rather a nuanced critique of restrictive sexual and cultural norms in some communities and our protagonist's determination for the right to his/her own body.

The film begins with 'Mark' - formerly Hana (Alba Rohrwacher) leaving her frozen Albanian village behind for an Italian city where Lila (Flonja Kodheli), the daughter of her foster parents, lives. They were close and grew up together, until Lila decided to elope with her Albanian lover barely a week before her arranged marriage.

While Lila has since established a family in Italy, a tomboyish Hana found the idea of becoming a traditional housewife oppressive, and has hence drawn upon a right from local custom that would allow her to forego her societal obligations as a woman - she had taken a community-sanctioned vow to celibacy by cutting her hair short and dressing up as a man.

While Hana may have, in theory, became Mark - she had a man's rights, including the right to bear arms and hunt for a living, she was in practise already branded for life a sexual identity from her days as Hana, and her new-found independence as Mark only led to her further isolation. She had to leave, and hence her arrival at Lila's doorstep unannounced. A new life now beckons for Hana...

The thoughtfully meandering film inter-cuts the past with the present to paint a vivid portrait of Hana and her world, one that resonates universally despite its specifics. As our evolving understanding of sexuality and identity keep reshaping modern lives, it's imperative to keep the 'dialogue' within society open without necessarily being combative or antagonistic. The film achieves this in no small measure thanks to Ms. Bispuri's commendable direction and Ms. Rohrwacher's assured performance. For once, it's also a relief to see Albanians not portrayed as criminal or refugee stereotypes, but as fellow humans with life goals not too dissimilar to our own. Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Alba Rohrwacher
Since the film specifically focuses on Hana's metamorphosis from someone uncomfortable with her body and identity - to the extent of even living in discomfort by wrapping layers of cloth around her breasts to appear less feminine, brief nudity becomes unavoidable while portraying her gradual transformation.



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A film review: “170 Hz” [2011 Netherlands]

Joost van Ginkel's debut feature "170 Hz" concerns two deaf youths from different backgrounds falling in love.











Evy (Gaite Jansen) and Nick (Michael Muller) are lovers, but the only thing they have in common, apart from their love for each other, is the fact that they're both deaf who communicate through sign language. Apart from that, their worlds couldn't be further apart.

While Evi's middle class upbringing has come packaged with doting , if conservative, parents, Nick is from a less wealthy environment, and by all indications, has had a troubled childhood. Apart from being bullied by peers for his disability, Nick singularly also fails to impress Evi's father when he's invited home for dinner.

With a father demanding her to stay away from Nick, Evi hatches a plan to force her parents to accept Nick into the family - to elope together for a few months and return after becoming pregnant. A eager Nick accepts, and after picking a disused submarine for their hideout, stacks it with provisions for their long stay.

But Nick unexpectedly brings forward their day of elopement, and when Evi tries to ask for an explanation, he tactfully changes the topic. Their following days are spent in loving embraces and blissful abandonment. Fissures in their relationship first appear when Nick discovers and rewrites Evi's typewritten diary with false details. When Evi learns about her pregnancy and suggests to Nick that it is time to return home, Nick dithers. Evi will discover that Nick has been hiding a dark secret from her all along...

For a debut feature, the film is technically well done; the visuals are pretty and the performances are not bad either. But having said that, I failed to notice anything unique about the story line or narrative, save the protagonists' hearing impairment. Outcast lovers in film - yes we've seen them in various forms already, but while some have managed to touch the audience at some level, I couldn't say the same about van Ginkel's first attempt. The director nevertheless shows promise which I hope to see realised in his subsequent films. I have to confess that the only reason for picking this film has been the lovely and memorable Gaite Jansen.

 

The Nudity: Gaite Jansen
While there are few scenes with nudity from Gaite Jansen, they appear to be a bit over-polished, like watching a Cadbury's Flake commercial. Perhaps it's the jaded voyeur in me, or perhaps its the director-cinematographer combo honing their skills to make a killing in the advertising world - you decide. :-)





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A film review: "Las hijas de Abril" [2017, Mexico]

Wishing you all a very happy 2018!

 














Michel Franco is among the leading lights of Mexican cinema working today. Franco follows up on his impressive 2015 drama 'Chronic' with an equally devious and shocking family drama "Las hijas de Abril" (Eng. Title: April's Daughters).

The film begins with Clara (Joanna Larequi) preparing dinner seemingly unperturbed by sounds of lovemaking emanating from the room next door. When it ends and Clara goes out to make a phone call, her teenage sister and very pregnant Valeria (Ana Valeria Becerril) emerges sweaty and famished, followed by her equally young boyfriend Mateo (Enrique Arrizon). Clara was calling her 'Spanish' mum Abril (Emma Suárez) to inform her of Valeria's pregnancy - something Valeria hadn’t been quite keen on telling herself, and we’ll begin to appreciate her initial reluctance through the course of the film.

Following their parents' divorce, the sisters have been living in the family's vacation home, largely keeping to themselves, but the anticipated arrival of a new member into the household had forced Clara to seek out their mum for help. Abril turns up, unexpectedly for Valeria, to take control over matters, with what by initial signs appear to be a genuine concern for the welfare of her daughters and the yet-to-be-born child.

With Valeria struggling with the rigours of motherhood after baby Karen is born, it is often left to Abril's resourcefulness, experience, and initiative to cope with Karen's matters. Valeria momentarily takes a back seat and a naive and clueless Mateo, whose parents have already rejected their bastard granddaughter, succumbs to Abril's whims and schemes, which take on sinister dimensions.

After Abril puts Karen up for adoption without Valeria's permission, we begin to see her transform, with little fanfare or notice, from a caring mother and grandmother into a selfish, narcissistic, and amoral bitch intent on wrecking the lives the very ones she's supposed to care and protect. Valeria will be forced to grow up, swiftly, to reclaim her child by exhibiting the single-mindedness her mother is already known for...

Michel Franco's little gem was one of the few films that truly impressed me at the BFI London Film Festival this year and I'd be truly surprised if it doesn't go on to bag a few more awards. The great storyteller that he is, Franco's off-kilter narrative succeeds in using seemingly austere imagery to deceive and challenge his audience by posing inconvenient questions. The film's title itself - 'April's Daughter', could more tellingly be named 'Valeria's Mother', because the film is mostly about the mother, played with utter conviction by Emma Suárez - she has us glued to proceedings no matter what we feel about the character she's playing. Equally impressive is debutante Ana Valeria Becerril who plays the young teenage mother. Needless to say, the film is Highly Recommended Viewing..!

 

The Nudity: Ana Valeria Becerril
A heavily pregnant Valeria enters the room naked to help herself to a snack while overhearing her sister Clara talking to their mum over phone. The scene is also surprising in that it is also the opening scene of the film. She's also later seen partially naked and sleeping on the sofa when Abril visits.



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