Incontro d'amore a Bali

I was so pleased to stumble across this as I've enjoyed my three recently watched Ugo Liberatore films, but this one is a bit of a let down. There were ominous signs because the film was withdrawn after initial release and poor reception and Paolo Heusch called in to re-shoot some scenes using Italian porn star, Ilona Staller. In fact I don't think these scenes could have made much difference. This is a rambling affair as a guy goes off to Bali to shoot the natives and discover something meaningful. My guess is that Liberatore wanted to explore the tendency of the time for these Asian excursions and being sceptical intended something of an expose. What then may have happened as with so many other films of this time, rather a lot of substances became imbibed and the director lost his grip on the film. There are some interesting sequences when the locals do seem to allow the Italians amazing access to their rituals and ceremonies but there is nothing to help us feel empathy for anyone and gradually we run out of sympathy altogether.

The wife (Laura Antonelli) of a European photographer on assignment in exotic Bali falls for an enigmatic ex-pat under the spell of a mystical death cult...

BALI, an attractively lensed snoozefest with arty "Africa Addio" airs, was a flop in 1970 but for some unfathomable reason was re-released five years later as INCONTRO D'AMORE with new footage added and it's just as senseless the second time around. The Balinese black magic puts the film in the realm of the fantastic but expecting anything other than ennui is equally unrealistic. Italian porn star and one-time Parliment member Ilona Staller (as Elena Mercury) was edited into the "new and improved" version.

After 1973's "Malizia", when Laura Antonelli was at the height of her popularity, inventive producer Alfredo Bini dug out an old box office failure of hers, the 1970 production "Bali". But he didn't just re-release it as it was, but shot about half an hour of new scenes. They serve as a framing background to the 1970 material, and apparently, the new version was very successful due to the Laura Antonelli craze. Unfortunately this means that the only version available today is the 1975 release, and what was cut from the 1970 version is probably lost forever.

Two problems are obvious: The 1970 version, at least what's left of it, is not really good to begin with. And the 1975 additions are pointless and boring for the most part.

So you have photographer and journalist Carlo (Emmanuelle 2&3's Umberto Orsini) working on a book about the island of Bali, while he is assisted by the introverted dropout Glenn (John Steiner). Then Daria, Carlo's wife, played by Laura Antonelli, arrives for a visit and she is quickly fascinated by Glenn's weird state of mind. Glenn is grasped by the island's folklorist and social ways, dabbles in black magic and voodoo, and is deeply depressed because his guru friend is soon to die and does not speak to anybody anymore. Daria's fascination turns to love , Carlo gets jealous, and Glenn wants to die...

Well, it's a classical love triangle served here, but it just never gets any momentum. It's hard to relate to any of the characters as they act so completely strange and incomprehensible. Daria falls for Glenn by just staring at him, while he mostly ignores her and she's making constantly scenes because she can't understand what drives him. Carlo is proud of his "open" marriage to Daria that allows them both to cheat on each other, but turns jealous when he finds out about her feelings for Glenn, who on the other hand makes it crystal-clear he doesn't care for Daria and just wants to die. It all just doesn't work. You are treated to highly sophisticated discussions about island polygamy, frog statues, betel nuts, life, death and all the exorcisms and black magic rituals in between. The script wants to feign depth that's not really there.

If it weren't for the wonderful scenery, you would be bored very quickly. But truly the production managed to find great spots, viewpoints and access to genuine, sometimes quite disgusting events on the island. This is supported by the fitting soundtrack.

Speaking of the actors, it's Steiner who can convince the most, since his character is the actual key of the story. Orsini relies on his playboy looks, while Laura, I hate to say it, performs miserably and doesn't seem to care at all. At least there are some sequences of her wearing a wonderful black bikini. I admit I could watch her running around like that probably for the rest of my life.

So let's speak about the re-cut, about thirty new minutes mostly with Orsini. It clocks in at 90 minutes, so you can guess an equal amount of the 1970 version had to go. It's five years later and Carlo reports to the police that he has killed Daria. Then he tells the police officer the whole Bali story, and how he recently met her again. For the most part, it is totally boring, and it continuously interrupts the actual story, along with hard, noticeable cuts on the 1970 scenes. It causes considerable plot-holes. For instance, Daria meets Glenn for the first time at the airport and on the ride to the village they talk briefly and superficially. Then all of a sudden she tells Carlo how much Glenn fascinates her - something is missing here...

Well, at least the producers realized what was definitely missing, too, in the 1970 version - sex and crime. To replace Laura, who had certainly better things to do at that point, they brought in Ilona Staller, so the nudity was secured, and for the gore, they just let Carlo become crazy. Ridiculous, but what would you expect. Antonelli criticized the re-release fiercely, by the way.

Overall this film just wants too much and delivers too little. If you are happy to see young and beautiful Laura Antonelli, you won't be too disappointed. I wouldn't recommend "Bali" to anyone but hardcore Eurocult fans who may just get enough enjoyment out of Laura, the visuals, style and score to outweigh the weak and boring plot.

The unwieldy triumvirate of, Ugo Liberatore/Paolo Heusch/Usmar Ismail have fashioned a rather unusual celluloid confection in Bali. Part-murder mystery, part-existential melodrama, part-metaphysical erotica, and part-exotic travelogue, that ultimately proves somewhat less exciting than the lurid promise of its exploitative parts! The bloody, Giallo-esque murder at the beginning engenders the rather clunky conceit of ostensible wife-slayer, Carlo (Umberto Orsini), and his heady Bali-bound tale of marital infidelity, Balinese hoodoo-voodoo, and the existential woes of the preternaturally sulky, blonde Adonis, Glenn (John Steiner), who, unsatisfied with his two dusky Asian wives, finds the satiety he desires among the pulchritudinous, sun-warmed bosom of Carlo's voluptuous wife, Daria, distractingly played in a curiously somnambulist fashion by the super-sexy, Antonelli, who does little more than mope, and look inordinately delicious in her snug black bikini! Which, as you might well imagine, is more than adequate compensation for her emotional inertia, and weirdly vapid stare!!!

Again, highlighting the cogent plot, or lack thereof, or even mentioning the spurious motivation of the undeveloped characters does, Ugo Liberatore's episodic film no good at all, it is, perhaps, far better to immerse the noggin with suitably robust libations, and then glory at the sun-slaked bounty of gleefully giddy nonsense herein! The story is pure bunkum, and is best enjoyed if taken with an enormous pinch of hallucinogenics, but, miraculously, all Bali's myriad faults do finally coalesce into a remarkably entertaining yarn!!?? Exhibit A) it is all wholly, and unrelentingly absurd and B) The location and photography of the impossibly beautiful island paradise of Bali is sensational; and C) (a jolly good C it is too!) maestro, Giorgio Gaslini's scintillating score is lushness personified, pouring sweet honey over the steamy proceedings like a sublime application of warm, slippery coconut oil across the magnificently burnished busts of Italian screen dream, Laura Antonelli!