Domino

I didn't quite know what to expect of Ivana's Massetti's, Domino, and was pleasantly surprised how engaged I was by the end of the first scene. Famed model, Brigitte Nielsen plays a glamorous director named Domino who's on a quest of self discovery to see if she can truly fall in love. Meanwhile, she's become the object of a stalker who's had his eye on her for some time. When Domino becomes obsessed with his identity, she quickly turns the tables on her pursuer.

Even today there's an eroticism found in this late '80s film not seen in American pictures. While the sex and glamour don't necessarily drive the movie, it's integral to the plot and a high selling point. There are some interesting conversations made about the viewpoint of sex versus love making, particularly through the eyes of a woman. Throughout the movie there are images and sounds that evoke elements of Argento, Lynch, or even Cronenberg films. While a plethora of characters come and go, Nielsen's Domino remains the contestant, occasionally appearing unintentionally wooden, but showing the sincere emotions of a woman cutting herself off from the rest of the world.

This is a unique film I had wanted to see for years. There's a depth not found in many of Briggite Nielsen's movies. I'm hard pressed to name another film exactly like it. But it is entertaining and thought provoking.

Brigitte Nielsen seems to be day-dreaming throughout the whole film, now and then the film is rated 18+, and also she is playing with herself, it is a poor story and this film will not add any importance in the world of (maybe) cult.

This movie is rather dear to me mostly because of its atmosphere, I love how much of it is somewhat solitary nighttime at a fairly slow pace that isn't fashionable these days. The jazz music also adds to the mood, as well as her apartment which has that feeling of being part museum, part department store display (I mean that as a compliment). It's a plus that Ms. Nielsen did this while carrying a more matronly figure that did a nice job of smoothing out her curves, which I find infinitely more attractive than a slim figure with conspicuously fake bazongas. The style is fairly polarizing, some might think it too "arty" or even "pretentious", but to me almost every scene is beautiful, and you see a lot of sexuality from a woman's point of view. It gets overdone in places but overall I find it very enjoyable. It leaves a lot to the imagination plot-wise, in a way that few movies do. It's dream-like.

Unfortunately all I have is a US copy of the release on VHS - the DVD I have is the Italian release, which has fairly poor dubbing that kind of loses the mood (although it does contain a lot of extra footage). I wish this would get released on DVD!

I worked at a theater that showed this film back in 1989. At the beginning of the day, the film was in a 400 seating capacity theater. By the end of the day, it was moved to a 100 seater. One customer came out of the theater and I asked him how he liked the film. He said, "A sad excuse for a porno movie." Of course, it sparked my curiosity and went to see it 2 days later (The film stayed at our theater for only 2 weeks). To this day, I cannot figure out what the film was about! The acting was INCREDIBLY BAD!!! I came out of the theater more confused than when I went in. A total waste of time and not even worth watching if someone gave you a free copy of the video.

My review was written in August 1989 after watching the movie on IVE video cassette.

Though pretty to look at, "Domino" is a Brigitte Nielsen vehicle that's hopelessly pretentious. Falling between art film and sex pic, Italo import has had a modest theatrical release but is likely to bewilder curious video fans.

With a murky script by Nielsen and frequent Roman Polanski collaborator Gerard Brach, filmmaker Ivana Massetti tries in vain for avant-garde effects and an almost sci-fi atmosphere: all the action is shot on abstracted sets at Cinecitta with even car-driving scenes reverting to process photography. Though the pithy, pretentious English dialog is delivered well by an unidentified cast, none of it makes sense.

Nielsen is Domino, a platinum-blonde beauty (given to wearing numerous dark wigs) who's working on a video documentary about Billie Holiday. We're treated to "You Don't Know What Love Is" and other terrific recordings by Lady Day, plus vintage footage of her, but Massetti's endless homage has little to do with the plot.

There is little action, but a lot of languorous scenes of masturbation) (R-rated in terms of explicitness), Neilsen operating her own video camera and soul-searching talk about sex. Lest this sound like the Italian version of "Sex, Lies and Videotape", note that Massetti has little interest in character interaction -she prefers monologs directed to human sounding boards.

Nielsen sees a silhouetted couple making love in the apartment across the street and a voyeur with a telescope. And she's plagued by obscene phone calls. She wanders around, talks to several beautiful black women and consorts with a sexy sound man. Pic's silliest stretch for philosophical import is her monolog about the meaning of a growing spot on her skin (not shown), diagnosed as dermatitis.

The viewer does get to see plenty of Nielsen's unblemished skin, presumably the film's drawing card. However, unlike a previous Italian effort "Bye Bye Baby", in which her acting was fine, Nielsen's bored line readings here are embarrassing. Rest of the cast is functional, with British thesp David Warbeck popping up as a blind neighbor.

Massetti's visual expertise is evident, with fascinating lighting by Tonino Nardi and some amazing (if occasionally trashy) costumes for Nielsn by Silvana Fusacchia.