Storie di ordinaria follia

Only very rarely are two artists as in sync as Charles Bukowski and Marco Ferreri. Both men devoted their careers to exploring the beauty and bleakness of society's underbelly and the disillusioned souls who call it home. It should come as no surprise then that Ferreri's adaptation of Bukowski's "Erections, Ejaculation, Exhibitions, and General Tales of Ordinary Madness" is every bit as unflinching and honest as its source material.

Tales Of Ordinary Madness begins with Charles (played by Ben Gazzara) reading a poem to a group of disinterested students. After stumbling off stage in a drunken stupor, Charles meets a 12 year old girl and promptly fondles her breasts. This is the first in a long line of disturbing sexual encounters that take place during the film. Other examples include Charles' brief obsession with Vera, a woman who asks to be beaten with a belt and claims to "love being raped". Charles also sleeps with Vera's obese next door neighbour and in one of the film's most confronting scenes, pushes his head between the woman's legs in a literal attempt to return to the womb. The film reaches a turning point when Charles meets Cass (Ornella Muti), a prostitute as self-destructive as she is beautiful, and slowly begins to fall in love with her.

Ferreri has crafted a beautifully poetic film about desperate and damaged people. Tales Of Ordinary Madness is never easy to watch but it is always enthralling. Much of the credit for this goes to the Bukowski's riveting source material and Ferreri's obvious affection for it. Marco Ferreri's distinctive use of unusual camera angles and surreal imagery are mostly missing from this film. In fact, Ferreri's direction is expertly restrained in an obvious attempt to recreate Bukowski's minimalist prose cinematically.

This sense of restraint is shared by Ferreri's impressive cast. Ben Gazzara is striking as Charles. His brave performance captures both the torment and underlying humanity that shapes Charles' journey. Ornella Muti had some of her most memorable roles in Ferreri films and she gives another impressive performance here as Cass. The scene where she puts a safety pin through her cheek is simply unforgettable. My only qualm with her casting is that she is perhaps too beautiful to be realistic as a low class prostitute. Susan Tyrrell also shines as trashy Vera. This was just one of a string of eccentric roles that made Susan a cult favourite in the early 80s.

Tales Of Ordinary Madness has been made with skill, care and deep empathy for its characters. This film does not quite match the brilliance of Ferreri's "La Derniere Femme" but it comes very close. This is highly recommended to both Bukowski and Ferreri fans.

If you are a conservative or weak of stomach, just forget this film. But if you are a true fan of Charles Bukowski, forget "Barfly" and attend this film. A deeply trip to human nature, you will find a Los Angeles that Hollywood does not show. Ugly, fat, drunks, dirty , insane people and other characters that only a European director as Marco Ferreri would have courage to bring.

Ben Gazzara does a very good drunk poet (he would be better if he had a bigger belly) and Ornella Muti is divine as usual. Forget all the idiots who felt bothered with the reality shown by the film and enjoy.

Neither Bukowski nor Marco Ferreri's film will shock the audience any more. This is a grim tale, but told in an exciting way with the enigmatic Gazarra and the superb Ornella Muti in front of the camera, backed by legendary Italians, like production designer Dante Ferretti (who worked, among others, with Fellini and Pasolini, and recently bedazzled movie-goers with 'Titus') and D.O.P. Tonino Delli Colli ('The Good, the Bad and The Ugly'; 'Histoires Extraordinaires') A great film, some years ahead of its time, so now truly not to be missed.

Marco Ferreri is a challenging film artist. His films are powered by an

insistent, intense focus on the passions of flesh - the human response

to, need for, and meditation on our bodily bounds and desires. In his

other films he's explored the excesses which bind our mortality from

hunger to sex to suicide. Here he zeroes in on the texts of the poet

Charles Bukowski, whose poetic life of booze and sexual conquest has him

teetering on the brink of annihilation but remaining firmly in the realm

of fierce, soulful expression. The main character in Tales of Ordinary

Madness is a poet whose relationships with women range from the

infantile to the sadomasochistic while he continues to binge on a diet

of alcohol. What he doesn't expect is to fall in love. Being a poetic

film (that is based around symbols and evocative imagery rather than

plot) this is a beautiful, estranged experience. Its a fascinating

glimpse of America from the outside. Vividly powered by Ben Gazzara's

performance as the outsider poet in the shadows of society, this is a

film to be explored with a roving eye. Its a film where the sex scenes

are not choreographed and sensual but brutal and unflinching in their

approach to the passions of flesh. Its a rough film but one which takes

us into the dark corners of love.

Charles Bukowski is one of the most important men to have ever lived. His work is of the ages and I would put thousands of his passages up against the work of all those writers generally considered great. What all that has to do with this movie is not very much. As a film it falls short of the mark as it wanders like a drunk through the streets trying to give us a snapshot of sorts, a month in the life of the great Charles Bukowski. As for reality, I am sure that the Buk was pretty much drunk all the time and wasted lots of time with dirty women but that was his business. I am just glad that he put in some heavy time at the typewriter. I am also grateful for this film as it provides another document, a bit of proof that Charles Bukowski was real. Ben Gazarra does a nice job painting this particular picture of Chuck but it is not a performance that would alone make this a rental for the upcoming acting students. For a more realistic approach check our Mickey Rourke in Barfly. There is a very beautiful Italian actress (Ornella Muti) in this picture who plays the main love interest. She is worth the price of rental or even a bloated DVD purchase. I doubt that Bukowski ever had a girl this beautiful but that's the movies for ya.