Chain of Desire

A friend recently gave me a copy of this very beautiful, funny, moving and sophisticated movie. One of the most poignant and intelligent depictions of sexuality I've ever seen. Every single actor playing one of the 14 main characters in the interlinked stories makes an impression. As does the moody photography capturing "La Dolce Vita" of 1980's Manhattan. This is a very special cinematic experience. Not flawless in its overall ambition, but still fascinating as a thought-provoking and panoramic chronicle of urban life at the end of the millennium.

This wonderful, original and very sexy movie escaped me for six years -- finally, a real friend rented it for me to watch last week. This has to be one of the true sleepers of the 90's. It's fresh and frank approach to sex is truly refreshing, in this moralistic age. This film also features the BEST performance of Linda Fiorntino's career. I hope she realizes it. I want to see more of this director's (Temistocles Lopez) work. Fun, entertaining and the best damn date movie I've seen in a decade! And how can I get Dewey Weber's phone number--and does he still look like he does in this film?? Hot Movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We all know how important images are as tools of seduction. Or repulsion. With that in mind, as the writer-director of "Chain of Desire", I want to express my dismay at the vulgar ad campaign that was designed for the video release, which makes it look like a cheap soft-porn movie. When it was released theatrically by October Films, the ad was tasteful and enticing. For some reason the people who handled the video took it upon themselves to create a poster that has absolutely nothing to do with the movie, with "actors" that don't even appear in the film. You would never know from this image that the movie was in competition in several important festivals and got very reviews in the main papers. By doing this, the campaign scared away the sophisticated urban public to which the movie would naturally appeal and disappoint the people who rent it thinking they will get some cheap thrills. It must be difficult for the average viewer to imagine the feeling of impotence and frustration a director feels when faced with this kind of distortion. I hope that when the film comes out on DVD the campaign will use the original poster and the film will find its rightful audience.

Max Ophuls gave us one of the great films of all time, La Ronde. A stylish seduction about the art and enterprise of seduction with an extraordinary cast. Filmmaker Temistocles Lopez marvellously modernizes what was a cautionay tale about syflis, setting it in a sexually charged Manhattan at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Again the storytelling is that of the portmanteau or multi-plot, multi-character as one character from each sexual coupling, couples with another, hence the chain of the title or "round" as in the Ophuls film taking us back to the first character. Though low budget and less elegant than the original, Lopez's actors rise magnificently to the occassion. To list these names, hardly an "A" list in the conventional sense, but there is nothing conventional about this movie, is to provide us not with a roster of famous movie stars, but a lineup of highly accomplished and versatile actors from a diverse film background in several countries. Linda Fiorentino, Malcolm McDowell (UK), Assumpta Serna (Spain), Seymour Cassel (the Bronx), Grace Zabriskie (New Orleans), Patrick Bauchau (France), Elias Kotais (Canada), Tom Guinee, Dewey Weber, etc. provide a rich, sexy and fascinating work force to weave us irrevocably into this spellbinding tale of modern urban seductions. Not to be missed!

I was unable to find this film at any of my local video stores and had to order it offline. I was shocked and confused when I first saw it because it seemed like there was no tangible plot and was purely for the sake of eroticism. A few months later my friend saw it on my shelf and was intrigued by the title so I told her to pop it in. This time around I paid close attention to the details of the story and I finally understood the delicate web that director, Lopez was creating. I was amazed at how much of the story had been lost on me the first time around and I was even more amazed at the lack of public attention this movie received. It's languid, sultry, plot, weaves a candid, sly tale of adult life during the 90's, subtly juxtaposing sexual innocence and promiscuity into a wonderful masterpiece that serves as an excellent social commentary of the time. Artfully, shot and produced, this movie is not for light viewing. It's an intense film that requires thought and analyzation.