Viva

I caught this film at it's Pre - World Premiere at a press screening at the Rotterdam Film Festival back in January of this year and I really enjoyed it, mainly because I have never seen anything quite like it before and don't expect that I will likely ever see anything like it again.

The first thing that swept me away was the set design / art direction: right from the get go I had the feeling I was back in the 70's except it wasn't through the usual played out typical Hollywood re-interpretation of what the seventies were supposed to have looked like, this film elicits a "Holy S*** the filmmakers must have gotten their hands on a warehouse full of actual items from the 70's" sensation (and apparently they did collect props for years). The films colors are absolutely dazzling, the look achieved in the film is almost as if the director was aiming to visually reproduce the feel of a Technicolor film as filtered through copious amounts of LSD.

The characters the actors were portraying often came off as mindless automatons, sort of stereotypical parodies of American archetypes if you will, the performances were often wooden to the point of disbelief – almost as if they were trying to overact in a very detached manner, it worked quite well and added to the overall sense of "disbelief" I had while watching this film. Some of the lines the actors deliver were so incredibly vapid yet delivered so deadpan that I could not control my laughter, sometimes the sets alone were enough to make me giggle.

While the film certainly parodies B flicks on one level, on another it truly works as a piece of calculated and subversive art by reversing the usual misogynistic dynamics of the typical exploitation film: we see the repressed lead character Barbi transform into "Viva" who becomes self aware and empowered by discovering and reveling in her sexuality ( the animated orgasm scene is pretty awesome, apparently Anna Biller also animated this sequence! ) thus I venture to guess that Anna Biller may have very well created the first "post-feminist 70's era B flick exploitation homage film" - anyone know of anything else out there like this? I would definitely recommend this film to fans of John Waters work as well as anyone interested in feminist or subversive art, hell, Anna Biller's art direction alone warrants at least two viewings. All in all I really enjoyed the film, I do wish I had been just a little bit fresher for the screening as per film festival requirements I had slept about four hours the previous evening and was still a bit hungover. I hope I get the chance to see this film again because I would not hesitate to make some phone calls and round up a posse, Viva is definitely a film experience that would make for some excellent post film discussion over drinks.

If I were to make a criticism about Viva It would be that I think the film could use a little more time in the cutting room to trim it up perhaps just a wee bit, given that I was watching a world premiere I will assume that what I saw was perhaps the "directors cut". Regardless, Viva really is an achievement on several levels and it should certainly solidify Anna Biller as one of the freshest new multi-talented directorial voices of today.

Anna Biller's 'Viva' is two silly hours of campy,good fun. It attempts to satire late 1960's,early 1970's soft core pre-porn films (when they had wall to wall female nudity,but no actual graphic/explicit sexual intercourse depicted on screen). The acting seems to be lifted from early John Waters' films (Pink Flamingo's & even before). The set design,with it's use of pastel colours (as well as primary colours,as well)are a treat for the eye, as they seem to be lifted from period photo shoots of classic late 60's Playboy,as well as record sleeve covers from the late 1950's (especially the Martin Denny covers,with it's beautiful women & it's over saturated use of colour). Anna Biller,in addition to acting as the film's central female lead,Barbi,also wore several hats in the production of this campy period piece (she wrote,directed & edited the film,in addition to set design & even supervising a brief animation sequence,where Barbi is experiencing her first real orgasm, while on some kind of psychedelic drug).The plot concerns a young,suburban housewife who's loutish husband ignores,and eventually abandons her,only to leave her to experimenting with her new found sexual self,including swingers,hippies,etc. I guess if I have any real beef with this film, is the fact that it has several song & dance numbers that do little more than pad the film out to it's two hour (somewhat over long) running time. The song & dance numbers for me,could have been left on the cutting room floor which would have not hurt the film's integrity,one bit). Aside from that,don't go to this film expecting a dead serious Dogme like existential rant on how empty & shallow the human existence is. Just go & have some good clean (dirty)fun. No MPAA rating here,but has scads of both female & male full frontal nudity,sexual situations (both hetrosexual,as well as gay),and other adult material that would have landed this film it's dreaded 'X' rating back in the day,but would pull down little more than a R, these days.

I saw this movie this morning and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all day. It was like watching a film made by Radley Metzger, Russ Meyer, and George Kuchar all rolled into one. It's a hilarious homage to the sixties/early seventies sexploitation pictures and Playboy philosophy, and despite the copious nudity and many references to sex, it's strangely one of the most innocent films I've seen in a long time. The performances, costumes and script as well as Ms. Biller's use of sets and color are mind-boggling and transform the movie into a camp masterpiece. Why did this go direct to video and not play the theater circuit? It would be perfect for midnight movie showings. I'm curious how she found funding for this film in this day and age and am eagerly looking forward to her next one. This movie is amazing!

I don't remember the 1970s being this bad. As I began to watch this, I thought "why?" Wooden or ham acting, twee soundtrack, garish clothing... and then, realising it's a parody, I began to embrace it. Leaving her mundane life of cooking and making cocktails for her husband, Barbi becomes Viva. In the style of Russ Meyer, her adventures include bad sex, nudism, drugs and a lesbian dalliance but always men are pursuing her. It's not a serious work and I admire Anna Biller's dedication to her art, having written, directed and starred in her oeuvre, plus baring all her charms for the camera, quite nicely too. I particularly liked the line of wigs worn by all and sundry, most looking as of made from polyester and looking through the credits I spotted "extra hair" which might explain how some of the cast were sporting what might have been merkins as these days everyone seems to want to look prepubescent and shaves their genital areas. If you like 70s style racy films, it's for you.

Never before has a modern film so perfectly succeeded in capturing the look, style and feel of the 70's Sexploitation classics. Anna Biller's "Viva" is an explosion of color, humor and schlock done to the nines, besting attempts made by far bigger-budgeted flicks like "Austin Powers" and "Grindhouse" in truly recreating a bygone era. It's a true skin-comedy epic that delivers everything the gorgeous promotional art promises, and will no doubt become a cult classic among those with a true affinity for well-done homage. I watched this with some friends and there were times when we had to actually stop the DVD because we were laughing so hard! The prostitution and nudist camp scenes are simply unbelievable. Highly recommended.