Baba Yaga

In Milan, the professional photographer Valentina Rosselli (Isabelle De Funès) takes a ride close to her home with two friends in a party and decides to walk alone in the middle of the night. She saves a dog from a fancy car driver by Baba Yaga (Carroll Baker), a mysterious older woman that insists to drive her home. From this moment on, the life of Valentina changes and she has nightmares and her camera seem to be cursed. She believes Baba Yaga is a witch and that she is under a spell to possess her but her skeptical friend and filmmaker Arno Treves (George Eastman) does not believe. Until the day Valentina visits Baba Yaga´s house.

"Baba Yaga" is a film with stylish cinematography, beautiful music score that becomes tiresome after many repetitions, and a storyline typical from the Italian films from the 70´s (especially from Jesse Franco) with eroticism and cult elements such as references to Goddard and "The Golem". The conclusion is a plus in this interesting witch movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Baba Yaga - A Bruxa Maldita" ("Baba Yaga - The Coursed Witch")

Until relatively recently comic books in the US were mostly aimed at kids (and thanks to a self-censorship body called the Comics Code Authority--which made sure little Johnny didn't get hold of a copy of "The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers" or "Cherry Poptart" and be scarred for life--adult comics were often unavailable even for adults). But things were different in Europe, especially in France and Italy in the 60's and 70's where "fumetti" were very popular with adults, exploring adult themes and experimenting with narrative structure in ways that the American "graphic novels" are only just getting around to today. Fumetti were also pretty hip in Europe at the time (again in contrast to America where the coolest guy who publicly admits to reading comics even today is "Clerks" director Kevin Smith).

There have been a handful of movies based on fumetti. The most famous is "Barbarella" because it featured Jane Fonda, but this has also made it an easy target for people like idiot critic/right-wing ben-wah ball Michael Medved. "Diabolik" has become highly respected today because of director Mario Bava and the two incredibly attractive leads, but it was reputedly not a well-regarded fumetti. I've heard "Satanik" is pretty bad period. Some years later there was also "Cemetery Man" based on a novel by the author of the famous fumetti "Dylan Dog". It was this movie though that has just confused the hell out of everybody since it's based on a comic strip "Valentina" few outside of Italy have read and few in Italy probably understood. Valentina is a photographer who through the agency of a magic camera falls under the spell of a strange lesbian witch, Baba Yaga. That's the basic plot, but it goes off on so many bizarre and surreal tangents that the movie itself is almost impossible to describe. At one point, for instance, Baba Yaga gives Valentina a doll which suddenly turns into a real-life dominatrix who strips her naked, ties her up, and whips her while the witch looks on approvingly. In another scene, Valentina's suddenly part of a firing squad shooting a naked woman on a Jean Rollinesque deserted beach.

Carol Baker is the witch and although she is woefully miscast (too young and voluptuous)she acquits herself well (and even did a full-frontal nude scene which was censored out). The actress that plays Valentina, Isabella de Funes couldn't act her way out of an 8mm porno loop with a German shepherd co-star, but she really doesn't have to in this very visual, non-linear movie. Ditto with Ely Galeani, who apparently auditioned for Valentina role but was (hard as it is too imagine) even worse than de Funes,so she took the living doll role. It's also interesting to see George "The Grim Reaper" Eastman in a romantic role as Valentina's lover (maybe they got him confused with George Hilton?) Rounding out the cast is Angela Covello ("So Sweet/So Dead", "Torso") one my favorite obscure Italian actresses. This movie definitely isn't for everybody, but if you're on this site reading this review (and you've heard of any of these people) I expect you'll probably like it.

'Baba Yaga' is a fascinating mess. Corrado Farina seems like an intelligent guy but even he admits that he failed in his attempt to adapt the erotic comics of Guido Crepax to the movie screen. Farina's initial choices for the lead roles of Valentina and Baba Yaga fell through and so he had to reluctantly make do with Isabelle De Funes and Carroll Baker. On top of that his movie was recut behind his back by a producer with second thoughts and he had to fight to salvage it. Despite all this behind the scenes drama it is a movie which will appeal to fans of arty Eurotrash like Franco's 'Vampyros Lesbos' and 'Eugenie De Sade' and Bava's 'Lisa And The Devil'. The plot of the film is minimal and frankly not its strong point. Valentina (De Funes) is a successful photographer who comes under the spell of a mysterious witch Baba Yaga (Carroll). That's about it folks. The movie attempts to create a dreamlike atmosphere, mixing up fantasy and reality. It isn't entirely successful but some sequences are quite impressive. In fact it's probably best enjoyed if you ignore the minimal story and just concentrate on the imagery and the music. Farina complained that Carroll Baker wasn't the right physical type to play Baba Yaga, who in the original comic strip was androgynous and not conventionally beautiful. That may be so but I certainly enjoy looking at Ms. Baker, an actress who made several left of center movie choices in the '60s and '70s including 'Orgasmo', 'The Sweet Body Of Deborah', 'Bad' and 'Bloodbath'. The DVD by the way includes a brief outtake of a full frontal scene from her for those that are interested. 'Baba Yaga' is one of those movies that you either love or hate. I'm in the former camp.

Apparently inspired by a comic book, "Baba Yaga" is an unusually compelling, surreal nightmare of movie that also is vibrant with the essence of the late 1960s. The story follows pretty young fashion photographer Valentina (Isabelle De Funes) who runs afoul of seductive sorceress Baba Yaga (Carroll Baker) who proceeds to meddle in her life via a tiny doll in an S&M getup. Baba is not one to take rejection lightly, and subjects Valentina to physical and psychological torments. Well-made, hard-to-pigeonhole film, director Corrado Farina succeeds in creating moody atmosphere and a warped logic in which anything can and will happen. Funes in particular does a superb job of convincing the audience of the vacuum that's engulfing her; a young George Eastman ("Anthropophagous") fares well in the role of her disbelieving commercial-director boyfriend. The direction, which intercuts comic-book imagery with hallucinogenic dream sequences (which all seem to possess a Nazi angle), is skillful and unpretentious.

Guido Crepax erotic comic 'Valentina' was the basis for this movie. The comics themselves were not very plot-driven so the screenplay here was more inspired by them rather than being a straight adaption. Perhaps because of this, plot is not a strong point in this one. A fashion photographer called Valentina encounters a mysterious witch called Baba Yaga. The latter puts a hex on Valentina's camera meaning that anyone she photographs experiences some trauma. It's a fairly basic narrative but it has been used as a framework here for all manner of stylish madness.

Isabelle De Funès plays Valentina and she looks suitably chic in the part, regular Italian genre actress Carroll Baker is the enigmatic Baba Yaga, while George Eastman gets to appear in a role that unusually does not call for him to be a psychopath but instead is a romantic lead of sorts who works as a director of commercials (his effort for a soap powder advert really has to be seen to be believed!). The director here is Corrado Farina who had previously helmed another strange art-horror film called They Have Changed Their Faces (1971). While both films are in the horror bracket, it would be fair to say that their arty leanings are at least as strong as any horror angle. Baba Yaga is very dreamlike in tone with a deliberate pace. It is highly stylish in its visual approach with its sensibilities being divided between pop art and surrealism. Of the latter there are several dream sequences involving Nazis. Odd moments happen in the dead of night such as Valentina discovering a puppy lying within a circle of candles. There are strange items such as an S&M doll which has the power to transform into a woman. So, there is a great deal of oddness to this one, resulting in a film with a strange tone. Farina executes this kind of stuff with a bold visual style which is the movie's main strength. Particularly nice were the sequences in which the action suddenly becomes visually formatted like one of the fumetti comics from which it was inspired. Piero Umiliani provides a pretty varied musical score which splits itself into three styles - upbeat easy-pop for the fashion shoot scenes, slower orchestral stuff for scenes involving Baba Yaga and jazzy compositions to accompany the more surreal episodes.

On the whole, this is quite a strange movie which will not have widespread appeal. It's quite restrained as a horror movie and is not visceral in any way. While it does have some erotic elements, they aren't very exploitative. This is very much an art-house/horror hybrid in a lot of ways. It's not necessarily entirely successful in execution but it definitely does a lot of things very well and has some admirable ambition. It's one that is mainly aimed at those who have an affinity with style-heavy early 70's Italian movies. A very intriguing oddity that's for sure.