vyto34

I simply don't know of any better modern musical. Stunningly creative and an absolute starburst of colors and sounds. Amazing sets that are both "real" and fantastical at the same time. Plus, there's a huge number of them, so it must have cost a fortune. Ray Davies' singing in a house built like a dollhouse is a knockout scene--totally creative and unusual and is often the scene which is considered the high point of the film. David Bowie is fabulous, as is Anita Morris, although her role is way too brief. The movie is from 1986 but it seems absolutely fresh today. A totally wonderful romp and a positive message, in addition. Highest recommendation! Please let's have more winners like this one.

This film has been described as a "punk-music documentary," which is most certainly is not, as clearly explained in the "Making of" featurette contained on the DVD. It is an art house film written by Jarman to take the p*** out of the Queen, who was then very pompously celebrating her 25th jubilee. Since the punks were of the same inclination, he used a punk-scene setting as his way of making his point. There is actually not much live-music performance in the film at all. Toyah Willcox gets to play the lead, but she does not sing. She acts very well, but even though her character is odious. Jenny Runacre, in my mind, makes the best contribution to the film, because she is elegant, beautiful, and shows off her naked form attractively. Apart from Adam Ant, no major punk-music acts have any significant role in the film.

As usual with Brass, this is a very classy sex film, with Hollywood-class production values. (This, I might add, is a rare exception, not the rule, among other sex-film makers. Radley Metzger is the only other director I can think of offhand whose sex films invariably have great production values.). Stefania Sandrelli is an absolutely stunning woman, with a gorgeously filled-out body, unlike the skinny-jinnies that many other directors are fond of. The film is set in Venice in 1940 and the locales are beautiful, while at the same time focusing on a "native's Venice," rather than the few over-photographed canals and churches one generally sees.

But the people who did the U.S. version DVD are incompetents, unfortunately. This is only the second DVD that I have watched where the brightness/contrast were so badly mangled in making the transfer that the film is unwatchable until one moves his controls way off their ISF-calibrated positions. To be precise, it is the second-worst. The worst has been the total butchering of Antonioni's "La Notte", where even moving the controls to their limit cannot produce a decent picture.