The past few weeks have been extremely
exciting for fringe culture fans everywhere. For those in the know,
the uber-fantastique film festival, L'Etrange just wrapped up, with
one of its best line-ups ever. The festival included showings of Frank
Henenlotter's incredible looking documentary “That's Sexploitation,” John Waters “Desperate Living” (my personal
favorite of his), tributes to “Last Horror Film” star Caroline
Munro and even a showing of Erich
von Stroheim's “Foolish Wives.” Of course, the granddaddy move was the focus on the work of Stephen Sayadian, with each film
being presented by the man himself. Getting to see an artist I admire
greatly get this kind of recognition is a huge joy. For the curious,
there's also a good interview up on Twitch.
My only problem with a lot of the
press, which has honestly been wonderful, is that I think we can
officially kill the term “porn” when talking about an artist like
Sayadian. If you're gonna call films like “Cafe Flesh” porn, then
you better call “In the Realm of the Senses” and “Anatomy of
Hell” porn too. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with porn in
and of itself. Not at all, but there is an ocean of difference
between films like “Nightdreams” and say, “Anal Angels 9.”
If guys like Sayadian or say, Gerard Damiano, were European and had
bigger budgets, the porn term never would have been applied. It's a
classist move, after all no one calls Egon Schiele a
pornographer, even though he featured erotic themes in his artwork.
To me, nudity and sexuality do not make automatically make something
pornography.
Speaking of thrilling artists, the news
of Alejandro Jodorowsky's new film, “The Dance of Reality” has
emerged, along with a trailer that looks like it is going to be yet
another masterpiece from the man. The imagery already brings to mind
both “Santa Sangre” and “Viva la Muerte,” which was helmed by
Jodorowsky collaborator and fellow Panic movement founder Fernando
Arrabal.
Another new development, at least on my
end, was a highly rewarding trip to the local used bookstore. After
looking through the Art books for a minute, I immediately bee lined
it to the film section. For a minute, it appeared be the usual
one-two-three punch of dry academic journals on Truffaut and general
movie review guides, but then I saw it. A hardback copy of “Sex in
the Movies” by Jeremy Pascall and Clyde Jeavons, a book I have read
about for years. In fact, it was recommended to me by one of the most
brilliant film writers I have ever known, so I knew it was a must have. Now, if that felt like kismet,
then what I found almost right next to it was like running into a
dear old friend. Another hardbound book entitled “Cut! The Unseen
Cinema” by Baxter Phillips. This book is very special to me since
it was one that I studied from page to page as a young girl. Covertly,
of course, since it is brimming with nudity and violence, as well
as images of religious/political subversiveness. On one hand, I was probably
way the hell too young to be reading it but on the other hand, I am
grateful for the exposure. It was this book that planted some of the
key seeds for my development as a film writer. Titles that are huge
to me now are mentioned in that book, including Ken Russell's “The
Devils” and Walerian Borowcyzk's “La Bete.” I haven't looked at
“Cut!” since I was a kid, so finding it again feels like love.
As for the film writing, if you haven't
already, please check out some of the latest for Dangerous Minds. I
got to explore the rare landscape of kung fu prurience with “Vixens of Kung Fu: Tale of Yin Yang,” which features an all star cast and
some of the dodgiest martial arts this side of your Low Mein buffet.
On top of that, I also write about the Mondo occult relic,
“Witchcraft '70," which is goony in a swanky-devil-scare sort of
way.
Hope everyone reading this is having a
wonderful and safe weekend. Fall's almost here and what better way to
celebrate it than watching Iggy Pop on German TV lip syncing around a
bunch of confused looking models? Enjoy!
