 |
| Images courtesy of Cult Epics |
Boutique label Cult Epics have displayed in recent months
the same level of dedication to Italian erotic filmmaker Tinto Brass’ oeuvre as
Arrow Video have continued to labor upon the work of Greek exploitation
director Nico Mastorakis. Love him or
hate him, they’re devoted to publishing each and every release under the
director’s belt (no pun intended) for better or worse in lavish new 4K restored
UHD and blu-ray disc editions replete with lobby card reprintings, reversible
sleeve art and a collectible slipcover.
Their first release in what appears to be an effort to publish Tinto Brass’
still divisive soft/hardcore artistic pornography started with All Ladies Do
It from 1992 followed by the much more well received Frivolous Lola in
1998.
Two years later, Brass now has landed on Tra(sgre)dire or
Transgress, otherwise known as Cheeky starring Ukrainian actress
Yuliya Mayarchuk in the latest excuse for the oversized cigar-smoking grab-ass to
point his camera at as many bare female backsides as humanly possible. It’s a carefree sex comedy but you wouldn’t
be wrong to accuse the now 91-year-old auteur of making the same movie again
and again. Set in London, Venetian woman
Carlia Burin (Yuliya Mayarchuk) works as an intern at the front desk of a hotel
seeking an apartment so her boyfriend Matteo (Jarno Berardi) can room with
her. However, their real estate agent
Moira (Francesca Nunzi) is a horny lesbian who offers Carla the loft with view
of the Thames on special conditions involving sex games and favors. Soon her jealous boyfriend Matteo catches on,
including discovery of old letters from her French ex-lover Bernard (Mauro
Lorenz) which threatens to shake up their love lives.
By now, if you’ve seen one Tinto Brass film, you’ve seen
them all replete with the not-safe-for-work lobby cards, cover art printed on
the slipcover and uncensored Italian poster art. At one point or another in the film, Tinto
Brass shows up to grope and fondle the lead actress before the camera, cigar in
mouth. Later scenes including an orgy
give the director reason to dolly his camera across a parade of bare-naked
butts and pubic hair in between all manner of sexual situations. In fairness to Brass, however, his stuff
however perverse is bawdy joyful life affirming stuff involving strong female
characters with sexual agency when compared to other more abrasive and misogynistic
pornographers that have come and gone. And
as always the quality of the filmmaking is generally good with slick 35mm
photography by Massimo Di Venanzo and the completely overqualified original
score by Brian De Palma collaborative legend Pino Donaggio.
Of the three Tinto Brass films I’ve had the, ahem, “pleasure”
of seeing Frivolous Lola was the most fun and celebratory of the human
form a kinky tawdry sex comedy has possibly come. They’re not necessarily for me but longstanding
fans of the Italian bawdy provocateur will be delighted with this restoration
which looks crisp and pristine. The
sound mixes come with English and original Italian audio in both 2.0 stereo and
5.1 surround though purists are inclined to go with the 2.0 mix. Among fans Cheeky is considered the
sexiest of his films though plot wise these comic nude romps tend to blur
together. In any case, like it or not
the Cult Epics disc release is splendid and comes with plentiful extras
including an interview with Tinto Brass, a new 2024 interview with
cinematographer Massimo Di Venanzo and an isolated Pino Donaggio score.
--Andrew Kotwicki
