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ElCochran90's Rating |
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"We Fascists are the only true anarchists, naturally, once we're masters of the state. In fact, the one true anarchy is that of power."
SALÒ O LE 120 GIORNATE DI SODOMA (1975)
Director: Pier Paolo Pasolini
Country: Italy / France
Genre: Drama / Horror / War
Length: 116 minutes
In the process of finding the correct first sentence to begin with a proper review of Pier Paolo Pasolini's last film Salò o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma, I failed miserably. In fact, I have already written it... it's somewhat hilarious. Words cannot and will not suffice for properly describing the artful subjectivity and political power of this extraordinary piece of art. Open-minded masses, supporter of all artistic expressions and, specifically, Pasolini fans cannot avoid the great personal amazement, pride and joy towards a director that never hesitated to express his anarchic, totalitarian and Marxist ideas through his religious and political manifestos, his daring and controversial magnum opuses, his visionary and influential masterworks. Salò o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma is definitely one of the most audacious films ever conceived by the hands, the mind and the guts of an auteur. On a personal note, I have always classified and identified the decade of the 70's as the most influential era, cinematically speaking, for expressing ideas in expressionistic ways. Directors like Dusan Makavejev (W.R. - Misterije Organizma [1971], Sweet Movie [1974]) and Nagisa Ôshima (Ai no Corrida [1976], Ai no Borei [1978]) sought for the most shocking and graphically scandalous ways to depict socially accepted ideas that the totalitarian control and the limited liberty of expression did not allow to be portrayed nor propagated. Salò o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma is arguably Pasolini's best film, the brave motion picture that caused him to be persecuted and presumably assassinated under mysterious circumstances.
The film is set in the Fascist, Nazi-controlled northern part of Italy during the Second World War where four libertines round up sixteen perfect specimens of youth and take them to a palace near Marzabotto to subject them to 120 beautiful days of all forms of physical, mental and sexual torture. It is loosely based on the stories of Dante and Marquis De Sade. After the four months have passed, the brutal execution of the youths is organized so that the fascist libertines can witness the spectacle from a voyeuristic point of view. It is officially one of the most controversial films of all time.
Pasolini's approach to the Fascism in Italy results in a "nauseating, depraved, pornographic, disturbing, senseless and mentally sick" film. It actually has been catalogued and classified under those retarded, immature and narrow-minded adjectives. It is a very natural psychological consequence that an audience that was not still prepared for such a graphic testament, not to mention a film depicting the horrors of war in the most explicit way, reacted with those arguments as their strongest defense. Soul injuries had not healed yet, and people still belonged to a particular political party. Most of its controversy rose from the fact that it was mostly considered as a political act rather than an important filmmaking sample of historical accuracy and political correctness. Was that an intentional and, therefore, correct film characteristic thanks to the ideals of Pasolini? Yes and no. The same thing happens with the films of directors like Makavejev and Ôshima. It is set on historical times depicting real events. However, the melodrama resulting from the magic of cinema may sometimes result in the dramatization and sometimes intentional tergiversation of events that, although they may reflect a particular period of the history of humanity, do not have a complete accuracy. It is a commonly used technique to enlighten and strengthen the ideas that a film wants to transmit. Salò o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma is not meant to be taken seriously, historically speaking, especially when Pasolini declared himself as an artist. He did not name himself as an historian or a religious filmmaker. He was an atheist, yet the inspirational effect of Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo (1964) disseminated through the masses counted with a poignant success.
Salò o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma contains one of the most explicit portrayals of sex, violence, psychological torture, mercilessly insulting racism and a wide range of paraphilias that include sexual masochism, sexual sadism, transvestic fetishism, urophilia and cropophilia within mainstream films. These physical and sexual perversions will eventually cause several reactions from a varied audience, but as film elements they ultimately function as a motor for the film's political and anarchic audacity. The film is basically divided into three parts: the Circle of Manias, the Circle of Shit and the Circle of Blood. The Circle of Manias consists in the submission of the youths to several forms of psychological abuse. The film is meant to mirror democratic societies and totalitarian governments that mentally construct a narrow-minded concept regarding the nation's control they suppose they own. They disguise their mediocrity and dictatorship-like habits with a seemingly organized governmental system. Licentiousness predetermines the catastrophic behavior of organized Fascism in the film, disguising their lack of sanity with formally planned events, such as the portrayals of social events with occasional, forcedly applied gender dysphoria and with the massive dinners accompanied by piano with Signora Maggi and other two middle-aged demented women telling arousing stories of their past. The concept of discipline is distorted; comedy is a decaying word; humor is no longer a clear dictionary word. The Circle of Shit gathers the victims in a feast of excrement consumption and rape. Once more, the possible symbolic context implied is how governments and democracies literally try to cover up their lies and the corruption caused talking shit and raping the trust and the democratic process through their rules and principles. This may sound like an offensive statement, but its honest substance behind it does not deviate from an utter truth. Finally, the Circle of Blood consists in the physical torture and execution of the already degraded souls, in case any consciousness and self-esteem remain. This is shown from a voyeuristic perspective, strengthening a horrifying and claustrophobic feeling to it, like if we were not capable of understanding the unbearable pain the victims are going through, consequently becoming a more disturbing and haunting sequence.
As any masterpiece clearly states, enjoyment, beauty and art are the most humanly subjective terms one should encounter throughout the process of deep analysis. This is one of the most beautiful films ever made. It is brilliantly filmed and visually beautiful, overshadowing with its grandiose cinematic gorgeousness the perverted brutality shown from the beginning of the film to its comical ending. The cinematography scratches the visual realm of perfection, like a mutant philosophy. The editing has a mysterious tone to it. You never know what will the next take will look like, yet it has no mercy at fading away with each shot; it immediately shows it, letting our eyes and mind (perhaps even the stomach) to react however it is supposed to react. The music has a mystical brilliance. It has the capacity of hypnotizing the viewer to an extent of confusing the emotions and distorting them. The images talk by themselves, and the beauty of the human body is so glorified that one feels in Paradise with Satan raping angels.
Salò o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma is one of the best films ever made. The original ambition it achieved to obtain has established a landmark, a landmark that has lasted for generations. Glorifying human dignity and letting it be raped, sexually abused, raped and depraved to an unbelievably glorious extent because of totalitarian governments that still form part of the actuality culture, the main purpose(s) of the film are immediately justified and even strengthened because of the persecution and assassination of Pasolini and because of the censorship the film inevitably has been subject to. More than a political act, it is a marvelous magnum opus way ahead of its time that even modern cinemas would surely refuse to release. A criticism very few authoritative and democratic countries will fully accept, Salò o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma belongs to arguably the most daring category of cinema ever created.
100/100
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Worst movie I've seen until this day. This a completely unecessary and perverted "film", an insult to my religion and moral values and the film that has hurted my soul and heart and affected my life the most, and I didn't deserve that. REALLY.
20/100
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| 3 |
Review coming someday...
98/100
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| 4 |
Review coming someday...
98/100
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| 5 |
Guinea Pig---- yeah... Guinea Pig.
- Acting? No acting. Just screaming and laughing. No dialogue whatsoever.
- Plot? Oh, that's the good part. Some guys capture an innocent girl and torture her in several ways as a test for the maximum pain endurance in a human. Wow! Really good, huh?
- Direction? Writing? Cinematography? Are you serious?
- Message? What the hell are you talking about?!
This film is just for sick minds and hardcore horror fans (like me). I have decided to begin checking put this type of films (mainly released by Unearthed Films) and this is the WORST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN. I never thought something could top The Passion of the Christ, but it did!
It really tries to be shocking, and it is. It seems like a real snuff film, and that was the intention. It is also one of the most violent films (shorts) out there, and the ending (eye-needle) scene takes the cake! Looked so cool, gruesome and realistic. Even so, there's no point in creating this little piece of sick crap but to satisfy sick minds (like mine :P).
If you have a weak stomach, avoid this like an Egyptian plague. If you're really into hardcore horror, this is a must-see.
5/100
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| 6 |
This film may not be as disturbing as the first part, but it definitely is the fuc#!ng goriest! A guy kidnaps a young girl and dismembers her piece by piece in deliciously explicit and bloody detail, each part been preceded by an artistic introductive speech. Violence tries to be artistic here somehow, highlighting the beauty of the human body. Even so, it is so twisted!
That's why I give this film a much higher score than the first film. It tries to please hardcore horror fans also, but I liked some aspects of it as well, considering that the entire Guinea Pig series have a very low budget. Only for hard stomachs and an opened mind.
35/100
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| 7 |
On a personal note, it's interesting how many 4 1/2-star and 5-star ratings this gorefest has received. It doesn't differ much from the Hollywood formula, but the effective tension it builds and the respectable, classic references to Italian giallos are worth noticing. As shocking and mentally disturbing as it was originally intended, the unrated version will make your guts bleed. A modern, decent French horror and the second best out of the whole bunch that has come out this decade.
61/100
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Hideshi Hino strikes back with a gruesome, twisted and NASTY Guinea Pig sequel, featuring a painter that finds a mermaid in a sewer and takes her to his home for making a painting (what the F#CK is a mermaid doing in a sewer!).
Anyway, the mermaid starts to rot in the most gory and disturbing way possible...
BEGINNING OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS
...from cutting herself spilling blood of seven different colors, to expelling worms from body and throwing them up, just to be sadistically dismembered by the painter once the painting is finished.
ENDING OF POSSIBLE SPOILERS
Recommended only to hardcore horror fans.
29/100
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The scariest film ever made, and one of the goriest. Raimi is able to show through his best film that someone has talent when he's able to prove it, even with a low budget. One of the best horror flicks ever made as well.
87/100
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Review coming someday...
98/100
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- Hitler! DirtyJew!
- They call me... Neanderthal."
SWEET MOVIE (1974)
Director: Dusan Makavejev
Country: Canada / France / West Germany
Genre: Comedy / Drama
Length: 98 minutes
Delicious, scandalous, expressionistic and controversial Yugoslav provocateur Dusan Makavejev is clearly one of the most misunderstood poets of complete self-destruction. Sweet Movie is a film with such audacity, such gorgeous poetry, such supposedly "disturbing" and "nauseating" sequences, that any lover and supporter of all artistic expressions and the instantly implied subjectivity of both of the terms "art" and "beauty" willl find ultimately impossible not to fall in love with. This complete cult masterpiece is arguably the sexiest and most gorgeous and orgasmic attack towards capitalist authoritarianism and Communism, not to mention the most daring magnum opus ever thought by a brilliant human brain.
Sweet Movie alternatively tells two stories. On one hand, we have the shocking story of a beauty queen, Miss Canada, who slowly descends into a catastrophic life of existentialist madness and depravity after winning a virginity contest (that's right) denominated Miss Monde 1984, denying to have sex with a golden penis (that's right), having sexual intercourse with a possibly Mexican singer named El Macho and getting stuck with her vagina (that's right) and moving to a bizarre anarchich community who celebrate food feasts with orgies of vomit (that's right) and excrement. On the other hand, we have the story of Anna Planeta, possibly the sexiest, non-porn character name in existence, brilliantly interpreted by Anna Prucnal, a beautiful actress who was exiled from her native Poland for seven years after her role in the film and was denied a Visa so she could see her dying mother. She plays the role of a philosophical and pedophile, demented killer who is constantly travelling through the canals of Amsterdam in search of lovers who want to have sex with her and subsequently killing them in a pool of sugar. Her boat is named "Survival" and it has a giant face of Marx with a tear on his eye, and it is in that boat where she makes candy. If this wasn't enough, real documentary footage is shown, portraying the camps that were near the city of Smolensk, where the Soviet Army held more than 14,000 Polish prisoners of war under inhuman conditions. In 1943, after Germany had seized the region, rumors of a mass grave containing the Polish corpses were investigated by an international medical team, revealing that actually more than 14,000 Polish prisoners were killed. Moreover, it was not until 1992 when it was confessed that Joseph Stalin was the one who had authorized the killings.
Sweet Movie is the result of the work of a visionary auteur that actually dared to establish his filmmaking style through a groundbreaking and controversial perspective, slapping the face of totalitarian anarchy. Symbolism may be a very adequate interpretation of the sickening events that take place through a relativelty short running time that, consequently, is felt like an eternity. It is one of the most representative samples of scandalous filmmaking that fully represent the nature of cult and envelope-pushing cinema of the 70s. Most of its political influence comes from the fact that Yugoslavia was a Communist country at the time, an event that may justify the complete explicitness and demented nature of Sweet Movie. The importance of the screenplay and the performances are lost, although not completely, since they are still complementing elements. The true anathematical brilliance of Sweet Movie can be found in its complex symbolism, in its shriek-type-of direction and in its underlying layers of absurdity, constantly suffering a transformation from complete shock value with substance behind to a state of pure absurdity and, yes, hilarious comedy... a comedy that is originated from the criticism that is made towards how degraded the human condition has turned out to be.
Of course, degrading and repulsive acts was the most logical and adequate measure for faithfully representing the negative influence that degrading and repulsive authoritarian Communism and Fascism has imposed over the weak will of a highly dependent society. The destruction of Marx's ideals is emminent, thus the tear on his face is justified, sailing aimlessly in search of grotesque feverishness and sexual perversion. Sexual liberation is not precisely the topic here, and that is hilariously explained through the happenning of an unsuccessful sexual intercourse with a random, supposedly handsome singer in the Eiffel Tower. Elegance and class collide with external degradation. If such cinematic project is released, any financial ambition will meet its doom, so it is obvious at some extent that such hypocritical ambition was not in Makavejev's mind. He wanted to shout and be heard. It is a political and liberalist shout, a shout that was obviously destined to be rejected and catalogued as "depraved". Directors like Nagisa Ôshima, Pier Paolo Pasolini, John Waters, Norifumi Suzuki and Peter Greenaway had to go through the same injustice.
Perhaps it should not be seen as an artistically political act. Perhaps it should be perceived as a merely funny spoof towards the process of political overpowerment, or perhaps it should be seen as a kick in the balls to an audience that relies and trusts in its particular government... not to call it "anarchy" or "dictatorship". Films of this calibre have the power to trascend. People are still talking about Sweet Movie. People still talk about Salò o le 120 Giornate di Sodoma (1975). However, coward (not the sensitive and weak of stomach, since they are excused, but coward) audiences keep avoiding them, but if a film is surrealistic, then it is pretentious nonsense. If a film is slow-paced, it is dull. Moving from a shrewd depiction of the "mysteries of the organism" to a "sweet movie", these are the films that clearly strengthen the statement that implies that modern censorship is preposterous. A woman having sexual relationships with children and an orgy of food and vomit is immediately rejected, but nauseating measures such as organizing and authorizing(!) events such as Katyn Forest massacre... F#ck, people! Open your eyes! Choose a side and promote this type of art. This is not a pretentious and fun piece of crap like Pink Flamingos (1972). This has substance and an inevitable, unique brilliance.
99/100
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| 12 |
Faces of death is lame and nasty, real and fake, controversial and dated, deep and shallow. Faces of Death is a mixed bag of qualities and defects, and ends up being a tremendoulsy bad and varied documentary that treats death in several ways.
50% of the footage is real, whereas the other 50% has been proven staged and fake. This film goes from Mexico (Las Momias de Guanajuato) to Africa, from the Amazon to Southeast Asia, from hospitals, prisons and morgues to slaughterhouses.
John Alan Schwartz (aka Conan Le Cilaire as a director, aka Alan Black as a writer [WTF?!]) directs a half fake, controversial and undeniably graphic and disturbing shockumentary that easily enters into the mondo genre.
Honestly, this documentary isn't worth your time unless you think that this documentary has a deeper meaning that it seems or if you only want something shocking or different. This is not among the worst films/documentaries I've ever seen, but it certainly is not good.
44/100
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Cannibal Holocaust, although it is bad in certain aspects, such as acting and writing, is better than I thought it would be. It really treats a very delicate topic, which would be the darkest side of humans in all aspects, from morality to perversion.
The film is undeniably shocking, counts with real human and animal executions (The "Last Road to Hell" sequence is totally shocking if you get to see it totally uncut), and few extreme sequences of violence and torture (some of them unusual).
I didn't like it for that, but for its technical achievement concerning its shock value mixed masterfully with a strong social commentary. Worth watching horror experience, and a must-see for fans.
60/100
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Following the lack of sanity French films have had during this decade, Laugier finally realizes the huge mistakes he did with Saint Ange and perfects his style with this psychologically brutal flick. Its premise is basically divided into two chapters, the second one having an oddly applied ambition... that worked! Martyrs is an interesting experiment and ultimately a challenging experience for cinematic masses.
75/100
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| 15 |
"Welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, welly, well. To what do I owe the extreme pleasure of this surprising visit?"
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Country: United Kingom / United States of America
Genre: Crime / Thriller / Sci-Fi
Length: 136 minutes
Stanley Kubrick is one of my giant cinema directors and A Clockwork Orange is, without a doubt, one of his most disturbing, scandalous, brilliant and controversial masterworks that he ever created. Thanks to this work of art, Stanley Kubrick finally consolidated himself as an inventive, original, creative and visionary director. Whereas 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) permitted him to expand his artistic vision to extremes lightly limited by the cinematography, creating one of the best and most profound and complex cinema stories, A Clockwork Orange focused more in both the filmmaking and direction styles that had already been born in him some years before. The magic of this film originated from the fact that the director achieved the impossible in order to create one of the most beautiful and profound movies known by mankind despite that the main thematic elements are based on crime, sex, violence and Beethoven, being successful at it.
The movie takes place in a Britain set in a not-so-distant future in which a group of young and mentally disturbed savages leaded by Alex goes out to the streets every night for beating and raping all types of innocent victims. One night, the group of criminals gets tired of the authority that Alex was constantly imposing over them and ends up betraying him, causing the police to arrest him and put him in jail. In order to shorten his sentence, Alex decides to voluntarily participate in a rehabilitation and conduct modification program organized by the government that is supposed to change the horrible behavioral tendencies of Alex. However, once that Alex completes the program, a new world and a new life, which he had left behind not to long ago, will come back and haunt him, causing catastrophic results. A Clockwork Orange had the bad luck of being released the same year as the inferior Hollywood film The French Connection (1971) directed by William Friedkin. The movie received four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. Stupidly enough, he lost all of the aforementioned Oscars precisely against The French Connection (1971), a film in which Gene Hackman won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role because of a performance that, in my opinion, was considerably inferior to the one by Malcolm Mc Dowell, who didn't even receive a nomination. However, we must take into consideration the controversy this film caused due to two principal factors: the early decade in which it was released, becoming a film considerably ahead of its time, and the chillingly accurate prediction of the violent behavior of modern society based in its most primitive instincts.
We will start with the direction. Trying to avoid repeating most of the aspects about Kubrick that have already been mentioned in the first paragraph, he established a new vision for creating suspense cinema. If we closely analyze the plot and the atmosphere, the movie does not belong to a clearly defined genre. The subject matter possesses a heavy influence of sex and violence, elements that are depicted in the most beautiful and provocative form, something that almost no director can achieve nowadays. It is impressive how the acts of man most rejected and repulsed by common society are transformed in poetry found within a film directed almost 40 years ago. That is why we could associate this film with the crime genre, but it actually goes beyond the genre of crime in a similar way that 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) surpassed the sci-fi genre, finding innovative expression forms. Since the story is developed in future Britain, we could relate it with the sci-fi genre as well. However, despite the great amount of style added to the film by the fact that it takes place in the future, specially considering the set decoration and the creative interior design of some houses, the story could have been told in a present-day atmosphere (this is, 1971). Even so, the genius of the narrative structure and the predominant perturbing elements of this violent story predicted, in a considerably correct form, the increasing of the different types of violence in present society. This is the definition of vision, and Kubrick had it since he grabbed a camera for the first time in his life. He simply just kept improving it, cinematographically and artistically speaking.
This particular screenplay is one of my personal favorites in cinema history. The creation of new terms in the language of the protagonists is a highly creative, poetic and stylized concept, and the most surprising aspect is that it is not totally incomprehensible. Kubrick's adaptation of the famous novel written by the author Anthony Burgess is extraordinary. I comprehend the vast difference between the novel and the film, especially considering the contrasted endings they both have, which suggests that the film had a completely different approach. I dare to say that this is one of the cases where cinema surpasses literature, just like in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), The Exorcist (1973) and the trilogy of The Lord of the Rings (2001-2003), for mentioning few famous examples. The pace of the movie is exceedingly accelerated, but pays attention to all of the details shown in every shot. The camera work is incomparable, probably the best I have ever seen since the decade of the 70's. The angles are perfectly balanced without any single touch of uncomfortable inclination and the camera has perfect filming locations for capturing the world that A Clockwork Orange attempts to portray. The editing is equally majestic, being, probably, the best editing I have ever witnessed in a film. I think my favorite scene talking about editing would be Alex being locked up in his room and listening to Beethoven; pay attention to the editing in that particular sequence. Every single technical aspect of the film will never be equaled, especially when the direction was in charge of a master of cinema. Words can't describe the superiority of the cinematography of this feature-film.
The performances are very peculiar, creating differentiated characters between each other. Alex is one of the most awesomely horrific and terrifying villains I have ever seen on screen. Malcolm McDowell gives away one of the best samples in the history of cinema about what "acting" is supposed to mean. Acting is neither about exaggerated dramas nor senseless screaming, but about becoming the character. McDowell doesn't play Alex; he is Alex. I even thought that the real personality of the actor was being portrayed in the film for a second, which is a terrific achievement. McDowell occupies a spot among the best performances I have ever seen. The supporting cast did a remarkable job as well, from the former partners of Alex (Pete, Georgie and Dim) to his parents, who had undeniably comical behaviors and, to some extent, unrealistic and impossible as well. The overall atmosphere of the film possesses surrealist elements, which adds a considerable quantity of gloominess and fantasy to the plot. The mood that was created in A Clockwork Orange is certainly impressive, never staying away from the fact that the film takes place in England, something that the audience must believe while watching it.
A fascinating and memorable aspect is the music employed. From the exquisite and majestic melodies of one of my favorite music composers, Ludwig Van Beethoven, to the original musical score, a wonderfully orchestrated and dazzling experience is provided. One thing that Kubrick always knew how to do is to correctly choose and add incredible music, adding a very identifiable style, just like Woody Allen did. The music that introduces the opening sequence and that later is constantly repeated throughout is as marvelous just as it is dismal. It could be said that the spectator goes through the same nostalgic feeling when hearing the music of the opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), or even the classic macabre tune of The Exorcist (1973). Overall, it is a wonderful musical score, perhaps one of the bests of all time.
A Clockwork Orange generates various polemic ideas and questionings. To what extent one as a person requires causing (and even receiving) physical, sexual and psychological violence? How much dependence does modern society possesses towards its controlling government? Is violence a naturally imposed balance among humanity? How serious can the lack of self-control over our impulses get? How much can a superior power brainwash us and literally take control over our minds? More than a brilliant psychological analysis, A Clockwork Orange is also a social criticism towards governmental authorities. That is why it is considered a film ahead of its time, not comprehended by then. It is also the most disturbing and beautiful piece of cinematic art I have ever laid my eyes on, having both contrasting qualities at the same time. Some scenes are so perturbing that I was fascinated by them. Was it guilty pleasure, or the primitive, dark side we all have sleeping within us most of the time? Perhaps it was a peculiar mix of both. It is a natural thought to reconsider the movie as "entertaining" due to the polemic elements treated throughout. A beautiful essay about the most brutal sickness of man who doesn't seem to be capable of finding an exit to his eternal psychological abysm, A Clockwork Orange is a true masterwork that shall be remembered for its great influence in cinema and for the controversy it inevitably caused in worldwide audiences from different generations, without having mercy on the age you may have.
100/100
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drunkenpixie22 posted 630 days ago
good list. eraserhead(1977) deserves a place for it's sheer strangeness. gummo(1998) is disturbing and beautiful at the same time. august underground's mordum(2002) is pretty demented and pink flamingos(1972) is as bad as salo in my opinion.