Michael Ledo
The film centers around Bernard (Jean-Louis Trintignant) an actor who gets involved with 17 year old Jane (Ewa Aulin). Jane's dad was recently killed in an auto accident. She thinks it was blackmail and murder. Prescott, the club owner shows up dead, Jane claims she didn't do it. She gets kidnapped by a "midget" and ransomed to her brother Jerome (Charles Kohler). The plot was a bit confusing and the actions taken by the characters stopped making any sense long ago.The film has English subtitles and comments by Tinto Brass options.Guide: No f-words. Brief nudity. Sex scenes were blurred with Vaseline on the lens, a popular effect that passes for art and overused by Penthouse Magazine.
Bezenby
Tinto Brass is one of the more critically applauded Italian directors, what with the films Salon Kitty and the one called Caligula that had Malcolm McDowell as Caligula bumming some unwilling guy. That's how I felt watching this uneasy mash-up of Giallo and sixties groovy crapfest. This was truly a struggle from start to finish.French Guy gets involved with Jane, a groovy chick whom he finds in a room with a dead nightclub owner. French Guy thinks she didn't do nothing, and the two embark on a journey to find out who really killed the nightclub owner. Sadly for them and us a relentless barrage of sixties references assault them and the viewer until you don't care what happens, as long as the film ends some time soon.Jane has a brother who has gone missing and there's a load of bad guys following the two around everywhere trying to kill French Guy and kidnap Jane, including a dwarf who gives French guy a kicking. Jane gets herself kidnapped and French Guy hooks up with her brother to rescue her. Other stuff happens but you'll have killed yourself long before then.The problem with this film is that it's crap. Brass has the bones of a giallo film but for some reason feels the need to constantly refer to the 'swinging' sixties, with constant references to pop art, the Beatles, freak-outs, all that stuff. It's like a film being made these days with constant references to fidget spinners, fake news, and people voluntarily micro-chipping themselves so that they can programme their heating from their hands (what's wrong with those morons?) A lot of the time I was suffering from a very large Jess Franco vibe from this film, and by that I mean there was a lot of messing around on nothing that seriously disrupted the flow of the film and making me not care at all about anything that happened at all.
nuclear_division
This film is very stylized, liked a lot of the editing effects, the split images in-particular, also how it cuts to war images of Vietnam and changes to black and white in parts. The sets, costumes/wardrobe are elaborate and detailed, the lighting is very good also. Interesting to see London in the 60's, notice how the trains are still powered by steam in the scene behind the graveyard. The casting is quite strong especially Jean-Louis Trintignant who plays the lead role, he is supported by the beautiful Ewa Aulin, the cast of nefarious mob type figures is also a standout. The storyline although a little weak leaves you guessing until the end. It is quite enjoyable overall, but seems a little experimental and doesn't really mesh, but I liked the fact it had a sad ending.
dianevallere
Just saw this tonight uncut on the big screen here in Hollywood. Visually very nice. But not really a giallo, I don't know why people keep calling it that. There is a murder which basically occurs off-screen and has almost nothing to do with the "story." Virtually no violence, some eyebrow-raising sex, obviously inspired by Antonioni, et al. Little story, lots of avant garde/graphic style, references to Pop-Art/Lichtenstein, comics, "Blow-Up" and other movies/the Viet Nam War/other issues of the day. Nice visuals/editing/soundtrack (which was remarkably clear in the print I just saw, supposedly soon to be out on DVD). At times notably innovative and fresh. A bit of a surprise ending. Wandering narrative, quick cuts, lots of color and gritty flair. Swinging London backdrop. In b/w and color.