FILM / Captain Canada's Movie Rodeo / July 2022 / Gabriel Ricard
Image © Penthouse Films
Which country for your money produces the most memorable examples of eroticism on the screen?
I’ve been thinking about this while watching horny nun classics and Japanese Pink film examples. Growing up on good ol’ fashioned North American sex and nudity, which I mostly saw in horror movies, you’re definitely exposed to a very specific set of criteria. The female form is emphasized. There’s a lot of panting, over-dramatic gyrating, and rarely anything that looked like what I thought sex might involve. As I got older, I was able to expand on the kind of sex and eroticism I saw in movies, including movies that at least touched on different types of intimacy, but I was still limiting myself.
One component to movies that I’ve tried to give more attention to as I’ve gotten older is how other countries use nudity, sex, or even stuff like kinks or the darker parts of sexuality. This is another diversity exercise I’ve been going through in my personal time. There’s a whole deal going on right now with sex becoming less and less prevalent in the movies. That seems like a fair concern these days, and I’ve been trying to go beyond exploitation films to better appreciate the versatility of sex and film as a concept.
Not that exploitation films don’t have a lot to offer on eroticism and cinema. It just gets weirder and sometimes a bit morally questionable in this arena, and I’ve been trying to reach a vague level of emotional maturity by in turn trying to better appreciate how sex and intimacy can be expressed in filmmaking. This includes finding better LGBTQIA+ representation on the topics, as well, which can lead to finding out just how far-reaching intimacy alone can be.
Sex isn’t completely leaving movies anytime soon. But as I look beyond mainstream American films, and keep in mind the rich past of everything from sex in Hollywood productions, to the ambition of creative 70s pornos, I find the current situation to be a bit dire. Once again, I find myself wishing we all had just a little more time and/or interest in just how much film is out there for any subject or interest at hand.
The deeper your education, the easier it is to be motivated to demand more from inept, conservative studios. Not everyone has access to this kind of education, of course, so my frustration is yet again focused on those who could watch more, learn more, and appreciate more, but never do.
It’s getting more and more popular to be puritanical and dumb, and to expect everyone around you to cater to that. Anyway, yes, we will be covering a couple of sexy movies this month, since this is clearly something that weighs heavily upon my soul, but we’ll get to some other stuff, too.
Caligula (1979): D+
Image © Penthouse Films
I didn’t really have expectations when I finally watched Caligula a little while ago. I only really know about the movie at all because, well, it’s Caligula. The production history of this movie, a venture that brought together entities like Penthouse, Gore Vidal, exploitation king Tinto Brass, and actors on the level of Peter O’Toole, Helen Mirren, and Malcolm McDowell. It’s a hell of a story, and it was always apparent to me that the story behind this movie loosely based on the life of the Roman Emperor Caligula was going to be way more interesting than the movie itself.
And what would you know, but my guess was completely correct. This is the sort of movie I watch when I know I’m not going to have a very good time, but I also am drawn to that reality for one or several reasons. Life is short, and yet I occasionally choose films to watch with a confidence suggesting that everything lasts forever.
Like this movie! Hey!
At 230, 000 minutes (or 156), Caligula is more often than not just boring. That’s it. There are some well-shot erotic sequences, particularly during the orgy scene, which has flashes of something I might actually be willing to call sexy. There’s also a few infamous scenes to emphasize how infamous the man himself was. You can ask yourself if your life really needs to include knowing what it would look like if Malcolm McDowell shoved his entire fist up your ass. Apparently, mine did, and here we are.
X (2022): A+
Image © A24
On the other hand, X might be one of the sexiest movies I’ve ever seen. It’s certainly one of the sexiest horror movies I’ve ever seen. Borrowing gently in atmosphere and sometimes overt style from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, this is a simple enough story of some sexy young people heading to a remote location in rural Texas (uh-oh) to shoot a sexy sex film where people have sex. This will simply not do for the elderly couple living on the property. Armed with some dark secrets, the older couple set about terrifying and eventually endangering everyone’s lives.
The simplicity of the premise quickly yields to genuinely surprising adjustments to familiar tropes. The movie is more than just extremely sex positive for what’s basically a slasher, it’s also pretty kind to just about every character in the movie. Stereotypical personalities remain static, yet more often than not their deep convictions create unique responses from the viewer. It’s a sincerely interesting film, well-acted by everyone, but Mia Goth and Kid Cudi in particular, in terms of its writing and attitudes. It’s also just a good, simple, and very fun horror movie.
Trancers (1984): B+
Image © Empire Pictures
Currently available on the ARROW streaming service, the Trancers series is worth catching wherever it is at the time you’re reading this. I met Tim Thomerson at a convention some years ago, and had fun hearing stories about his long career, which included at one point knowing Richard Pryor. I unfortunately didn’t get around to his signature film franchise until a few months ago. With a much deeper appreciation for low budget science fiction than I had back then, I’m glad I waited.
Trancers is an ambitious and sometimes slightly confusing story of time travel, cop noir drama, body-swapping, zombies, mystics, and the beautiful smile of the late Art LaFleur. It might just be the best example we have of how inventive writer/director/producer Charles Band can be without a ton of money to work with. Trancers takes full advantage of its talented cast to fill in some of the gaps left by the fact that this is still a very movie very apparent in just how little money there was to go around. Thomerson in particular is likable as Jack Deth, with good reaction timing and delivery to offset the fact that he’s not always the most believable action star.
You also have to of course mention that a young Helen Hunt is here as a love interest who actually gets to do considerably more than just that. It’s not hard to see why Helen eventually became a star, both from an acting and beauty standpoint.
The Plumber (1979): A+
Image © TCN | The Australian Film Commission
The most thrilling part of watching this early Peter Weir film The Plumber unfold is in how the two main plots run against each other. On the one hand, we have Brian (Robert Coleby) and Jill (Judy Morris) as a husband and wife hitting a strange period in their comfortable, established marriage. Then we have Jill’s increasingly complex, dangerous relationship to a man named Max (Ivar Kants), who claims to be a plumber. Their relationship effectively forces Jill to confront her true nature, as well as her true feelings about her current station in life. The results are as bleak as you would imagine, but there’s something riveting about this journey that remains with you to the very end.
The Plumber is a must-see for fans of psychological horror. Morris’ performance stands out for capturing every facet of a complete breakdown, enhanced further by the very real possibility that a fatal threat has found a permanent place in the supposedly happy home she has made for herself.
Five Graves to Cairo (1943): B-
Image © Paramount Pictures
Another early success from a great director, Five Graves to Cairo has much of what you might expect from Billy Wilder. While later films like Some Like it Hot and The Apartment obviously have a lot more polish and style, Five Graves to Cairo still possesses a sharp sense of humor under somber or even dire circumstances, mixed with strong dialog and likable characters. A British soldier Bramble (Franchot Tone) survives an ordeal in Egypt, only to wind up at the hotel where German general Rommel (a fun-yet-chilling turn from famed filmmaker Erich Von Stroheim) is planning to take North Africa. Working closely with the hotel’s owner (Akim Tamiroff) and a disillusioned French chambermaid (a fabulous Anne Baxter), Bramble is left with no choice but to get what he learns to his superiors and allies.
The spy thriller part of the movie is obviously the meat. While isn’t anything life-changing, the tension and plot are enough for any contemporary audience. The notion of men and women trying to overcome internal and external circumstances is well-handled by Wilder’s direction, but it’s clear this isn’t quite the kind of story he’s best at telling. Still, this is a fun one to throw on some random evening.
Gabriel Ricard writes, edits, and occasionally acts. His books Love and Quarters and Bondage Night are available through Moran Press, in addition to A Ludicrous Split (Alien Buddha Press) and Clouds of Hungry Dogs (Kleft Jaw Press). He is also a writer, performer, and producer with Belligerent Prom Queen Productions. He lives on a horrible place called Long Island.
