There are always some directors around the world who make a living by shooting low-budget B-movies. Although their works can never be compared with those of pornographic masters, they always have a certain number of audiences. For example, Zalman King, whose famous series of works such as "Wild Orchid", "Stolen Moon", and "Red Shoe Diary" have always had good sales in the market.
Perhaps calling these movies pornographic has a bit of a "gilding" feeling, so I think the term "hot movie" is more appropriate. Because most of these films are only issued on home video, very few of them can surface and be shown in theaters.
Tindo Brass from Italy and Gregory Hippolyte from the United States (the "Animal Instincts" series) belong to the best of this type. Although their works' styles are quite different, they share a common feature: understanding women's inherent desires from a male perspective.
"Jennifer's Desire" (Love & Passion) and its sequel (Miranda) are two of Tindo's more outstanding works. The design of many scenes and details in the film fully reflect this Italian director's obsession with female genitalia and B-type breasts.
From an Easterner's point of view, the standard of B-type seems to give people a strong sexual taste, A-type should be more appealing. The success of Li Lijuan has attracted a lot of Eastern male audiences in this aspect. However, under Tindo's skillful handling of light and shadow, those full-breasted, robust Italian women have also been shot with great beauty.
To avoid being too beautiful and thus reducing the audience's "sexual" interest, Tindo often uses close-up and long-shot alternating overlay lenses in the film. This excessive use of split-screen shots inevitably highlights the importance of multiple camera positions. The beginning of "Miranda" starts with a blurred and then focused close-up of female genitalia, which then shifts to a side full-body shot of a naked man in front of a window with backlighting.
Tindo's obsession with female genitalia is also reflected in scenes such as peeping at women urinating, wiping virgin blood, and observing sleeping women's bodies. In "Love & Passion," there is such a scene designed to express the heroine's desire for sex after losing her virginity: on the lake with a gentle breeze, facing the hero sitting opposite and rowing, she moves his toes to her private parts to caress, making a face of ecstasy.
While being obsessed with and admiring female genitalia, Tindo also mocks male genitalia in the film: two American women sitting on the charming nude beach in Italy laugh loudly, making arbitrary comments on the genitalia of passing Italian men, "Haha, that must be a farmer," "Quick look, this one must be a lawyer," "I prefer that mechanic over there."
In addition, Tindo questions the traditional male-dominant female-submissive way of **. He arranges for the heroine in "Miranda" to say to one of her sexual partners, "I really want to do you from behind like you men one day."
In terms of scene design, Tindo is particularly ingenious. In a warehouse of a slaughterhouse, in a country hayloft, or even in a church prayer room, Tindo can shoot the love-making between men and women with a rather elegant flavor, just like how "The Matrix" perfectly integrates special effects into science fiction concepts.
The most impressive scene in "Love & Passion" is a room surrounded by mirrors, with white floors and white storage cabinets. When the frenzied movements crash open the cabinet door, the whole rack of white bed sheets falls to the ground, and patches of red slowly spread on the bed sheet beneath the woman. The overhead shooting lens gives the audience a strong visual color impact.
Tindo's works have very distinct characteristics. In the film "Unconsciously Tempting You" (Frivolous Lola), the beautiful girl Laura craves premarital sexual experience, but her traditional fiancé never agrees to her request. She has no choice but to seduce another young man. After failing, she deliberately mentions to her fiancé the near-loss-of-virginity incident, which unexpectedly arouses his desire and leads him to possess her. However, on the wedding day, Laura still cannot resist temptation and secretly tempts the young man again while hiding it from her husband. In this film, Tindo once again takes a stab at the church, with a young priest sniffing the body odor left on Laura's bicycle seat, and a priest on the other side of the prayer room DIY-ing while listening to Laura's prayer.
Tinto Brass (Tindo Brass) undoubtedly faces resistance from many female audiences due to his unique sensitivity towards female sexuality, yet female audiences who watch his works have to admit that at least they are beautifully filmed.
Filmography: Note: ** indicates erotic classics and the most influential films in Europe and America
2001-Angelo Nero
2000-Trasgredire Playboy **
1998-Frivolous Lola Unknowingly Tempting You
1995-P.O.Box Tinto Brass
1993-The Voyeur Peeping Tom
1991-All Ladies Do It Housewives' Desires **
1989-Paprika, Life in a Brothel Red Pepper *House*
1988-Snack Bar Budapest
1987-Love and Passion Jennifer's Temptation **
1985-Miranda Milan **
1983-The Key
1980-Caligula **-----Europe's best-selling film
1979-Action Behavior
1976-Madam Kitty Kitty Madam
1971-Droput
1969-Vacation
1968-Black and White
1968-The Howl
1967-Deadly Sweet
1966-Yankee
1964-Who Works Is Lost
1964-The Flying Saucer
1964-Mia Signore, La
1964-Tell It Like It Is
A gathering of global masters, a feast of temple erotica.
I. 20-Year Retrospective of Japanese Erotic Masterpieces
1. Mrs. Kei - Katsumi Ogura
2. Realm of Eros - Nagisa Oshima
3. Key - Masao Adachi
4. Pool Without Water - Masao Adachi
5. Daydream - Tetsuji Takechi
6. Shanghai Artists Whorehouse - Shuji Terayama
7. Bayshore Road - Yoo Yang-il
8. Four Seasons Naoko - Yoo Yang-il
9. Bed's Eye - Susumu Kondou
10. Theater of Life - Teiji Nakamura
11. Prelude Dance - Teiji Nakamura
12. X - Hiroto Yokoyama
13. Farewell Ark - Shuji Terayama
14. Pink Curtain - Jun Takada
15. Revenge Me - Shohei Imamura
16. Female Prisoner No. 701 - Junya Sato
II. New Realistic Art Studio
1. Holy Blood - Alejandro Jodorowsky (Mexico)
2. Lust for Life - Paul Cox (Australia)
3. Trout - Joseph Losey (Switzerland)
4. Contempt - Jean-Luc Godard (France)
5. The Conformist - Bernardo Bertolucci (Italy)
6. Matador - Pedro Almodovar (Spain)
7. The Puppet Life - Ingmar Bergman (Sweden)
8. Paradise Lost - Yoshishige Yoshida (Japan)
9. Beautiful People - Kaneto Shindo (Japan)
10. Cousin, Cousine - Bertrand Tavernier (France)
11. Case of Incest - Anthony Griffiths (Italy)
12. Innocent Man - Luchino Visconti (Italy)
13. European Ghost Stories - Agniezska Holland (Germany)
14. Black Moon - Louis Malle (France/Italy)
15. Goddess Game - Robert Festor (Italy)
16. The Young One - Luis Bunuel (Italy)
17. Obscured Desire - Luis Bunuel (Italy)
18. The Lady and the Duke - Bertrand Blier (France)
19. The Beautiful Opera Singer - Ken Russell/German (France/Italy)
20. Tragedy of a Switchboard Operator - Dusan Makavejev (Yugoslavia)
21. Oh Calvary
22. Story of Cambert
23. Apologies to Mary
24. 1900 (Upper, Lower)
25. Carmen Named
26. Law of Desire
27. Sweet Movie
28. Jellyfish
29. Equator
30. Banquet Rat
31. Private Evil Public Good
32. Sailor of Fog Harbor (Water Sailor Quai)
33. Intimate Pact
34. Handkerchief Out
35. Beautiful Bad Woman
36. Billydith
37. Ham and Passion
38. Demon of Flesh
39. Turkish Rhapsody
40. Nazi Monster
III. Masterpiece Erotica
1. Captive - Nagisa Oshima
2. Theorem - Pier Paolo Pasolini
3. Lust for Life - Paul Cox
4. Glazer (Sailor of Fog Harbor) - Rainer Werner Fassbinder
5. Decameron - Pier Paolo Pasolini
6. The Conformist - Bernardo Bertolucci
7. 1900 (Two Volumes) - Bernardo Bertolucci
8. Law of Desire - Pedro Almodovar
9. Arabian Nights (One Thousand and One Nights) - Pier Paolo Pasolini
10. Love Mythology - Federico Fellini
11. Fourth Man - Paul Verhoeven
12. Death in Venice - Luchino Visconti
13. Lady and the Duke - Bertrand Blier
14. 120 Days of Sodom - Pier Paolo Pasolini
15. Canterbury Tales - Pier Paolo Pasolini
16. Key - Masao Adachi
17. Case of Incest - Anthony Griffiths
18. Flame Mountain - Fred Meller
19. Cousin, Cousine - Bertrand Tavernier
20. Nazi Monster (Two Volumes) - Luchino Visconti
21. Oedipus Rex - Pier Paolo Pasolini
22. Ham and Passion - Picasa Luna
23. Jennifer's Desire - Tinto Brass
24. In the Realm of the Senses - Nagisa Oshima
Erotic films usually depict homosexual and heterosexual relationships through a fusion of emotion and sexuality, interpreting human existence and emotional entanglements that are both present and confusing. As society develops to a certain stage, attention to and exploration of gender relations and emotions become topics that humans must face and debate. Erotic films may create a taboo journey in our hearts against long-standing customs and moral agreements, but more importantly, they should be a spiritual reflection on the continuous exploration and interpretation of humanity.
Erotic films should not be equated with pornographic films; eroticism is a borderline form of pornography. The biggest difference lies in its starting point being emotion. The narration of eroticism is an unavoidable expression of the human heart, whether for men or women. We each are not solitary beings, and therefore often find it difficult to frankly express our true inner desires. Classic erotic films, viewed from philosophical and anthropological perspectives, offer high aesthetic value and vivid portrayals of human nature. Excellent erotic film scripts will describe movie life with poetic prose and fairy-tale-like emotions, using sensuous language to delicately depict romantic or melancholic moments. Combined with the unique audiovisual expressions of film, this provides a better way to explore and understand human gender relations. If we analyze films from professional aspects such as performance, imagery, story, direction, and entertainment value, or simply appreciate the context of emotion and eroticism, color is merely a superficial form of expression on top of emotion. An interesting saying goes, "The lewd consider themselves lewd." I believe that erotic films, like suspense, documentary, and ethical films, deserve everyone's attention and understanding.
Here, I am just sharing a little about my personal understanding of erotic films. These are biased views. The line between erotica and pornography is thin. France has elevated erotic films to a height of beauty, explaining the inherent aesthetics of sex through angles, lighting, and colors. They cannot be equated with some of the abnormal *** from Japan. In recent years, South Korea has sparked another wave of enthusiasm for erotic films with dreamlike cinematic expressions, portraying human emotions in a touching and moving way. Of course, there are also those who pretend to make artistic films under the guise of erotica, doing their own pornographic business, not only tarnishing excellent erotic films but also giving pornographic films a beautiful excuse and cover.
But I believe that classics are classics, and truly meaningful erotic films use the theme and perspective of "sex" to explore various emotions, mindsets, and rationalities. Pornographic films, on the other hand, are a blatant display of sex, akin to the mechanical piston motion or the breeding process of animals, devoid of any aesthetic value, let alone human feelings. It is the wish of directors to showcase the charm of art through "sex." We have the right to defend the existence and purity of erotic films. Underground films, independent films, experimental films, MV discussion areas, discussions focus on whether the outer appearance of films can give people a sense of beauty, whether dark or sunny, and whether the inner content can shock the soul and provide insights into human nature. Human emotions are one of the main contents that all films aim to portray. The essence of erotic films is to start from emotion, and the existence of the two sexes itself is beautiful and pure. Therefore, the question of whether we can discuss erotic films fundamentally commits a conceptual error. If we continue with this erroneous view and discuss Japanese or other AV short clips or small films, we would only lose face, wouldn't we?