Speaker 1: Welcome back everyone, or welcome to new listeners. This is
Speaker 1: episode thirty seven of Punk Vacation. Of course, I'm always
Speaker 1: joined by Chris Haskell, Welcome back, Chris. And we're joined
Speaker 1: by our other co host, who I feel like the
Speaker 1: past few episodes, instead of doing doing your own segment,
Speaker 1: we've just pause, have all been like just say, co
Speaker 1: hosting with us as well, So let's still.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, let me do my other intro. Welcome to
Speaker 2: fifteen minutes with You, the segment whose name has sort
Speaker 2: of quintupled, And yes, but you know, yeah, it's been
Speaker 2: easier for it's been less pressure for me to have
Speaker 2: other people to riff off of. And I have many
Speaker 2: irons and many fires at this point, so it's nice
Speaker 2: to have some help with this segment. But in any case,
Speaker 2: I think it's more fun to have a conversation other
Speaker 2: than just me gapping for twenty minutes or whatever.
Speaker 3: So and these are one.
Speaker 2: This is this is an ambitious slate this time.
Speaker 1: So yeah, exactly, and we're both like really starked to
Speaker 1: talk about it. And I also we can call this
Speaker 1: sixty nine minutes with You to.
Speaker 2: That's more accurate.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're finding the joy and unfettered, sleazy creativity, slutty creativity,
Speaker 1: even we'll say if that's problematic, it's a pot. It's
Speaker 1: a podcast dedicated to bringing awareness and context to movies
Speaker 1: of any budget, from anywhere and during any time. And
Speaker 1: as always, when we say that, I like that, we
Speaker 1: say that every time because I feel like, specifically for
Speaker 1: the malusine side, that goes double, you know what I mean. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: this was a very ambitious because, like I was actually
Speaker 1: looking at the amount of releases and it's not like
Speaker 1: a lot in terms of like a pile of discs,
Speaker 1: but it is as a pile of movies m you know,
Speaker 1: like there's so many, and so we all kind of
Speaker 1: had our work cut out for us, thankfully. And also,
Speaker 1: you know, this was supposed to be I guess we
Speaker 1: can give people a peak behind the curtain, so to speak.
Speaker 1: We were supposed to release this as like a back
Speaker 1: to back thing in February, and both Celeste and I
Speaker 1: got that flu that was going around at different times,
Speaker 1: and so this is coming in March, right after the announcements,
Speaker 1: which we'll follow that episode up uh next week. So
Speaker 1: so we're just going to talk about quite a slate
Speaker 1: of November December releases. I got really ambitious and wanted
Speaker 1: us to even cover January because they went the opposite
Speaker 1: direction and made it very light.
Speaker 3: But like there wasn't a lot of releases.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, you know, you put out
Speaker 1: another Sato set, it does.
Speaker 3: It ups the the inventory a little.
Speaker 1: But yeah, this was a I love this month completely
Speaker 1: through and through.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're doing November and December.
Speaker 1: Right, so yeah, December, yeah, one title?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know whatever, so November plus a little.
Speaker 3: Extra, you know, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So yeah, if you want to kick it off celess
Speaker 1: with with the first uh, the first title in the batch.
Speaker 2: I don't think we uh decided on an order, so
Speaker 2: maybe I'll surprise everyone.
Speaker 3: Yeah, please, you know, I did want to.
Speaker 2: Say real quick, I've sort of reflecting right now on
Speaker 2: how when I started this segment, or when we started
Speaker 2: this segment, the amount of titles and the amount of
Speaker 2: films coming out per month was more manageable for a
Speaker 2: fifteen minute like sort of and it's just ballooned like
Speaker 2: the entirety of the Vinegar Syndrome Empire. I don't know
Speaker 2: how you two are doing it. I can barely keep
Speaker 2: up with just this.
Speaker 1: But you know, yeah, I've I've been. Here's here's what
Speaker 1: I can tell you personally from because I was with
Speaker 1: Chris and I talked about this in the last episode
Speaker 1: we did, when we did the reviews.
Speaker 3: For January is It.
Speaker 1: You know, My rule prior to being the podcast co
Speaker 1: host was I would at least knock out the mainline
Speaker 1: like that was mandatory, which is fairly manageable until they
Speaker 1: do like box sets, like there was a month where
Speaker 1: they did like Forgotten Jolly Volume eight and two Hong
Speaker 1: Kong movies, and that month I absolutely was like, this
Speaker 1: feels like a job. But and and not only that,
Speaker 1: to be fair, that month with some of those those
Speaker 1: Forgotten Jolly movies, watching them, even on my own terms.
Speaker 3: Felt like a jobby. Yeah.
Speaker 4: So I that being said, I have gotten into enough
Speaker 4: of a groove now where as soon as I get everything,
Speaker 4: I still kind of do that, and I don't know
Speaker 4: it's worked out well enough.
Speaker 1: What I have to be more intentional about is when
Speaker 1: I'm not watching a VS title like all right, I
Speaker 1: got a pile of radiance here, I want to watch
Speaker 1: a radiance title like I have to be to be
Speaker 1: more intentional there, but it's been pretty manageable because especially
Speaker 1: from the malus inside, it's it's stuff I've wanted to
Speaker 1: watch any like, like I'm excited to watch it, so,
Speaker 1: you know, thankfully, thankfully they keep having these shipping delays
Speaker 1: where like there's a sale so they don't mail it
Speaker 1: out until mid March, and for me, it's got to
Speaker 1: go cross country so and it looks like they're doing
Speaker 1: that this month too, so it's not going to be
Speaker 1: too far back to back. So that that's been it
Speaker 1: for me. It's funny you're saying that for me, But
Speaker 1: I don't know how Chris does it because he's got
Speaker 1: really yeah, I don't know, but that goes Duck was
Speaker 1: like triple for Chris, not even double, because you've got
Speaker 1: other podcasts, other projects, a family, like like you've got
Speaker 1: you've got you've got real world priorities that like supersede
Speaker 1: mine by a mile.
Speaker 5: No, no, no, everybody you feel the time you have
Speaker 5: right so, but I think, honestly, like there's a lot
Speaker 5: of nights where I have to just watch two movies
Speaker 5: in a night for like four nights in a row,
Speaker 5: and I don't love that. But I'm a night out naturally.
Speaker 5: So as long as I'm watching my first movie before
Speaker 5: nine pm, then there's plenty of time to watch too.
Speaker 5: And that's just kind of, you know, just kind of
Speaker 5: how it goes. I'm a little stressed right now because
Speaker 5: some point in midweek I've got to pretend to know
Speaker 5: something about Nuggie Sooshima and and we're gonna cover at
Speaker 5: a minimum seven films from that Radical Japan set and
Speaker 5: then I'd like to cover another three if possible, and
Speaker 5: I've got five more to watch to make that happen.
Speaker 5: So that's I don't know if that's gonna happen it
Speaker 5: or not, but we'll see.
Speaker 1: That's that's it. But I will say that's a champagne
Speaker 1: problem because that box sets, from what I've heard, I
Speaker 1: have it.
Speaker 3: I have it.
Speaker 1: It's sitting right behind me actually just off camera. But
Speaker 1: I've heard it's like release of the year through and
Speaker 1: through for not just radiance, like in general.
Speaker 5: Can I just pitch it like it's the kind of
Speaker 5: box set that makes you love movies, Like they have
Speaker 5: History of Japanese Cinema. They have this one fifty minute
Speaker 5: documentary with all the wild Men of Japanese Cinema and
Speaker 5: it's just awesome. Like they talk about how they were
Speaker 5: revolting against the studio system, and like they talk about
Speaker 5: how like they really like love on each other for
Speaker 5: the work they were doing at that time. It's just
Speaker 5: a very heartwarming documentary of rebellion. And I don't know,
Speaker 5: like the whole thing is just put together with so
Speaker 5: much love. Like Plus, the movies are interesting and Oshima
Speaker 5: is a very interesting director so well.
Speaker 1: In the Realm of the Senses is in my letterbox
Speaker 1: top four, Like I saw that movie in a theater
Speaker 1: on film No Less and it genuinely was like a
Speaker 1: spiritual experience.
Speaker 3: It was. It was.
Speaker 1: It's a great, great movie, I think, especially for for
Speaker 1: right now. I think it's a great movie for this moment.
Speaker 1: And so I'm really excited to see how his other
Speaker 1: political like that not just his filmmaking style, but also
Speaker 1: just what he's up to in terms of his you know,
Speaker 1: what he has to say with those movies, because in
Speaker 1: the ram of the Sense it says a lot. So
Speaker 1: I can only imagine, So what would that be a
Speaker 1: good segue to the Kannie. I'm gonna let Celest take
Speaker 1: the lead so you can you don't have to which.
Speaker 2: Oh, okay, actually, you know what, you know what, go
Speaker 2: with whichever, go with your heart here? Yeah, please, My
Speaker 2: my discs are just kind of sitting in not really
Speaker 2: any order in particular, and I actually think they make
Speaker 2: a pretty good, pretty good order. So let's start with
Speaker 2: the heavy hitter, just for the uh, for viewer retention's sake, right, Uh? Yeah,
Speaker 2: Mitchell Brothers film drew initial first debut release. Is the
Speaker 2: word I'm looking for? Behind the Green Door a film
Speaker 2: I had heard about, uh wherever ago? I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's it's like a big deal, right, And I've been
Speaker 2: doing to see for a long time. And I didn't
Speaker 2: have as much time to go through all the features
Speaker 2: on this as I would have liked. But I did
Speaker 2: see the movie, I did read the short story, and
Speaker 2: I did read most of the booklet, So you know
Speaker 2: that's probably enough.
Speaker 1: Right, Oh?
Speaker 3: I think? I think?
Speaker 1: So, I did the inverse, I I watched, I went
Speaker 1: through the whole disc, all the features nice, and I
Speaker 1: read a little bit of the book I was able
Speaker 1: to read. Actually know, I read all the booklet, but
Speaker 1: I did not read the short story, and I need
Speaker 1: to do that. Interesting, But yeah, what did what did
Speaker 1: you think? Of the What did you think of the film?
Speaker 2: Uh, it's okay, I don't know, it's not my personal hmm.
Speaker 2: The how do I say this? The film is? Well,
Speaker 2: I guess the premise is a woman is kidnapped and
Speaker 2: then like turned into a sort of like spectacle performance
Speaker 2: for like an exclusive like sex club where people just
Speaker 2: go and watch watch this person. I mean, you know,
Speaker 2: I don't need a sugarcoat it. She's just being raped
Speaker 2: over and over again, but like she's into it, so
Speaker 2: like it's fine. I guess. You know, it's a pretty
Speaker 2: rough premise for something that got as big as it did.
Speaker 2: But you know your mileage is going to vary on
Speaker 2: this sort of thing, right, There's some interesting is the
Speaker 2: is the neutral word I'm using for it, Let's say, uh,
Speaker 2: problematic while also subversive like racial elements going on here.
Speaker 2: There's some pretty wild and bold like filmmaking techniques going
Speaker 2: on here. There's a six minute cumshot which is like
Speaker 2: filmed in this like really bizarre artsy psychedelic way, which
Speaker 2: I have to respect the audaciousness of it, but maybe
Speaker 2: to overshare a second, I think cumshots are really gross,
Speaker 2: and so I was not watching one last Well, I.
Speaker 1: Think of it as like I just want to piggyback
Speaker 1: on that for a second, because.
Speaker 3: I did think I might.
Speaker 1: My mind certainly wandered during it, like a sort of point.
Speaker 1: It actually desensitizes you to the to the to the scene.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like thriller, a cruel picture. Like I
Speaker 1: remember there's that You know, every person that gets shot
Speaker 1: in that movie or gets killed you have to like
Speaker 1: sit with that moment for like two plus minutes because
Speaker 1: it's shot in and so this does the same thing
Speaker 1: with that. And obviously I don't think the Mitchell brothers
Speaker 1: are are Here's the thing. This was before porn had
Speaker 1: had a real clear cut formula, right or it had
Speaker 1: any kind of even had a sheakness to it, even
Speaker 1: though it was called porno sheic at this point, this
Speaker 1: movie is not chic at all. It's very rough around
Speaker 1: the edges, no pun intended, and like, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and when you think of this in Deep Throat, it's funny.
Speaker 1: I saw them both pretty back to back when I
Speaker 1: was like twenty on ex Hamster or something on like
Speaker 1: in like three sixty p and I was bored out
Speaker 1: of my mind with both of them. I literally remember
Speaker 1: finishing them like as a soldier of cinema, as a
Speaker 1: twenty year old snob, being like, ah, both of these
Speaker 1: fucking suck, fuck this shit. And I still feel the
Speaker 1: same way about Deep Throat.
Speaker 3: Deep Throat.
Speaker 1: It's a very very bad movie. It's it's not good
Speaker 1: even even if let's say there wasn't the story you
Speaker 1: know behind it. And it's funny that Chuck Trainer is
Speaker 1: kind of like the the six degrees situation with both
Speaker 1: of these movies, but take him out of the equation
Speaker 1: and just Deep Throat on its own terms. It is
Speaker 1: still just a very bad movie, and the people who
Speaker 1: made it even feel that way. But like this, on
Speaker 1: the other hand, revisiting it, especially in four K, like
Speaker 1: like the restoration is incredible.
Speaker 2: It does look great. I'll say that. I mean, you're
Speaker 2: never gonna not compliment of Vineger syndrome. Four K. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I feel like that doesn't even need to be said.
Speaker 2: But it does look pretty amazing well, especially considering where
Speaker 2: it probably came from and what it is, like damn.
Speaker 1: Right, and it was shot on sixteen like ab roll
Speaker 1: for you know, there's a great feature where Joe Rubin
Speaker 1: himself talks about the process usually those are Oscars segments,
Speaker 1: but Joe actually comes in and talks about it, which
Speaker 1: is great. And and when you know the history of
Speaker 1: the Mitchell Brothers and they're kind of like free speech. Also,
Speaker 1: if you know the ending of the Mitchell Brothers story,
Speaker 1: oh boy, I don't know how familiar.
Speaker 2: Until about fifteen minutes ago, and I was like, what
Speaker 2: the fuck.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1: I actually I actually remember as a kid seeing the
Speaker 1: story on hard copy, not connecting who they were, but
Speaker 1: because I was too young to know that. But uh,
Speaker 1: what I appreciated more about the movie this time. I
Speaker 1: have to say I did like it. I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's something. It's not a pleasant experience by any means,
Speaker 1: but you know, for something that was so new, like
Speaker 1: in terms of being such a you know, this is
Speaker 1: right before porn started with its formulas. It reminded me
Speaker 1: more of eighties art house porno, like Cafe Flesh and Corruption.
Speaker 1: It doesn't have the narrative structure that those have, or
Speaker 1: or the kind of postmodern in the sense that like
Speaker 1: it's they know, they're self aware, it's a porno. You know,
Speaker 1: they're actually with the Mitchell Brothers, they're more like no
Speaker 1: we're taking you into a world and this is whatever
Speaker 1: loose narrative there is here, so it the visually, it
Speaker 1: really pops. It definitely seventy two minutes does not fly by,
Speaker 1: especially that cumshot. But you really also get to appreciate
Speaker 1: for this kind of like eyes wide shut style sex
Speaker 1: party that's happening. It's shockingly like you were saying, like
Speaker 1: it's very progressive with like not just interracial sex. And
Speaker 1: obviously the Marylynd Chambers element of it at the time
Speaker 1: was very scandalous, but it's also a very body positive movie.
Speaker 1: Not on purpose, I mean that term didn't exist, but
Speaker 1: you see, like you see all shapes and sizes getting
Speaker 1: down when that orgy happens, and it doesn't at.
Speaker 3: All make it a point.
Speaker 1: None of it's fetishized, none of it's focused on in
Speaker 1: a very at least any more fetishized than any other
Speaker 1: shot in the movie.
Speaker 3: They're all it's all almost.
Speaker 1: Like equal opportunity fetish and I really thought that was
Speaker 1: very effective, like especially now when you see what because
Speaker 1: you know, these guys lived in San Francisco and they
Speaker 1: wanted to make something artistic, and so especially having just
Speaker 1: seen Deep, you know when you've seen Deep Throat, and
Speaker 1: you know what that is compared to this, this movie
Speaker 1: does stand out a lot better. And I think that's
Speaker 1: why it was also as big of a hit, because
Speaker 1: it obviously had the Marilyn Chambers Ivory soap scandal attached
Speaker 1: to it, but it also did, I think, make people
Speaker 1: feel more like they were watching something a little more artistic,
Speaker 1: because it's not just the cumshot. There's like this kind
Speaker 1: of like cross Dissolve where she's blowing a guy over
Speaker 1: like the city of San Francisco.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I mean, if you change the content, it
Speaker 2: in form and in structure and in pace does feel
Speaker 2: like an art movie for sure, you know. And that
Speaker 2: is to his detriment a little bit, and that is
Speaker 2: kind of boring, But like, you know, I also think about, uh,
Speaker 2: this is a this is I don't know, this is
Speaker 2: a this is an analogy that might not make sense
Speaker 2: to a ton of people, but like when you're first
Speaker 2: getting into black metal or something and then you listen
Speaker 2: to that Venom record and it's like, this is not
Speaker 2: that great or it's not what I'm expecting or it's
Speaker 2: not what I want, but it's like, but this had
Speaker 2: to come first. For the stuff that you like, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, So like you gotta give it,
Speaker 2: you gotta price it in, you got to grandfother it
Speaker 2: in a little bit, give it some credit for starting things, you.
Speaker 1: Know totally, And there's there's a well what's funny is
Speaker 1: so right? But I still haven't seen Blue Money, which
Speaker 1: was considered the first technically that was like a VS release.
Speaker 1: That's considered the first the movie that actually legitimately kick
Speaker 1: started porno Chic, but Bachanal which came out shortly after
Speaker 1: that in nineteen seventy, which was directed by the Amaro
Speaker 1: brothers who made Blonde Ambition, among other things. They directed that,
Speaker 1: and that was made when softcore and hardcore were like
Speaker 1: it started, I believe as a softcore project and later
Speaker 1: evolved to a hardcore project that's even more shapeless than this.
Speaker 1: And I just saw it like two weeks ago at Neubev.
Speaker 1: But watching it, I you really get to appreciate even
Speaker 1: how much more progressed in the two years from that
Speaker 1: to this, Like it plays so much better. So it
Speaker 1: it even though it's like artifactual and not hasn't hit
Speaker 1: any of those points yet where like you know, it
Speaker 1: has like an affecting plot, it still makes you appreciate
Speaker 1: it a little more.
Speaker 5: I'm actually surprised. I'm gonna I was not expecting to
Speaker 5: like this the most out of all of y'all.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad you like it. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: I was hoping to like it more.
Speaker 1: To be honest, I did like it, but but just
Speaker 1: I I but yeah, but it is more my My
Speaker 1: liking it is definitely qualified.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I have like, I think I put
Speaker 2: it in like a six out of ten. So you know,
Speaker 2: it's fine, but it's like a life six for me,
Speaker 2: you know. But I want to hear you, Yeah, please
Speaker 2: talk about how much you like it, because you're less
Speaker 2: uh in the thick of it as it were with
Speaker 2: this stuff, and uh, you know, I'm curious what you
Speaker 2: think about it.
Speaker 5: Was that a size joke perceived? I think no, I
Speaker 5: think there're I think you y'all nailed it. Y'all nailed
Speaker 5: exactly my thought. So there's a lot of references in
Speaker 5: punk to like bands that don't necessarily fit the punk
Speaker 5: scene but came first. And you talked about Venom with
Speaker 5: with the you know, black metal, and I think like
Speaker 5: there's that there always has to be that thing that
Speaker 5: comes first, right, and like this movie came like it's
Speaker 5: it's funny to keep saying comes first. But anyways, like
Speaker 5: watching something like Cafe Flesh, I think like this movie walks,
Speaker 5: so Cafe Flesh could run right in a way, like
Speaker 5: it feels like, oh okay, they're kind of doing like
Speaker 5: a similar thing. And I'm sure that somebody who I'm
Speaker 5: sure us what's his name, Saadian?
Speaker 3: Oh, steven Sadian.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, he probably saw the Marquis.
Speaker 1: No, he goes by he goes by Rinch Dream when he.
Speaker 5: Went in dream, that's right. Yeah, I'm sure he saw
Speaker 5: beyond behind the green door and it's probably like oh wow,
Speaker 5: like you know, and probably like had some type of
Speaker 5: influence on him one way or the other. And culturally,
Speaker 5: I think it's cool that, you know. The close thing
Speaker 5: I could think about was when it was announced that
Speaker 5: the like the Verizon girl or one of the or
Speaker 5: the woman who does like one of those phone companies
Speaker 5: was going to be publishing nude photos for like a
Speaker 5: charity auction recently, and I think it was the progressive
Speaker 5: No progressive is flow right? Not her? No, it's like
Speaker 5: she looks more of like a rom com.
Speaker 2: Like I really I'm not a it doesn't matter, I'm
Speaker 2: not really well versed in advertising at this point for it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but like that's a recent example of this where
Speaker 5: you have somebody who's kind of known for like one thing,
Speaker 5: but but actually her face kind of represents that thing
Speaker 5: and then they go off and do something scandalous, right
Speaker 5: shirt Marilyn Monroe is like an obvious example of it
Speaker 5: or whatever. But like I feel like there's that doesn't
Speaker 5: happen a lot. Maybe Sidney Sweeney to some extent, although
Speaker 5: she's been pretty consistent as being like, you know, scandalous
Speaker 5: and she came out or whatever, But like, there's not
Speaker 5: a lot lot of times where this happens in pop culture,
Speaker 5: and it's always interesting to me when it does because
Speaker 5: America has such a dysfunctional relationship to sex, and I
Speaker 5: think stuff like this really highlights it. Like why would
Speaker 5: it be an issue for Maryland Chambers to make this movie?
Speaker 5: Like you know, anyways, there's like all sorts of questions
Speaker 5: that that brings up that are just interesting to me.
Speaker 5: So that backstory is cool, and then the movie is interesting.
Speaker 5: I think I love what's the word the factory that
Speaker 5: was in New York with Warhol, and like this movie
Speaker 5: kind of felt like it could have come out of
Speaker 5: that maybe like his loose like structured right narratively, So yeah,
Speaker 5: I don't know. It really kind of hit a lot
Speaker 5: of different or checked a lot of different boxes for me,
Speaker 5: despite the difficulty of watching a woman get raped and
Speaker 5: learning to like it, which is a difficult topic of itself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and it's also just maybe because this
Speaker 2: was so influential, but that's a trope I've kind of
Speaker 2: gotten used to, and this sort of thing, and you know,
Speaker 2: that's a whole can of worms. That's a whole discussion
Speaker 2: for another day, right, Like I hear to get into
Speaker 2: like feminist dissertation as to like that sort of representation
Speaker 2: or whatever. That does bring me to one point that
Speaker 2: I thought of while I was listening to the short story,
Speaker 2: because it is probably even worse on this front. It's
Speaker 2: more detailed and more graphic and more like, uh, you know,
Speaker 2: the inner monologue is incorporated, so like, you know, I
Speaker 2: was just listening to it like thinking like, oh man,
Speaker 2: just like some dudes rape fantasy, and then I had
Speaker 2: to like check myself and be like you know what,
Speaker 2: this is an anonymous short story. There's a decent chance
Speaker 2: the reason it's anonymous is because a woman wrote it
Speaker 2: and didn't want to take the heat for it. And
Speaker 2: once I thought about it through that lens, I was
Speaker 2: kind of like rethinking it a little bit. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I can't nobody can know right what perspective this is
Speaker 2: coming from. And maybe it shouldn't matter as much as
Speaker 2: I'm sort of saying it does, But I don't know.
Speaker 2: I guess. I guess at the point I'm arriving at
Speaker 2: is that everybody's into something and I'm not here to judge.
Speaker 2: But it is also uncomfortable, probably for most people, the
Speaker 2: premise of this, right of course.
Speaker 1: Yeah, can't wait to see how it plays with an audience.
Speaker 1: They're showing it at the New Beverly is a midnight,
Speaker 1: and you better believe I'll be there. I've been burning
Speaker 1: the candle at both ends, watching stuff at home and
Speaker 1: watching smut in a theater on like beat up grindhouse
Speaker 1: style prints. Some are actually in great shape, but yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been because it's like such once in a lifetime stuff.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's funny because some of them I haven't
Speaker 1: seen and I have them from vinegar syndrome. This is
Speaker 1: one of the few where I obviously had seen it,
Speaker 1: but it's like, well, why would I pass up the
Speaker 1: chance to see this in a theater?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Sure, I would see it again in a theater
Speaker 2: for sure. Yeah. I shouldn't get us on too many
Speaker 2: tangents because we have a hard out. But that's right,
Speaker 2: they're doing. They're doing month number two and I'm sure
Speaker 2: you're excited.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and I'm glad they toned it down on
Speaker 1: the Triple X because I literally was going to like
Speaker 1: every one and it was like it was a lot
Speaker 1: and like that just in terms of a lot of porn.
Speaker 3: But it just like a lot of stuff that I
Speaker 3: hatter every day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So this month they thankfully have done a
Speaker 1: lot of stuff I've even seen in a repertory capacity,
Speaker 1: so I don't even feel the need or it's stuff
Speaker 1: that I know how I feel about it, so I
Speaker 1: can miss some of it. But still, I would say
Speaker 1: thirty percent of that calendar is I can't miss, and
Speaker 1: there's still like another twenty percent after that that's like
Speaker 1: I might still go if I'm up to it that week.
Speaker 2: I think my last note, unless we have anything else
Speaker 2: you want to touch on it just being conscious of time.
Speaker 2: Is the booklet Jared Stearns. I think he does the
Speaker 2: auto commentary as well. Yeah, but he has two essays
Speaker 2: and this booklet, one of which was written for a
Speaker 2: magazine and is reproduced here in one of which is
Speaker 2: original to this booklet. They're both fantastic, they're both great.
Speaker 2: I mean, bro literally wrote the book on Marylynd Chambers,
Speaker 2: so you're not going to get much of a better
Speaker 2: source than that. But it also helps that he's a
Speaker 2: good and engaging writer, because that's not always the case
Speaker 2: with academic types. So I recommend that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he's in the features too, and he talks
Speaker 1: a lot about there's a couple of different people. Steven
Speaker 1: Morowitz is in the is in the a couple of
Speaker 1: special features too. They kind of just talk about, you know,
Speaker 1: he covers a lot more of Maryland stuff. But he
Speaker 1: also lives in the Bay, it sounds like, so he
Speaker 1: talks a lot about porn in San Francisco. It's a
Speaker 1: great it's really a great thing about like like just
Speaker 1: a very comprehensive deep dive into how a place that
Speaker 1: is pretty as far left as you could be for
Speaker 1: that time, and how even for them some of this
Speaker 1: was a challenge, and how the Mitchell brothers were kind
Speaker 1: of like, you know, in that same kind of Larry
Speaker 1: Flint spirit of like taking free speech as much as
Speaker 1: possible and calling hypocrisy to all the politicians and religious
Speaker 1: groups that would attack them. And you know, even if
Speaker 1: they had a really sad ending, but up until then,
Speaker 1: it really is like pretty incredible what they did and
Speaker 1: how artistically interesting they are. I don't know when vinegar
Speaker 1: syndrome good announcement. Well, what I will say is and
Speaker 1: and obviously we'll save this for another time, but having
Speaker 1: watched Resurrection of Eve and another, uh, another film they
Speaker 1: made called Sodom and Gomora, how much better they got
Speaker 1: as filmmakers as they went along.
Speaker 2: And oh, for sure, it's like, I can't I can't
Speaker 2: imagine they go worse. I'm excited to see this sort
Speaker 2: of artistic with some refinement.
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, I guess it's not that they get worse.
Speaker 1: But what what my fear is with when they're when
Speaker 1: people are making porn?
Speaker 3: If I have a fear, it's a weird word.
Speaker 1: But the thing I worry about is that not that
Speaker 1: they get worse, but that they get efficient.
Speaker 3: I don't you know what I.
Speaker 1: Mean, because then then you're just talking about someone who's
Speaker 1: making you know, uh.
Speaker 3: Sex films line right right right exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So but anyhoy, Yeah, we can we can that.
Speaker 1: That's that's all I wanted to add to that. But yeah,
Speaker 1: if you want to move on to the next.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. You know what, Actually I have two
Speaker 2: last things.
Speaker 4: Sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think I learned on your podcast that Edgriselva named
Speaker 2: his production company green Door Productions, and people were like,
Speaker 2: you know what that is, right, and he was like, hell, yeah,
Speaker 2: I think that's awesome. I love that.
Speaker 1: Well. Also, I think this came up as well. John
Speaker 1: Cena bought it up on a on a interview he.
Speaker 2: Did and of his favorite movies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and one of the top of that, one of
Speaker 1: the top reviews on letterbox was they just logged it insaide,
Speaker 1: I'm here because John Cena told me to or something,
Speaker 1: or I'm just here because of John Cena.
Speaker 2: It's just hilarious. And the other one I didn't get
Speaker 2: to watch any of the features, but there's one here
Speaker 2: called Behind the Mitchell Brothers Film Group Preserving the legacy.
Speaker 2: That's one I probably want to watch before I pass
Speaker 2: on this disc is it? Is it good? Do you
Speaker 2: have any Yes?
Speaker 1: One hundred percent. That's the one that really covers like
Speaker 1: what they were about, and it's a very like there.
Speaker 1: It's very comprehensive and a perfect primer I think for
Speaker 1: this film and in general, because it just kind of
Speaker 1: talks about how and also, like I said it, you
Speaker 1: know VS has the whole Sorry this isn't the one
Speaker 1: about Maryland Chambers, but this is the one where you
Speaker 1: get to hear about VS acquiring it and what they
Speaker 1: acquired and like, so it's also like telling you, like, hey,
Speaker 1: this is what to look forward to, but also like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it just made me really excited for
Speaker 1: the rest of the line because they are very interesting
Speaker 1: filmmakers and they made shorts, so there's obviously going to
Speaker 1: be some stuff where we're going to get like shorter projects,
Speaker 1: not feature length stuff alongside it.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I'm really really.
Speaker 1: Excited for it, and I think I think it's the
Speaker 1: most interesting of the special features.
Speaker 2: Well hell yeah, I think in the standard edition you
Speaker 2: get this replica of Japanese one sheet poster and the
Speaker 2: booklet with the short story. But you know, the short
Speaker 2: story is online. I just put it into eleven Reader
Speaker 2: and had it read it to me, so you can
Speaker 2: get it that way. But the limited edition is down
Speaker 2: to the last six hundred out of four thousand as
Speaker 2: at the time I'm recording this, So if you want
Speaker 2: to read those excellent essays, well I guess you can do.
Speaker 2: But also you should buy it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't don't wait on the sale because this is
Speaker 1: also a November release, so I don't even know if
Speaker 1: it'll be on the halfway Soude.
Speaker 2: Don't think it's gonna make it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I I it's definitely worth picking up. And
Speaker 1: I'm glad because they did. They did four thousand of
Speaker 1: this one. I'm glad it's almost they're almost out of
Speaker 1: print with it.
Speaker 3: Because yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So all right, what uh what do we got next?
Speaker 3: List?
Speaker 2: Next up, let's do District Picks great The adult version
Speaker 2: of jaccyl and Hyde and The Erotic Adventures of Zoro
Speaker 2: Uh one of the stronger Distripicks releases in my opinion,
Speaker 2: I actually think these movies are like really good. Actually,
Speaker 2: I think I am going to keep this and I
Speaker 2: really like it. I also really love the Bockthart. To
Speaker 2: be honest, it's way too yeah, but you know what,
Speaker 2: it's a vibe. So I had a good fan of
Speaker 2: these movies.
Speaker 1: Honestly, I had a great time with it. I love
Speaker 1: this double two. It it I can kind of talk
Speaker 1: get into it a little bit more and I'll let
Speaker 1: you kind of take the reins. But I did really
Speaker 1: like it. I'm just curious, Chris, did you enjoy the
Speaker 1: double overall?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I think I lost a little steam with Zoro, but
Speaker 5: Jekyl and Hyde was was awesome. I had a great
Speaker 5: time with it.
Speaker 2: It's fucking wild. I think I like Zorro just because
Speaker 2: of the commitment to like the period and also like
Speaker 2: literary sort of adamp to like it's good, like it's
Speaker 2: well made, like it's it's a little bit long, but
Speaker 2: it's also like I don't know, I found it like
Speaker 2: thought provoking as well and sort of you know, it's
Speaker 2: I'm maybe over selling it. It's not gonna be like
Speaker 2: a fucking Hollywood masterpiece as far as like what it
Speaker 2: is like, you know, especially when I'm writing on the
Speaker 2: District Picks curve. Not to be mean about it, but
Speaker 2: like it's pretty.
Speaker 1: That's that's the right curve. I think for people listening
Speaker 1: it is a It is a good entry level district
Speaker 1: picks for sure. I agree, I Zoro is so what
Speaker 1: I what I wrote in my letter box. I remember
Speaker 1: I put that it's a lot of fun, but it's
Speaker 1: a lot of movie. And so when a rouffie exceeds
Speaker 1: even eighty minutes, because most ruffies really cluck into like
Speaker 1: like the seventy five minute mark usually, and you still
Speaker 1: feel it then, but when they pass eighty minutes, they
Speaker 1: kind of have to be earned, and I can't say
Speaker 1: that this one earns it. I definitely had even as
Speaker 1: a real I consider myself a real head for these,
Speaker 1: I definitely struggled a little. But like I also, and
Speaker 1: I felt this way about Checkl and Hyde as well,
Speaker 1: even though I liked it a lot more, both of
Speaker 1: these felt like they were they really wanted to be hardcore,
Speaker 1: and I feel like if they were, they actually would
Speaker 1: have had more of a reputation.
Speaker 2: M M. I think so too. But I kind of
Speaker 2: like that they go as hard as they do and
Speaker 2: they are as bizarre as they are in the sure
Speaker 2: exploitation context, because I think it does kind of skirt
Speaker 2: the line a couple times.
Speaker 1: Pretty cool close, Yeah, yeah, and I think they confirm
Speaker 1: all oh yeah.
Speaker 2: Can I call out the tagline for the adult version
Speaker 2: of Jekyl and Hyde, which is so awesome it is
Speaker 2: it is a tale of hex and sex rated X.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 1: That's so beautiful, beautiful. Yeah, definitely the better of the two.
Speaker 1: And it's it's interesting. It's it's not like with both
Speaker 1: of these the thing that's a lot of roughies too.
Speaker 1: They can be not necessarily inept, but maybe a little unwieldy.
Speaker 1: I think this is like really good and trashy in
Speaker 1: the right ways.
Speaker 3: Yeah, funnily enough.
Speaker 1: It's the soft core stuff where I feel like it
Speaker 1: drags a little bit but no pun intended.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And looking at my ratings, I gave this one
Speaker 2: a six and I gave Zoro a seven. But in retrospect,
Speaker 2: I remember more of Jekyl and Hyde, so I don't know.
Speaker 2: This is one of those things. But the thing I
Speaker 2: want to say about this, and the thing that is
Speaker 2: touched on in one of the booklet essays, is that
Speaker 2: this movie is actually like queer as fuck and like
Speaker 2: gay as shit. Yep, they go there. In like the
Speaker 2: fact that I was like shocked. I was like, whoa,
Speaker 2: Like Homeboy is like inhabiting a woman and he's like
Speaker 2: blowing dudes, and I'm like, this is awesome. I did
Speaker 2: not expect to go there.
Speaker 1: Yeah it does.
Speaker 2: It's like it's like a fucking trans coded, like gay
Speaker 2: coated sort of literary adaptation in a softcore seventies film.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, it's a lot going on here, and
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Yeah, pay singles a little bit dragged
Speaker 2: a little bit for me, but like I think on
Speaker 2: a rewatch, I think I'll appreciate it more. And I
Speaker 2: don't know, I appreciate the audaciousness and then just kind
Speaker 2: of like, yeah, whatever, we're gonna do this, like who cares.
Speaker 2: Maybe it'll make our audience comfortable, but fuck it.
Speaker 1: Yeah I oh go ahead, Chris, No, no, no, you go ahead.
Speaker 5: Okay, Well I'll be quick. Anyways, I just think that
Speaker 5: like there's maybe maybe the guy that makes the oh shit,
Speaker 5: I can't believe I forgot his name now, but at
Speaker 5: night we'll come for the cemetery, the Brazilian director who
Speaker 5: made all those uh cemetery movies. Oh shoot. Anyways, there's
Speaker 5: I'll think of the name here in just a second.
Speaker 5: But but there's the arrow put out that giant box
Speaker 5: out of his movies Joe.
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah yeah, I was like, wait, I know who
Speaker 1: you're talking about that thank Yeah yeah.
Speaker 5: Yeah that okay, the Coffin Joe films. I think it
Speaker 5: has a similar vibe to that in that it's like
Speaker 5: this eccentric lead. Although Coffin Joe is not necessarily going
Speaker 5: here as far as sex, it is a sleazier series
Speaker 5: and times, but like, I just think that they I
Speaker 5: love that, maybe even a little bit like Rocky Horror
Speaker 5: Picture Show, although obviously it's not as extreme. But I
Speaker 5: like it when there's something where there's an eccentric lead
Speaker 5: who doesn't necessarily fit how you would expect him to
Speaker 5: be as a lead, but in a bigger way, within
Speaker 5: the confines of the story, he fits perfectly and he
Speaker 5: kind of makes it or the lead makes it work
Speaker 5: and it doesn't happen a lot, you know, but there.
Speaker 5: I love that that they just kind of like Celesti
Speaker 5: you said it, well, like they just go for it
Speaker 5: and I think it works and it makes it a
Speaker 5: very fun watch.
Speaker 2: Yeah. This is also I mean it's a roughie for sure,
Speaker 2: Like there's some rough shit that happens in this, So, like,
Speaker 2: you know, if you're trying to get turned on, I
Speaker 2: guess be aware of that. But if you're into like
Speaker 2: crazy fucked up movies, like this is a strong contender
Speaker 2: for one that you should pick up. I think.
Speaker 1: I think the reason why people used to be able
Speaker 1: to crank their hogs to this, for lack of a
Speaker 1: better term, is that, like the options were so few
Speaker 1: back again that it's I don't think you calculate it
Speaker 1: the same way where you're like, well, I don't want
Speaker 1: to see this rough stuff. I want to wait until,
Speaker 1: like and find a good cuck scene or something, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like, it's just it didn't exist.
Speaker 1: So it's like it's such a different ballgame.
Speaker 2: No, for sure. It's like I'm here, what else am
Speaker 2: I going to do for right? Right?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: You know, right, we're not hurting for options in the
Speaker 2: Year of Our Lord twenty twenty six for this sort
Speaker 2: of thing. But you know, I had to take what
Speaker 2: you could get in nineteen seventy two when you bought
Speaker 2: a ticket already, right right, So I guess I don't know.
Speaker 2: I guess I always feel the need to kind of temper.
Speaker 2: My recommendation depending on what you're looking for, Like, if
Speaker 2: you just want a crazy exploitation movie that goes there,
Speaker 2: you should definitely check this out. I will shout out
Speaker 2: the booklet booklets. There's two of them. There's a There's
Speaker 2: a The Bane of My Existence, These perfectly bound books,
Speaker 2: which I'm going to start calling the imperfectly bound books
Speaker 2: because there's such a fucking pain to actually like read
Speaker 2: and scan and all this. But there's one of those,
Speaker 2: and then there's a booklet inside that has a pretty
Speaker 2: lengthy write up on I think all seven of the
Speaker 2: main female stars that appear in these two films pretty good.
Speaker 3: And then the.
Speaker 2: Imperfect book has an essay by Lisa Pertrucci, which is
Speaker 2: excellent and there's always love reading her writing, and it's
Speaker 2: just a really great love letter to fuck. I forgot
Speaker 2: his name, Oh, David free David Freeman. Yeah, it's great.
Speaker 2: It's just a really great like history slash memoir essay
Speaker 2: and I loved it. And then the third one is
Speaker 2: from an academic talking about some of the career subtext.
Speaker 2: It's not very long, it doesn't go very deep, but
Speaker 2: I'm glad it's acknowledged in the writing here right, And
Speaker 2: there's two commentaries that I didn't have time to go over,
Speaker 2: but they are with Mike Ranny and David Freedman, so
Speaker 2: probably worth checking out if you are a fan of
Speaker 2: either of those people. Did either of you get to
Speaker 2: watch those?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 1: So I didn't, Yes, I didn't. Sorry I should say
Speaker 1: I didn't listen to the commentary. I did go through
Speaker 1: the booklet and I agree like it's very it gives
Speaker 1: you context, specifically because oh.
Speaker 3: You know what, that's not true.
Speaker 1: I did listen to the beginning of the Jekyl and
Speaker 1: Hyde commentary now that I remember. The problem is the
Speaker 1: audio on it. It through specifically through my soundbar, had
Speaker 1: like a it almost sounded like they were on the phone,
Speaker 1: which is not the case. It's just I think it's
Speaker 1: on archival commentary back when they recorded them a little differently,
Speaker 1: so it just sounded a little rough, like it was
Speaker 1: actually unpleasant to it was like it sounded a little
Speaker 1: piercing to me. That said. Yeah, And the booklet itself though,
Speaker 1: is great, because you know, I just watched to go
Speaker 1: back to that new BEV thing for a second. They
Speaker 1: did a David Friedman double of that AGFA double that
Speaker 1: they put out the Defilers and a smell of honey,
Speaker 1: a swallow of Brian and boy did his style change
Speaker 1: in those years as a producer and as a director, but.
Speaker 3: I should say as a producer. But he.
Speaker 1: What's interesting is that watching that, watching those, it's very
Speaker 1: similar in that they kind of give you the best
Speaker 1: versions of whatever you're watching in terms of those kinds
Speaker 1: of ruffies. But here, because these are shot in color
Speaker 1: and they're restored from their negative, they.
Speaker 3: Look so good.
Speaker 1: And reading up on like kind of what kind of
Speaker 1: Carne Corman he is, you know, because he has a
Speaker 1: carnival background and he was literally a carnival barker. So
Speaker 1: to put this like Corman style filmmaker or producer into
Speaker 1: like a Carne's body is so fascinating because you absolutely
Speaker 1: understand how there's a movie that's giving you what you want,
Speaker 1: but also a hell of a salesman giving you this
Speaker 1: great The artwork, as far as I can tell, wasn't
Speaker 1: was borrowed pretty heavily from the original posters h So
Speaker 1: you know, he obviously had to say in that he
Speaker 1: knows how to pull people with this stuff.
Speaker 2: All right, Any last thoughts or should we take a
Speaker 2: trip to Japan.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's go to Let's go to Connie Connie City.
Speaker 2: Connie City. All right, I'll do that one first. We
Speaker 2: have two titles from Japan this time.
Speaker 1: Geez, I forgot whichever one you wanted to start with.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry that that was my bad.
Speaker 2: That's okay, Now you're good. Let's do it. Top Stripper
Speaker 2: and Pink Cut, Love Me Hard, Love Me Deep. It's
Speaker 2: fucking sick title. And this artwork on the slipcover. Bro, goddamn,
Speaker 2: it's sold out. So sorry to flex on you right now.
Speaker 2: But like shit, like to the audience, I mean, but
Speaker 2: like goddamn the but I will say it is they're
Speaker 2: both there in the in the reversible, so like you'll
Speaker 2: be okay. There's a booklet in here. I forgot about it.
Speaker 2: I thought that there was no features, so I dropped
Speaker 2: the ball. I didn't read the booklet. That's a fun
Speaker 2: surprise for me. But so, like, you know, you'll be
Speaker 2: okay if you get the standard edition, unless you're like
Speaker 2: a real slip pervert. But these movies, I don't know.
Speaker 2: I don't have a ton to say about them. I
Speaker 2: continue to be a little bit at arm's length in
Speaker 2: terms of my emotional sort of connection and sort of
Speaker 2: intellectual appreciation of the sort of pink stuff and the
Speaker 2: Roman porno. I think it's still a learning curve that
Speaker 2: I I have not fully bridged yet. But so I
Speaker 2: just think that these both are like fine, and they're
Speaker 2: you know, interesting and worthwhile for what they are in
Speaker 2: terms of like a sixty minute sexy romp. But I'm
Speaker 2: curious what y'all have to say about it.
Speaker 5: Well, so I think I think I know which one
Speaker 5: you like more, Eli, and I think I'm the opposite.
Speaker 5: So I'm curious if if my memory of our conversations
Speaker 5: is true. I think that Top Strippers is good and
Speaker 5: I and I had a great time with it, and
Speaker 5: I'm happy to get into it more. But I think
Speaker 5: Pink Cut is such a pleasant, like fun, charming movie
Speaker 5: that it's like a wonderful introduction to Roman porno. The
Speaker 5: you know, it's this whole area of Japanese history is
Speaker 5: so interesting to me. Like it's not like they're just
Speaker 5: you know, like the fact that it's such a constricted
Speaker 5: culture in some ways, or restrictive culture and some but
Speaker 5: at the same time they have such a different So
Speaker 5: because it's restrictive. There's a certain perception of what I
Speaker 5: think they're going to value as an American and it
Speaker 5: just translates like they have a different view on sex
Speaker 5: culturally than we do. And it's not like I think
Speaker 5: it's you know, I don't know that we have anything
Speaker 5: in the US history that sort of mirrors the Roman
Speaker 5: porno stuff as far as being theatrical and doing well
Speaker 5: and making a lot of money for studios and not
Speaker 5: seeming to be that controversial at least in the same
Speaker 5: way that it would have been here. So I just
Speaker 5: think there's like an interest there for me. And I
Speaker 5: love the fact that they didn't make sex seem like
Speaker 5: Pink Cut doesn't make sex seem dirty or salacious at all,
Speaker 5: Like it's just fun and like it helps this woman
Speaker 5: open up and like, you know, she's becoming more of
Speaker 5: her full self when she can like express that sexuality
Speaker 5: when it's I don't know, I like it, Like.
Speaker 1: Yeah I liked pink Cut, I did, But yeah, you nailed.
Speaker 1: I think it's of the two because uh, and and
Speaker 1: and the special features kind of confirm this. I believe
Speaker 1: it's in the booklet and and an interview with the
Speaker 1: with the director's widow, which was that he made Top
Speaker 1: Stripper and then they were like, hey, uh, we'll give
Speaker 1: you a little more money to make one more movie,
Speaker 1: and so he kind of he didn't cobble this together,
Speaker 1: but it obviously wasn't the one where he had a
Speaker 1: lot on his mind. Now that being said, I like
Speaker 1: that the direction he chose to go was to make
Speaker 1: something for especially for a Roman porno, incredibly wholesome. It
Speaker 1: has this very very radiantly charming dance number at the end,
Speaker 1: literally like for the credits there. It's like what you
Speaker 1: would find in a musical. And it even has a
Speaker 1: very cute outtake when all the all the confetti's coming
Speaker 1: down and one of it like lands in the lead's
Speaker 1: mouth and she has to like spit it out, and
Speaker 1: they left it in, and I think that really adds
Speaker 1: to the to the charm of this movie.
Speaker 3: That's like both horny and.
Speaker 1: Silly, And you know, Connie has been really good at
Speaker 1: finding these.
Speaker 3: I talked about this.
Speaker 1: I talked about this, I think in the review episode
Speaker 1: in our last recap episode. But I just watched and
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna shut shut up about this the whole
Speaker 1: year until we get to the end of the year rankings.
Speaker 1: But they just put out a movie called New Love
Speaker 1: in Tokyo, which I'll be very hard pressed to if
Speaker 1: they put out a better release this year, and honestly,
Speaker 1: as a partner title will easily be, if not at
Speaker 1: the top, very close to it.
Speaker 3: Calling it now.
Speaker 1: But it's a similar thing where it it's this very
Speaker 1: sex positive movie, but those words didn't exist at the
Speaker 1: time together, right, and so that term was like, so
Speaker 1: it's this movie that is it's still I'm not going
Speaker 1: to say that it's made for everybody, but it obviously
Speaker 1: still has the guys in minds. This one's definitely for
Speaker 1: the for the fellows to crank one out two, but
Speaker 1: it's still Yeah, it has a very unique I don't know,
Speaker 1: I haven't seen anything like it. So the fact that
Speaker 1: it still works gets a couple extra points for me
Speaker 1: for that reason. And as far as Top Stripper goes,
Speaker 1: the reason I responded to it a lot more is
Speaker 1: because it still has that same upbeat tone that Pink
Speaker 1: Cut has, but specifically amongst the sex workers, and you know,
Speaker 1: everybody is watching each other's backs and doing the best
Speaker 1: they can with what they have, and even the tone
Speaker 1: has this pretty upbeat thing to it, but it's incredibly,
Speaker 1: incredibly sober and grounded about the work they do and
Speaker 1: the world outside of their camaraderie. And it's not a
Speaker 1: hostile world, but matter of factly, it is a certain
Speaker 1: type of world that to this day still exists. And
Speaker 1: these things are transactional. No matter what other way you
Speaker 1: want to put it, it's still a business. So it's
Speaker 1: very clear eight about that. But what I like is
Speaker 1: it doesn't find any kind of it finds happiness in that.
Speaker 1: You know. The thing I thought about actually now that
Speaker 1: we're talking about it. You know, we just had that
Speaker 1: episode with Alex Phillips from who directed Anything That Moves,
Speaker 1: And something I've been thinking about since that interview is,
Speaker 1: you know, because that movie has this wholesome core to it.
Speaker 1: That's the word I used when we talked to him,
Speaker 1: and what I really appreciate. I'm trying to like do
Speaker 1: this as concisely as possible, but you know, he said,
Speaker 1: the title of the movie came from blue velvet and
Speaker 1: blue velvets. Opposite blue velvets. This movie that has this
Speaker 1: fifty sheen, but it's doing a Reagan interrogation, right, So
Speaker 1: it's finding literally at the beginning, it tells you what
Speaker 1: it's up to. It goes into the dirt and where
Speaker 1: all the bugs are, so anything that moves was the
Speaker 1: opposite where it's this world that has a lot, it's
Speaker 1: got a lot of wholesome stuff, but it's got a
Speaker 1: world that's that can be an unkind place. It's all
Speaker 1: about finding love where you can. As you put it,
Speaker 1: that really unlocks the whole movie. And I think that
Speaker 1: applies here. It's not really about finding these things where
Speaker 1: you can, but it's a matter of you know, this
Speaker 1: is the safest place for these people, and there's there's
Speaker 1: a world out there that isn't as kind to them
Speaker 1: and that has people who attached to them parasocially. And
Speaker 1: you know, but I don't know, the director's never a
Speaker 1: satist about it or or you know, it's not like
Speaker 1: a director we're going to talk about shortly Sato where
Speaker 1: he implicates himself in his own and in the more
Speaker 1: sadistic stuff that shows up. It's just I don't know.
Speaker 1: I really like that. It just works really well, and
Speaker 1: it's quite a fine for that reason.
Speaker 5: To me, I will say, I think if you were
Speaker 5: to just strictly look at from like a filmmaking perspective,
Speaker 5: I guess Top Stripper is I think clearly the better
Speaker 5: movie than I will say that, Like, I think the
Speaker 5: characters are written in a way where there's more depth
Speaker 5: to them. You get the history of them immediately, and
Speaker 5: the interaction between the customers and the strippers is awesome.
Speaker 5: Like it's done very well, and they don't ever have
Speaker 5: to over explain anything. They just let it play out
Speaker 5: and we all know exactly what's going on, right, And
Speaker 5: it's and I there's a there's a movie I want
Speaker 5: to see. I was reading some stat the other day,
Speaker 5: you know, in metazine Columbia alone, there's over six hundred
Speaker 5: thousand women on webcams, and like there's there's some movie
Speaker 5: that's going to be made coming up in the next
Speaker 5: few years, looking at a very similar dynamic, because you know,
Speaker 5: people fall in love with webcam models all the time, right,
Speaker 5: That's a very common thing, and like that's kind of
Speaker 5: what Top Strippers getting at, right in in a in
Speaker 5: an earlier version of that. Anyways, I love it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think the I think that I guess I
Speaker 2: should say at the jump, these are my first Roman
Speaker 2: porno movies. Just movies were my first pink fils. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: these are my first Roman pornos, and I had kind
Speaker 2: of thought that these were going to be more like
Speaker 2: the way the differential. The differential for me that I
Speaker 2: had understood was that not only are these like specifically
Speaker 2: from one production company, right, but like it's just like
Speaker 2: a more ornate, high budget version of like the pink genre.
Speaker 2: And I didn't find that here. I was like, these
Speaker 2: feel still pretty like rough around the edges, pretty low budget,
Speaker 2: but they're more They're way more digestible, you know, They're
Speaker 2: way more like they're not they don't exist to make
Speaker 2: you feel like shit. They have to give you a
Speaker 2: good experience, you know. Yeah, And to me, I think
Speaker 2: Top Stripper is the better, more interesting film, but Pink
Speaker 2: Cut is the one that had the more memorable images.
Speaker 2: I think that the really like bright lighting and the
Speaker 2: sort of fantasy esque sequence of like the barber Shop
Speaker 2: is really quite striking, and the artwork really does a
Speaker 2: great job of capturing it. But I think, you know,
Speaker 2: I'll just be honest, I didn't love these movies, but
Speaker 2: I think that they are really interesting, and I think
Speaker 2: that other people, I mean, it sounds like you both
Speaker 2: really love them. So like, I'm not going to sit
Speaker 2: here and be like, yeah, don't buy this. I think
Speaker 2: you know, I think it's great that they're out. I
Speaker 2: think it's I hope that they do more of these
Speaker 2: and uh again, it might be the sort of thing
Speaker 2: we're in five years, I'm gonna be like, the fuck
Speaker 2: were you talking about these movies? Fucking rip? Like you
Speaker 2: just weren't used to the style yet, you know. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I think it's you know, you can't in on something
Speaker 2: that you've never seen. So I'm really happy that these
Speaker 2: things are finally coming out and we can engage with them,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I've men it comes out of Top Stripper.
Speaker 5: Probably didn't help, No.
Speaker 2: I didn't, you know it was behind the time.
Speaker 3: I was like, come on, y'all, behind the behind the
Speaker 3: pink door. The Uh well, you know, I.
Speaker 1: I do think that you're right. It's good entry level
Speaker 1: Roman porno. That said, if people want to might like
Speaker 1: get more into Roman porno, eighty eight films is gonna
Speaker 1: be your if you have a if you have a
Speaker 1: region free player. A lot of Roman Porno doesn't really
Speaker 1: make its way to US releases. Now that I'm thinking
Speaker 1: about it right, it's like the aside from maybe.
Speaker 2: It's gonna start, but I don't think at all, you.
Speaker 1: Know, no for sure. I mean because there's some stuff
Speaker 1: I know, pink films already have been making their way through,
Speaker 1: like Mondo some of error. But yeah, but like a
Speaker 1: lot of Nakatsu stuff that's not true. Actually, uh, Synapse
Speaker 1: did have a I forget the name of the sub
Speaker 1: label that they released them under. It starts with an I. No, No,
Speaker 1: it's not an interscope. It's like image or but but yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah what what? Uh?
Speaker 3: A lot of.
Speaker 2: Those, But I don't think Blu Ray has really been.
Speaker 1: Yeah it was, it was, Yeah, I'm just forgetting what
Speaker 1: the Impulse Pictures that's the that's the name of the
Speaker 1: line that that Actually they did put out a pretty
Speaker 1: decent selection of Roman portals, even even on Blu Ray.
Speaker 1: Actually some of the real rough ones too, like the
Speaker 1: what's it called Star of Day Beauty Hunter.
Speaker 3: One of the.
Speaker 2: Was talking about that on her year end or like
Speaker 2: year end sort of episode, and she, I mean, if
Speaker 2: she's telling somebody that that ship's fucking rough, like yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 3: I've seen it.
Speaker 1: It I haven't logged it on letterbox because I saw
Speaker 1: it too long ago and I need to rewatch it.
Speaker 3: But it's it's not entry level. I'll tell you that.
Speaker 1: It's Uh, it's it's it's definitely a step above uh,
Speaker 1: most of.
Speaker 3: The popular ones.
Speaker 1: But yeah, there there are a lot, and you can
Speaker 1: surprisingly get them on like Amazon and stuff. Uh. But yeah,
Speaker 1: so I do think this is good entry level. But
Speaker 1: if you have a region free player and you don't
Speaker 1: wanna and you don't want to wait, you can you
Speaker 1: can definitely get like stuff from eighty eight Films. They
Speaker 1: have a whole Roman porno line. I know, New New
Speaker 1: Wave Video just announced non Rope in hell So and
Speaker 1: that's region free. But they're definitely to their way. They're
Speaker 1: they're making their way out there.
Speaker 2: So it's I guess I shouldn't. I didn't mean to
Speaker 2: say that a Roman porno necessarily uh implies like a
Speaker 2: lighter tone. But you know, I'm going based off like
Speaker 2: one director each for like pink film versus running form specifically. Well,
Speaker 2: it's hard, is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Well, it's hard not to think of it that way
Speaker 1: because they you know, when you see what t Sato
Speaker 1: does and what pink films are you know, Nakatsu's a
Speaker 1: studio that is very well collect you know, the the
Speaker 1: Janics library here with Criteria has quite a few of
Speaker 1: their things, so it's hard not to think of them
Speaker 1: in terms of like elevated.
Speaker 3: Porno even, you know.
Speaker 1: But the truth is it's there's some pretty fucking heavy
Speaker 1: duty ship and uh, you know, that's where Naomi Tani
Speaker 1: really uh you know, where she she cut her teeth,
Speaker 1: and a lot of other well known actors from there.
Speaker 3: So speaking of pink.
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, that's a good transition as any
Speaker 2: and too Swear to god, I can never get his
Speaker 2: first name right. The films of Sayasu Sata nailed it too,
Speaker 2: thank you. We have an aria on Gazes, which is
Speaker 2: a great title, and Love minus zero equals Infinity, which
Speaker 2: is a less great title. I don't know what it means,
Speaker 2: but it is interesting. It is intriguing, you know what
Speaker 2: I mean.
Speaker 1: Well, you kind of nailed it here, Like I think
Speaker 1: both of these films are pretty well, more so one
Speaker 1: than the other, but this is a pretty opaque set,
Speaker 1: Like I think the first is the first volume is
Speaker 1: a great entry level Sato like like a primer This,
Speaker 1: on the other hand, kind of is the inverse like
Speaker 1: this is not for the uninitiated, but not because the
Speaker 1: content's more objectionable. It's just that it kind of it's
Speaker 1: just and this is just an overall because obviously we're
Speaker 1: going to talk about the films, uh, you know, individually,
Speaker 1: but yeah, it's not entry level. And it also if
Speaker 1: you've watched his other movies, it feels like he's playing
Speaker 1: the hits again, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like, I like, I liked this set a lot less
Speaker 2: than the first one. I'm still gonna hang on to
Speaker 2: it because I think it is, again something I may
Speaker 2: appreciate more in retrospect. And also, yeah, if I'm going
Speaker 2: to keep the third one, my brain won't let me
Speaker 2: get rid of the second one, you know, right right,
Speaker 2: it's man they are. If the first volume was like
Speaker 2: tough to follow, this one was like even worse for me.
Speaker 2: And like, yeah, I guess there's only two of them,
Speaker 2: so like it's it's easier in that sense, but right, okay,
Speaker 2: I guess let's just go into it a little bit.
Speaker 2: In Aria in Gazes is the one that was easier
Speaker 2: for me to understand because it's such a simple premise.
Speaker 2: But this is basically, like, have either of you seen
Speaker 2: the film? I think it's called Sleeping Beauty.
Speaker 3: I know the movie you're talking about.
Speaker 1: Yep, I haven't seen them a lot, but yeah, I've
Speaker 1: heard good things about it.
Speaker 2: I like it a lot. It's it's it's been put
Speaker 2: out by IFC under OCN and I recommend it. But
Speaker 2: it's it's that premise essentially where these women are sort
Speaker 2: of gosh, it's not even clear in this It's clear
Speaker 2: in Sleeping Beauty, it's not as clear in this one
Speaker 2: whether or not this is consensual. But like basically men
Speaker 2: pay to have sex with women who are unconscious, right,
Speaker 2: And it's just in this like Pitch Black, sort of
Speaker 2: like Neon lit Room, and you just kind of go
Speaker 2: in and out of that with like, I don't know,
Speaker 2: help me out here, I'm trying to I'm getting the
Speaker 2: too confused in my mind on like what happens in
Speaker 2: which or I guess the five films i've seen it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think a little bit.
Speaker 1: You know, Chris, I'll let you take this one, not
Speaker 1: because I can't keep up with it, but because I
Speaker 1: want to talk more about my feelings than they do
Speaker 1: about what the movie's up to?
Speaker 5: Oys, No, no, So this is this is infamous because
Speaker 5: the guy who was the lead in this movie later
Speaker 5: later was arrested as being a cannibal.
Speaker 2: I think that happened first.
Speaker 5: Okay, well I don't know exactly the timing of it.
Speaker 2: So, which is what makes it so fucked up, as
Speaker 2: I'm pretty sure he was hired because he was literally
Speaker 2: a cannibal, like rapist, serial killer. It's so fucking crazy
Speaker 2: that he did that. And he did it more than
Speaker 2: once too, which is the thing. But can you imagine
Speaker 2: being the actress on set that day and being like,
Speaker 2: what am I doing today? And you're like, so we
Speaker 2: hired the literal most famous cannibal on earth and he's
Speaker 2: gonna bite your ass on camera. I would have been like,
Speaker 2: are you Like, no, I'm not doing There's no money,
Speaker 2: there's no amount of money. Well there's probably an amount
Speaker 2: of money, but like the amount of money that you
Speaker 2: have is not gonna be enough to make me do that,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean? Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I knew that going in, and what what's uh?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: I at some point the movie so weirdly, because the
Speaker 1: movie is so opaque that I kind of forgot about
Speaker 1: that halfway through the like because I was I was
Speaker 1: so like, I don't know, and that speaks to the
Speaker 1: volume of the film, like it obviously did its job right,
Speaker 1: because it did. It did hypnotize me, but for no
Speaker 1: other reason than it just has a hypnotic quality to it.
Speaker 3: It obviously is.
Speaker 1: More of of just a sensory experience. I imagine this
Speaker 1: screened here and I and.
Speaker 3: I missed it.
Speaker 1: I think actually, when we were talking earlier Celeste about
Speaker 1: off off or pre recording, one of the things I
Speaker 1: missed was this, And no it was Turtle Vision, which
Speaker 1: I loved. But I don't want to jump too far
Speaker 1: ahead there, but I do want to see how this
Speaker 1: would play in a theater because it's such a sensory experience.
Speaker 1: And excuse me, I think that it obviously has something
Speaker 1: to do with numbing yourself, you know, very literally to
Speaker 1: and and A being mistakes for sex to make things
Speaker 1: more exciting. But also there's the voyeurism element, and that
Speaker 1: that to me, I couldn't help but think, like, well,
Speaker 1: he's done the voyeur as the voyeurism element already.
Speaker 3: I've seen it. I've seen him do better versions of this.
Speaker 1: The thing that I figured out once I got to
Speaker 1: volume three without spoiling anything, is that's that's not going
Speaker 1: to go away. What's what makes it.
Speaker 2: Seems to be the singular thing he's.
Speaker 1: Interesting, right, But however, you know, yes, that said when
Speaker 1: he cooks with this idea, he's cooking with gas like like,
Speaker 1: I just don't think here he's he's fully I think
Speaker 1: this is the only time he's at a simmer with
Speaker 1: these things, because I don't.
Speaker 2: Think it's I think it's a slar focus across a career.
Speaker 2: I just think it's obvious to me that that's like
Speaker 2: what he's interested.
Speaker 1: In, right, right, And when you when you watch it
Speaker 1: in the in the and and again, I'm trying not
Speaker 1: to because I know we're the third volume will come
Speaker 1: up later, but my point being is it works really
Speaker 1: well within the movies of that set. So when you're
Speaker 1: when and and so, I I'm kind of glad this
Speaker 1: one existed now to get me back on track because
Speaker 1: it made me appreciate volume three even more and volume
Speaker 1: one even more because yeah, I mean, his thelography is
Speaker 1: so prolific. How wouldn't he have a couple of misses? Right,
Speaker 1: It's just you would think you'd think that'd be for
Speaker 1: volume five, not for volume pure, right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, there's a strategy to curation though, and I do
Speaker 5: think if they felt like this was a weaker set,
Speaker 5: there is some value in putting it early on when
Speaker 5: you have a lot of momentum, right, because you still
Speaker 5: have people that are like, it's still selling well. I
Speaker 5: will say the cinematography in this movie reminded me a
Speaker 5: lot of Kislowsky's Blue and that is widely considered to
Speaker 5: be one of the most beautiful shot films of you know,
Speaker 5: the twentieth century. And I do think that I do
Speaker 5: want to give at least some credit to Sato for
Speaker 5: making his movies something that are very beautiful to watch,
Speaker 5: even if the content is dark. For sure, it's clear
Speaker 5: that he's an artist first, and I think like he's
Speaker 5: a he's intentionally trying to be subversive, right, and he's
Speaker 5: clearly even with the cannibal thing, but like all of
Speaker 5: his movies, he's trying to be subversive. And I think
Speaker 5: he's obsessed with the idea voyeurism. I think is part
Speaker 5: of it. The way he talks about it is the
Speaker 5: interaction we have where we're there's a there's a screen
Speaker 5: in front of us all the time. So this was
Speaker 5: even back then where he's obsessed with the idea of screens, right,
Speaker 5: So who knows what he's thinking now, But like you know,
Speaker 5: like he was obsessed with this idea that we're always
Speaker 5: being watched or watching something, and so he's I think
Speaker 5: he's The way he talks about it is very openly
Speaker 5: voyeuristic and very openly about the fact that we're always
Speaker 5: being watched and but we're still shot.
Speaker 2: I think that's a non issue now, you know, the
Speaker 2: surveillance state and all that exactly a point to think
Speaker 2: about that anyway. I don't want it to seem like
Speaker 2: I think these movies are bad or I think you
Speaker 2: should skip this. I think that these movies are I
Speaker 2: think they're good movies. They're just so challenging on so
Speaker 2: many different levels that like, yeah, it's harder for me
Speaker 2: to recommend it than the first set. I don't think
Speaker 2: I would recommend the set over the first one to anybody,
Speaker 2: especially not to start with.
Speaker 3: But no, for sure, And like you know, I'm sitting.
Speaker 2: Here, like it's probably extremely morally questionable to cast a
Speaker 2: real cannibal in your film eating ass but like you know,
Speaker 2: there is the part of me that's like I'm always
Speaker 2: kind of jones in for like that next extreme thing
Speaker 2: that I can find in a movie, and like it's
Speaker 2: you're getting pretty up there, you know. It's like to
Speaker 2: really imagine if, like, you know, Jeffrey Dahmer didn't go
Speaker 2: to prison because he was like, you know, declared insane
Speaker 2: or whatever, and like somebody cast him literally like Lars
Speaker 2: von Streer was like, Hey, come be in my movie,
Speaker 2: and like, you know, you're gonna like get the get
Speaker 2: out of the knife and fork. It's gonna be a
Speaker 2: whole thing, you know, Like it's just so insane. I
Speaker 2: can't even look my mind around it. Yeah, this is
Speaker 2: an aside, and we don't have time for asides, but
Speaker 2: I'm gonna do it anyway, have either of you. The
Speaker 2: film Canniba I don't know if that's how you pronounced it,
Speaker 2: is from twenty seventeen. It's a documentary film about this person.
Speaker 2: It's maybe the most uncomfortable thing I've ever watched in
Speaker 2: my life, not just because of the content, but the
Speaker 2: way it is shot is so oppressively close up and gross.
Speaker 2: I gave it a two out of ten because I
Speaker 2: think it's like, it's such an unpleasant watching experience and
Speaker 2: also pretty morally questionable. But it is among the most confronting,
Speaker 2: subversive and interesting documentaries I think I've ever seen, so Like,
Speaker 2: I don't not recommend it. It's a lot, but I
Speaker 2: knew a lot about this person going in, and so
Speaker 2: when I read that that's who it was, I was
Speaker 2: like pretty taken it back. But I don't know if
Speaker 2: that's a recommendation, but it's a this This document does
Speaker 2: exist if you want to go see it. I have
Speaker 2: considered rewatching it, but it is just such a viscerally
Speaker 2: uncomfortable experience that it is challenging. I guess we should
Speaker 2: move on to Love minus zero equals Infinity, though I
Speaker 2: see you want to have one last point, which I will.
Speaker 5: Oh no, I'm sorry. I thought before we leave Japan,
Speaker 5: I have one thing I want to throw in. But
Speaker 5: let's talk about Love Man and Zero first, because that's okay. Yeah,
Speaker 5: this movie for me is the is the more difficult
Speaker 5: one to remember I actually watched.
Speaker 2: I think so too. I still even though it's the
Speaker 2: more plot heavy one, like I just couldn't tell you
Speaker 2: what happened, Like there's a vampire there's a slight detective
Speaker 2: element to it. There's like blood transfer. I don't know, man,
Speaker 2: it's that's a great point in the in the essay
Speaker 2: about it, but I'll let I'll let Eli talk about it,
Speaker 2: because it sounds like you have more to say.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I well, I I think this is the weaker
Speaker 1: of the two as well. But what I remember about it,
Speaker 1: what I what I kind of did appreciate about it,
Speaker 1: is that it what it does do with the voyeur
Speaker 1: element is it's a it's a it's a person who
Speaker 1: follows other people and he kind of happens. It's kind
Speaker 1: of like Christopher Nolan's Following, where a guy follows a
Speaker 1: random person sort of and ends up. I haven't seen
Speaker 1: Following in twenty years, but I just remember, you know,
Speaker 1: he obviously ends up in someone else's story almost and
Speaker 1: he watches people with a camera, and it ends up
Speaker 1: being basically a allegory. It ends up dealing with the nineties,
Speaker 1: the very early nineties scare of AIDS.
Speaker 3: I mean, this was something that was already.
Speaker 1: Scary in the eighties, but but it obviously in Japan
Speaker 1: it was being dealt with different in the kind of
Speaker 1: it sounds like in the same way it wasn't America,
Speaker 1: which is it was. It was treated as a bad
Speaker 1: you know, as like a failing on a person's part
Speaker 1: getting it right, and so so.
Speaker 2: As long as a moral component to disease, which is right,
Speaker 2: right and frustrating and also kind of understandable. Right it's anyway,
Speaker 2: that's a whole topic.
Speaker 1: Right right, So it kind of it kind of makes
Speaker 1: it also blends vamporism, you know, almost like like habit,
Speaker 1: where it's this thing about vamporism as a disease, you know,
Speaker 1: overlapping with AIDS and beyond that what I kind of
Speaker 1: I think the movie was very visually exciting.
Speaker 3: Again, but I think because.
Speaker 1: Even though obviously HIV and there's prep now and there's
Speaker 1: ways to kind of you know, live with it in
Speaker 1: undetectable terms, I don't think that cheapens this any less.
Speaker 1: But I don't feel any heightened sense of I don't know,
Speaker 1: it feels almost more artifactual than it does compelling, right, so,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's still an hour and it goes right,
Speaker 1: These all for better or worse, go down fairly easy
Speaker 1: on those terms. But yeah, I think overall that's pretty
Speaker 1: much all I had to say about it, because I
Speaker 1: think that it's nice to know what I did with
Speaker 1: the other thing that really drew me in is it's
Speaker 1: nice to know that there's a that he could just
Speaker 1: at any point, he could have just thrown his hands
Speaker 1: up and be like, I'm gonna make a quote unquote
Speaker 1: real movie or a non pink film, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. Like he could have this totally did not
Speaker 1: have to be a pink film at all. You could
Speaker 1: make that argument for a lot of his movies, probably,
Speaker 1: but I think a lot of the times he knows
Speaker 1: how to fuse them. This one, on the other hand,
Speaker 1: feels like he had a movie in mind and he
Speaker 1: just he just contractually made it a pink film when
Speaker 1: he had to. More so than the other ones. I
Speaker 1: feel like that's like underlined and marker.
Speaker 2: This does have And that's a great transition to the
Speaker 2: main point I wanted to make, which that this does
Speaker 2: have the skeleton of a more traditional narrative feature. And
Speaker 2: I really want to call out, excuse me, the essay
Speaker 2: from Felipe Ertado is so fucking good in this booklet,
Speaker 2: and the thing that he points out that nailed what
Speaker 2: was has been so challenging for me about these films
Speaker 2: he makes. He talks about the film The Sicilian, where
Speaker 2: contractually he was not allowed to make. The director's name
Speaker 2: is Michael Simono.
Speaker 3: Oh, Michael Chimino.
Speaker 2: Chimino, thank you. Contractually, the film was only supposed to
Speaker 2: be one hundred and twenty minutes Max. So he got
Speaker 2: his director's cut together, which was two hours twenty and
Speaker 2: then he was like, cool, that's the movie I made.
Speaker 2: That's the movie I'm gonna make, and so he, for
Speaker 2: the producers, made a two hour cut. Sorry, my cat
Speaker 2: is on the verge of knocking over my webcam. We're good.
Speaker 2: He made the two hour cut, but he cut out
Speaker 2: all the action scenes, so the film is unwatchable. To
Speaker 2: the producers, it's.
Speaker 1: Like, sorry, you know the I think I missed my
Speaker 1: audio dropped? Is this Heaven's Gate? Or which Tomato film?
Speaker 3: Is this?
Speaker 2: Uh? The Sicilian?
Speaker 1: Oh? Oh that's right, that's right. Sorry, okay, got it.
Speaker 2: So he makes a cut without any of the action
Speaker 2: and the producers are like this sucks, and he's like, cool,
Speaker 2: I could put the action back, but it's gonna be
Speaker 2: over twenty it's gonna be over two hours, and so
Speaker 2: they let him do it, and that was just working
Speaker 2: around for it. And it feels like this is not
Speaker 2: a point that I'm making. This is the point that
Speaker 2: I'm repeating because I think it's really sharp, is that
Speaker 2: Stato seems to do the opposite where he leaves in
Speaker 2: all the lurid stuff. He leaves in all the sex,
Speaker 2: all the like you know, the stuff you paid for,
Speaker 2: but all that stuff in between that like builds characters
Speaker 2: that as motivation that kind of lets you get to
Speaker 2: point A to point B is all cut out and
Speaker 2: you're just sat there to like kind of try and
Speaker 2: figure it out yourself. Like I guess I have to
Speaker 2: infer as an autistic person, I struggle with that, and
Speaker 2: so I think these films are tailor made to be
Speaker 2: confusing for me personally. But I do have to admire
Speaker 2: how different they are and what the challenge that they afford,
Speaker 2: even if at the end of the day that means
Speaker 2: a month later, I cannot tell you for the life
Speaker 2: of me what happens in these movies.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, I mean overall, it's kind of the same
Speaker 1: thing you guys were talking about, where like they obviously
Speaker 1: curated it in a certain way, because it did still
Speaker 1: leave me excited for the next volume. I wasn't like,
Speaker 1: it didn't deter me or make me be like, all right,
Speaker 1: I'll hold off it. Actually, on the other hand, made
Speaker 1: me be like, all right, let's see because I knew,
Speaker 1: you know, Turtle Vision is often considered one of his best,
Speaker 1: so as soon as I saw that, I was like, Okay, cool,
Speaker 1: whatever this is. And then I remember just seeing the
Speaker 1: trailer for it, I was like, oh, they're shitt in here,
Speaker 1: even by his terms, I haven't even seen yet, so
Speaker 1: I'm really excited for it. And then it was like
Speaker 1: one of the first things I wanted to dive into
Speaker 1: when I got it. But yeah, I'm glad we it.
Speaker 1: This also seems to be the general consensus on on
Speaker 1: this volume, which is kind of a good thing because
Speaker 1: nobody was like, oh this was a waste of time
Speaker 1: or this sucked, you.
Speaker 5: Know, yeah, just weaker than volume one, right, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 5: is there anything else? Because I just want to give
Speaker 5: a really quick honorable man for it.
Speaker 1: And then sure.
Speaker 2: To say about our last title. So as long as
Speaker 2: we can get it done in fifteen minutes, we're good.
Speaker 5: Awesome fifteen minutes with you starting in.
Speaker 1: Exactly Oh man, good stuff.
Speaker 5: I just want to call it film movement classics. It's
Speaker 5: not an adult title per se, but it's Love's Whirlpool.
Speaker 5: And I'm holding it up because I think there's going
Speaker 5: to be video with this, right, so I just want
Speaker 5: to call it out and say people should watch it
Speaker 5: because it's all about an underground sex club in Japan
Speaker 5: where people go and pay cash and they just they're
Speaker 5: there to have sex with strangers for that night. So
Speaker 5: it starts from like, let's say midnight to five am
Speaker 5: or eleven pm to five am or something like that.
Speaker 5: So let's Kat just knocked over Eli's camera.
Speaker 2: He's really talented.
Speaker 5: But it's this really like raw, emotionally raw exploration of
Speaker 5: the like what's the word the insecurities people bring into
Speaker 5: something like that. Like it doesn't romanticize this sex club
Speaker 5: at all. It's like it's just this like raw emotional
Speaker 5: nerve for an hour and a half or two hours
Speaker 5: or whatever it is. And I think it's made really well,
Speaker 5: and there is a lot of nudity and sex in it,
Speaker 5: if that's what you're going for typical Japanese, Like there's
Speaker 5: no penetration, but it's definitely like a softcore movie. With
Speaker 5: quite a lot of nudity in it, but it's not
Speaker 5: about that at all. Like it's a very very good
Speaker 5: character study and I think it's under discussed and I
Speaker 5: think people should watch it.
Speaker 2: Hell yeah, there was on the Malos site, so I
Speaker 2: could have reviewed it, but I'll have to check it
Speaker 2: out some time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I I guess while we're doing the callouts
Speaker 1: real quick before we before we bring it home. Another
Speaker 1: one that So there's two titles. I actually just want
Speaker 1: to really really quick shout out here. One was a
Speaker 1: little older. It I think came out last summer, but
Speaker 1: I picked it up during the V Day sale and
Speaker 1: it was a life in Dirty Movies about the Sarnos.
Speaker 2: I was shocked that didn't show up on the maleousn
Speaker 2: site because.
Speaker 1: Yeah, same, same, and I loved it, great, great documentary. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just well, it ends up becoming more about Peggy
Speaker 1: Stephan's Sarno, his wife. It kind of it doesn't because
Speaker 1: Joe is very he's already very old in the movie
Speaker 1: and he kind of he's a few he's not far
Speaker 1: from past away and their conversations, like Peggy is so
Speaker 1: clear eyed, and it's an incredible I just think it's
Speaker 1: really relevant to mel You Scene obviously because Distric Picks
Speaker 1: has some Joe Sarno movies, and Vineger Syndrome obviously has
Speaker 1: a history of putting out his stuff, So highly recommend
Speaker 1: that documentary if if you can't fork out the money.
Speaker 1: It's been on sale every not just during the halfway stuff,
Speaker 1: but every subscriber sale and the V Day sale. It's
Speaker 1: been at least half off, So I'd recommend picking it
Speaker 1: up just for because you get slightly longer interviews on
Speaker 1: the special features. But if you don't want to do that,
Speaker 1: if you have a Canopy streaming service, it's on Canopy.
Speaker 1: It's it's not even I think, barely eighty minutes, and it.
Speaker 3: Just it's it's great.
Speaker 1: And even though it was already released, the mel You
Speaker 1: Scene and Vinegar Syndrome did put out an alternate slip
Speaker 1: cover a variant for Orgy of the Dead and a
Speaker 1: movie that Edward wrote. It's often associated with him, but
Speaker 1: it was actually directed by A. C. Stevens, who also
Speaker 1: directed which I believe his Williams. Stephen Apostoloff is the
Speaker 1: name he goes by. I'm trying to remember if that's right,
Speaker 1: But anyway, he h, it might as well, for all
Speaker 1: intents and purposes.
Speaker 3: Be in Edwood film.
Speaker 1: He yeah, Steven c apostle Off is his real name,
Speaker 1: but they collaborated on a few movies together, Fugitive Girls
Speaker 1: Orgy of the Dead. And it's not for everybody. It's
Speaker 1: definitely just a distilled nuty hutie just in a graveyard
Speaker 1: with a lot of gothic imagery. It's great to have
Speaker 1: on in the background of a party with the right
Speaker 1: people attending and some great there's a great commentary with
Speaker 1: Frank kenn Laughter and Ruolph Gray who was Edwards biographer,
Speaker 1: and the you know, Vampira isn't in this, but there
Speaker 1: is a variation on Vampira that I absolutely love with
Speaker 1: this movie. So the the variant is the only thing
Speaker 1: that's available. Can't even buy the standard or the or
Speaker 1: the just the og slip cover that's been out of
Speaker 1: print for a while, But when it's on sale, it's
Speaker 1: like seventeen bucks, totally worth it. If I think people
Speaker 1: who know whether or not they like Edward's stuff will
Speaker 1: know if they dig this. But it's definitely you definitely
Speaker 1: feel the running time. It's ninety minutes, but it doesn't
Speaker 1: sound like an endorsement, but I love it so well.
Speaker 2: They back in the day, they did three mini slipcovers.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you know what I'm talking about,
Speaker 2: Vininger Syndrome. It was a merch.
Speaker 1: Item, yes, yes, yes, yes, I do remember that, and
Speaker 1: I found.
Speaker 2: Them on EVA very cheap and I bought them and
Speaker 2: it was The Uninvited or the Dead and Orgy of
Speaker 2: the Dead, and that's that's the only one that I
Speaker 2: don't have, like the real version of it. So I've
Speaker 2: been on the lookout for it, but I'll check it out. Okay.
Speaker 2: Last one, whoever does the artwork for this this Delirium
Speaker 2: home video puts titties on every single one of those
Speaker 2: loop covers, so let me but this is a Doriana
Speaker 2: gray and then here's the back, which is also pretty steamy.
Speaker 2: Jess Franco, you know, love him or hate him, I
Speaker 2: can't really avoid.
Speaker 1: Him in this space, Yeah, that's for sure. Well, and he.
Speaker 2: Has a very strong following.
Speaker 3: You know, real quick.
Speaker 1: The slipcover is designed by Suspiria Vilchez. I hope I'm
Speaker 1: pronouncing them his name correct, but uh, I remember Suspiria
Speaker 1: has done a few things for them, and they've all
Speaker 1: been bangers.
Speaker 2: I think, I think I don't know the person's gender, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah I don't either, but but yeah I did. I
Speaker 1: believe the nesting and something else from around that period
Speaker 1: and good good stuff. Shout out Suspiria, great name too.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I uh, this was the first partnership between
Speaker 1: Delirium and uh Vinegar Syndrome slash mel you've seen for
Speaker 1: people who don't know, Delirium was going to do their
Speaker 1: own distribution and and they had some weird thing with
Speaker 1: their art covers last summer where they were like AI coded,
Speaker 1: like they used AI so like there's a shot of
Speaker 1: something with Lena Rome where she has like six toes
Speaker 1: or something like that and four fingers or they basically.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna, I'm gonna be real bold right now. Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna burn our audience right now.
Speaker 2: I think having an AI generated slipcover of Lena Rome
Speaker 2: with six toes is awesome.
Speaker 1: Well, it's it's like a collector's item now because if
Speaker 1: you did go out of the wild through Diabolic I believe,
Speaker 1: and then they recalled them. But uh, yeah, this was
Speaker 1: so so far what as far as I know with
Speaker 1: Deliriums and I'm I'm not I'm sure I'm not a
Speaker 1: Franco scholar, but nor am I a uh like entry level.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm somewhere in the middle, still getting to
Speaker 1: know Uncle Jess. But these are all right from as
Speaker 1: far as I know. With the Delirium titles, they were
Speaker 1: allud by and some of them even directed by Irwin C.
Speaker 1: Dietrich who the most famous title with Lena was Rolls
Speaker 1: Royce Baby, I believe, And they all had like hardcore
Speaker 1: and softcore hut cuts for the most part.
Speaker 3: I think some of them just had soft core cuts,
Speaker 3: like the uh.
Speaker 1: Love Letters to a Portuguese None, which just came out
Speaker 1: this month as a partner released through that's available on
Speaker 1: both sites, which is very rare. This one is almost
Speaker 1: out of print. They're down to three eighty five, but
Speaker 1: there's this one has both the softcore and hardcore cut,
Speaker 1: which is why it's strictly on mel you've seen. And
Speaker 1: I was really excited for this one because I know
Speaker 1: this is considered one of Uncle Jess's best. What was
Speaker 1: your take the last how and how well versed are
Speaker 1: you on Franco?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this is probably my tikes film with
Speaker 2: this that I've seen, which you know, for most directors
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, I'm like, you know, I know all
Speaker 2: his ship, but like for him, it's like what six.
Speaker 3: Yeah if that I was gonna say that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And uh, the viewers just got an awesome shot
Speaker 2: of my cat yawning big, big, good job being a
Speaker 2: real star. I don't have a ton of thoughts on this.
Speaker 2: I'll just share them real quick. I like the cinematography,
Speaker 2: I genuinely do. I know people say that when they
Speaker 2: can't think of anything else to say, because I didn't
Speaker 2: think it was that good, but I did really like it.
Speaker 2: The vibes are there, Lena Rome is really hot. Uh,
Speaker 2: that's what I have to say about that. And am
Speaker 2: I missing something or is this just straightforwardly not an
Speaker 2: adaptation of Dorian Gray and it's just called that for
Speaker 2: no reason?
Speaker 3: I don't.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, well there is something with like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a strange thing because there is like
Speaker 1: a mirror involved sort of, I guess to a degree.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean it's not it's it's certainly a
Speaker 1: loose adaptation to put it nicely.
Speaker 3: I mean the title is definitely meant to get people's attention.
Speaker 1: But you know, look, Leona, you're right, Lena Remay is
Speaker 1: incredibly beautiful, so you have a movie where she's facing
Speaker 1: off against herself sexually.
Speaker 3: That's got my attention.
Speaker 1: But like a lot of this, you're right to call
Speaker 1: out the cinematography because you're right. Look, it's it's an
Speaker 1: easy thing to go to, especially in in in the
Speaker 1: streaming era where now we know everything that was shot
Speaker 1: on film just looks better by default. But I do
Speaker 1: think he's really really cooking here.
Speaker 2: There's in here ro I'm like, god, damn, like you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: and like that is framed by someone like I don't
Speaker 2: know who knows what they're doing. It's not just like yes, you.
Speaker 1: Know, yeah, yeah, some real silhouetted shots and like, uh
Speaker 1: like well, because he loves he genuinely loves Lena Romey's body,
Speaker 1: like it's not it's it's it's a weird way to
Speaker 1: say it, but his his camera genuinely is as enamored
Speaker 1: as he is. Somehow he translates that, which is rare.
Speaker 1: Usually it doesn't feel objectifying. It genuinely feels like simping,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, and Lena's expressions because she has
Speaker 1: such a radiant smile.
Speaker 3: They're just top in peak form here.
Speaker 1: And I didn't watch the softcore cut.
Speaker 3: I should have.
Speaker 1: I actually think Justice Porno's are pretty bad. Most people
Speaker 1: will say that too. They want to argue against it,
Speaker 1: just in terms of they're so they're they're extra extra gynecological,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like they really get in there,
Speaker 1: and but they just don't really focus. There's no interest
Speaker 1: in zooming out, you know. So I loved it. You know,
Speaker 1: the the the places in this mansion and in the
Speaker 1: in the UH institution, they're really they're really atmospheric, like
Speaker 1: especially for Uncle Jess.
Speaker 5: Yeah yeah, Chris, No, I didn't get to see it.
Speaker 5: I'm just listening. Oh no, no, no, no, that's right, only
Speaker 5: one I didn't get to the time. Yeah, okay, but
Speaker 5: I'm just listening. But no, I mean it's look, I'm
Speaker 5: excited for Delirium. I'll just say that because it's it's
Speaker 5: a it's like a perfect partner label thing because now
Speaker 5: VS gets to claim a lot of Franco too.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, because vs's mainline Franco output is a little
Speaker 1: more divisive, to say the least.
Speaker 2: And my introduction was too Undercover Angels and at the time,
Speaker 2: and honestly still I thought it was like two of
Speaker 2: the worst movies I've ever seen. I believe how bad
Speaker 2: they were. And now I've driven around seeing more of
Speaker 2: the I mean, that's his spy comedy, which is like
Speaker 2: a genre I hate generally. So yeah, not off on
Speaker 2: the rest. Start, if we're just talking about like sumptuous
Speaker 2: sort of like gothic vampire ship or whatever like I've
Speaker 2: been seeing lately, like I'm into that. H do you
Speaker 2: know what this movie is about? I don't even remember,
Speaker 2: to be.
Speaker 1: Honest, yeah, it's so so if I'll do this based
Speaker 1: on memory, but if I remember correctly, it's Lena Rome
Speaker 1: plays Doriana Gray, and she's like sort of a suckubus
Speaker 1: that has a twin sister that is institutionalized. But the
Speaker 1: thing is, Doriana Gray cannot orgasm, like when she gets aroused.
Speaker 1: The sibling that is in the institution is the one
Speaker 1: who has the orgasm, I believe, And and so it
Speaker 1: kind of that's why it ends with them excuse me,
Speaker 1: squaring off against themselves and how that shot is actually
Speaker 1: very impressive, but you know, it has that seaside Hayes.
Speaker 1: I mean the thing about good franco Is like Vampiro's
Speaker 1: Lesbos or or even his like his Eurospy ones like
Speaker 1: what is it the girl from Rio? They always have
Speaker 1: these like dreamy seaside hayes things to them, while like
Speaker 1: while there's like some really great music, some jazzy music,
Speaker 1: Venus and Furs is another one, Like they all have
Speaker 1: these like beachside or riverside things to them. And and
Speaker 1: it clearly between that and having a beautiful life partner,
Speaker 1: like that's all he needs to start filming, you know.
Speaker 3: And so I think, like.
Speaker 1: And there's an interview by the way, with Lena Rome
Speaker 1: on this and the way, she also speaks very lovingly
Speaker 1: of him. She just loves working with him. She also
Speaker 1: loves being on camera. That's the other thing I think
Speaker 1: I was speaking to this thing about how you know
Speaker 1: she gets on camera even when she's doing hardcore stuff.
Speaker 1: And I know Jess hated it, but Lena Rome was
Speaker 1: an exhibitionist, like very admittedly, like she was open about that.
Speaker 1: She loved showing off her body, she loved being naked.
Speaker 1: So it's hard to have that intent versus impact argument
Speaker 1: when the person who's taking off their clothes is like,
Speaker 1: I want to do this one hundred. You know, her
Speaker 1: agency is there through and through and only that you
Speaker 1: know she's getting off on it. So there's something to that,
Speaker 1: I think in terms of you know, something that I
Speaker 1: think is something to keep in mind when you're watching
Speaker 1: this stuff, even if it even if Jess doesn't like
Speaker 1: making the porno himself. Like the actual hardcore parts, this
Speaker 1: also only has like twelve minutes of hardcore inserts like
Speaker 1: the softcore cut is actually I think like almost a
Speaker 1: full ten minutes shorter.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So yeah, on.
Speaker 2: That note, we move from getting off to logging off.
Speaker 2: I think, is there a great size way sentiments or.
Speaker 1: Well, if not to put you on the spot on here,
Speaker 1: but I hope I would love to actually join.
Speaker 3: You for January to talk more soft for sure.
Speaker 1: Okay, great, I don't think Chris if I don't know,
Speaker 1: that's up to you obviously, but but if you want
Speaker 1: to join, Chris, but I, oh boy, yeah, I thought.
Speaker 1: I think Malusine is already having a great year and
Speaker 1: we didn't get to talk about this because the sale
Speaker 1: already happened, but they announced the partnership with the VCX
Speaker 1: which is kind of the other big label that was
Speaker 1: missing from their repertoire. That's that's a really big get
Speaker 1: for them because a lot of very famous movies. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Debbie does Dallas right out the gate. So, uh, what
Speaker 1: I'm most excited about, And you guys can tell me
Speaker 1: if you feel this way, but I like that there's
Speaker 1: more labels because that means the peakoramas and the quality x's,
Speaker 1: all of that.
Speaker 3: Will be more far apart from each other.
Speaker 1: Because I felt like the one drawback to Malusine kind
Speaker 1: of when they first launched was you basically had three
Speaker 1: labels and an occasional partner label, right, So yeah, very much. So,
Speaker 1: so I know what the partner labels. It's like, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: if there's one shot of a dick that's hard, it
Speaker 1: can qualify your cat again Celaste.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, I'll just hold it. Yeah yeah, I'm just
Speaker 3: gonna hold.
Speaker 2: It's actually causing trouble as we speak, so I gotta go,
Speaker 2: but I'm gonna do.
Speaker 3: I'm gonna do blur witch. I'm gonna do blur witch. Ending.
Speaker 1: All right, all right, thank thanks, thanks to both of you.
Speaker 3: This is super super super fun.
Speaker 5: Yeah awesome, Yeah, thank you all, thanks for inviting me.
Speaker 5: I don't know that I need to come back on
Speaker 5: all of these like it's it's just like we said,
Speaker 5: so much to watch, but I've really enjoyed being here
Speaker 5: for two of them. Thank you all for inviting me in.
Speaker 2: Yeah of course, sweet. All right right, we'll see you
Speaker 2: next time.
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely thanks