Tinto Brass Collection [DVD]

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Almost every country got to see this film before America, who came very late to the game after gray market copies were traded around for years. The film was officially released on DVD in virtually identical transfers in both the US and UK in the early 2000s, letterboxed at 1.66:1. For some reason both DVDs claimed to be 16:9 enhanced, but neither actually were. The US Cult Epics transfer incorporated about 12 minutes of Italian dialogue which was trimmed from English prints, and a remastered anamorphic version was eventually released as part of the label's discontinued Tinto Brass Collection box set. The Cult Epics disc also contains a hefty 17-minute video interview with Brass, a photo gallery, filmographies for Brass and Sandrelli, and the original European trailers for this film, Miranda, and All Ladies Do It, the last of which is mostly a very funny conversation between Brass and his leading lady.

Thankfully, he nets the necessary interviews to lend Istintobrassa good amount of scholarships and authenticity.Yes, it’s ultimately a lot of talking heads saying nice things about Tinto Brass, but one never assumes that it’s exaggeration or untruth.Hyperbole, perhaps. But hey, this isthe movies. That said, Brass has no shortage of noteworthy supporters.Helen Mirren, Franco Nero, Sir Ken Adam, Gigi Proietti, and Serena Grandi are just a few of the personalities interviewed for this career-spanning documentary about him.Featured critics offering further history and analysis include Gianni Canova, Marco Giusti, and Manilo Gomarasca.Brass plays himself in the film’s playful office-bound framework, in which his gorgeous personal assistant (Cinzia Roccaforte) helps Brass sort through submissions, deciding together which might warrant adaptation to film.Naturally, when they seize on a keeper, the film transitions to said segment, complete with a revolving door of very game actors and actresses taking on the described roles.(Including Erika Savastani, Paolo Lanza, Cristina Rinaldi, Gabriella Barbuti, and several others).Some are sexier than others, some are more voyeuristic than others, but all share Brass’s trademark libido.

The plot of The Key is dervied from the novel Kagi by Jun'ichirô Tanizaki, which has been adapted numerous times including 1959's Odd Obsession by Kon Ichikawa and another little seen version made the same year in '83 by Akitaka Kimata. The original 1956 novel was written in diary form between the husband and wife, with a sexual frankness that made it one of the more controversial works for the author (who also wrote the often-filmed Manji). From there, Brass runs things through his quite-male filter in creating short vignettes, which ostensibly has been the hope of the letter-writers all along.The wish fulfillment of it all is a two-way street, granting the senders the satisfaction of their letter being adapted to film by Brass, while for Brass himself, they’re an opportunity to indulge his posterior fetishes and soft gyno-gaze in the name of fan service. A Magic Mirror: A femme fatale, looking sexily at herself in the mirror, recalls a highly sensual love affair... Julia: One of the world's greatest erotic photographers takes three beautiful models on a trip to Rome. Perverse yet innocence, they find redemption in the Vatican City...Hold Me Tight A woman in the throes of a sexual relationship with her doctor is soon to discover that the doctor is in fact a nun! Voyeur: A hotel employee betray s his position of authority to spy on the rooms through networked screens and discovers extra-marital affairs with one of the hotel's waitresses... I Am The Way You Want Me: A difficult relationship is explored between a brusque man and a fragile woman who falls in love with her brother-in-law and is persuaded to cheat on her husband...

Before Brass was “the aged patriarch of erotica”, however, he earned a reputation as a boldly artistic visionary, was dubbed “the Antonioni of the 1970s” and the heir apparent of the Nouvelle Vague.He made highly visible films such as Salon Kitty, Dropout, and quite notoriously, Caligula- one of the most-seen Italian films in the United States. Brass keeps things moving at a rather energetic clip, with no segment wearing out its welcome.All physical intimacy appears to be faked, and degradation is never at all the name of the game.Perhaps this is part and parcel as to why Tinto Brass (we’re told) maintains a strong female following. Brass shoots lady-parts the way that Sergio Leone shot Clint Eastwood’s eyes.That level of focused intensity is perhaps the auteur-studies through-line here, as each segment otherwise takes on a tone of its own.(Particularly a VHS videotape, the contents of which are included and Brass in reality claims he really did receive).They are all colorful and vibrant little fantasies, ranging from the lighthearted to the absurd. The undisputed King of Erotica lends his name to twelve of the sexiest short stories imaginable. Directed in the Tinto Brass style by some of the most talented new Italian directors working today, Tinto Brass has produced the films as well as featuring in his trademark cameo appearances. Only later would he transition fully and unapologetically into erotica with popular titles like Paprikaand All Ladies Do It .In the doc’s representation of these later efforts, it’s apparent that Brass did not set aside his filmmaking acumen, communicating that he for one never felt that pure erotica was beneath his skill set.Improper Relations A cousin comes to visit and turns the household upside down as she seduces almost all her relatives! After watching P.O. Box Tinto Brass,viewers may be surprised to learn of Brass’s deep and lofty cinematic ties, not to mention his earlier reputation as an up-and-coming avant-garde savant.Much time is devoted to his early “cineaste” years, wherein he served under Henri Langlois of the Cinémathèque Française, was commissioned by Umberto Eco, and worked closely with Roberto Rossellini and Joris Ivens.He was never then not respectable and proved to be quite respected. Italy / 2013 / color / Approx 94 Mins / Aspect Ratio 1.85:00 /DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono / Italian/English language with English subtitles

Italy / 1995 / color / Approx 94 Mins / Aspect Ratio 1.85:00 / DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono / Italian Language with English Subtitles, English Dub

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To be clear, there’s plenty about Brass that doesn’t sit well.Not now, anyway.The optics of a cigar chomping mogul leering at beautiful women one-third his age are simply not good, no matter who comes in to defend the guy. Cult Epics, in promotion of its attractive new Tinto Brass Blu-ray double feature of P.O. Box Tinto Brassand Istintobrass, leads its own copy with that semi-clarifying quote by the aged patriarch of erotica himself.Whether one receives Brass’s pronouncement as legitimate or just more smoke being blown by the perpetually cigar-wielding filmmaker, it is hard to deny the sure-handed nature of the otherwise light-as-feature comedy P.O. Box Tinto Brass (Fermo Posta Tinto Brass). Blessed Transgression: By chance, a divorced couple meet each other in a local park. They soon play a game with two complete strangers and the old passion is re-ignited, this time with a difference... Tinto Brass fans will not want to miss out on this special set.Cult Epics is smart to pair the filmmaker profile documentary with the worthwhile but admittedly slighter feature film.Between the fictionalized documentary-esque framework of P.O. Box Tinto Brassand the earnest documentary approach of Istintobrass,their coupling is anything but incongruous.The presence of Tinto Brass himself in both films, in all his affable chimney-like smoke-spewing glory, is the logical and ultimately welcome connection. Paired with P.O. Box Tinto Brassis Massimiliano Zanin’s 2013 documentary, Istintobrass.Though a legitimate feature-length filmmaker profile, one couldn’t be blamed for perhaps questioning Zanin’s objectivity, seeing how much of his own online resume is made up of previous Tinto Brass projects.