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Dom Robinson reviews
- Cert:
- Cat.no: DV 1124
- Running time: 87 minutes
- Year: 2000
- Pressing: 2003
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 15 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: Italian/French/English
- Subtitles: English (part-subtitled)
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- RRP: £19.99
- Extras:Behind the Scenes, Asia Argento Interview, Asia Argento Biography,Trailers & TV Spots, Production Stills Gallery, Audio Commentary
Director:
- Asia Argento
(DeGenerazione, La Scomparsa, L’Assenzio, La Tua lingua sul mio cuore, Loredasia, Scarlet Diva)
Producers:
- Claudio Argento and Dario Argento
Screenplay:
- Asia Argento
Music:
- John Hughes
Cast:
- Anna Battista: Asia Argento
Kirk Vaines: Jean Shepard
Aaron Ulrich: Herbert Fritsch
Dr Pascuccia: Gianluca Arcopinto
Mr Parr: Joe Coleman
Margherita: Francesca d’Aloja
Veronica Lanza: Vera Gemma
J-Bird: Justinian Kfoury
Anna’s Mother: Daria Nicolodi
Hash-Man: Schoolly D
Quelou: Selen
Hamid: Alessandro Villari
Scarlet Divais apparently a semi-autobiographical tale as porn star – although she callsherself a whore to some people – Anna Battista (Asia Argento) goes onan experimental search, with both men and women, to find someone she can feelloved by and make love too, not just fuck. She goes for rock star KirkVaines (Jean Shepard) early on but it’s not to last.
We learn how Anna used to be in a threesome relationship with Hamid(Alessandro Villari) and Veronica (Vera Gemma), but we’reled to believe that him treating Veronica like shit is for real when it’s justpart of a sick sordid fantasy in which, in Veronica’s case at least, she likesto get beaten up as part of that relationship. Takes all sorts, I suppose.
Anna also reminisces about her troubled childhood when her mother (Asia’sreal-life mother Daria Nicolodi) told her how masturbation was dirtyand how things became even more tragic while she grew up in the family homewith just her mother and brother.
Asia Argento certainly isn’t shy about stripping off for the camera,but overall it’s not a film that reflects the Rolling Stone quote on the cover,“Here’s the movie that should be called xXx.”, since it’s not thehorny sex-fest it’s made to sound like. It’s like a post-modern arthouse film,and by post-modern I mean ‘weird for the sake of weird’.
The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and largely looks verygood, but there’s occasionally print defects, such as at the start of chapter9 in a hotal lobby where they’re quite prevalent. It’s very well filmed,though, in terms of the style.
The sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1 and really comes into its own in the bizarreflashbacks, drug-induced and dream-like sequences as voices echo all aroundyour system. Filmed in several different countries, the dialogue cuts betweenItalian, French and English without a second thought and the English subtitlesappear only during non-English dialogue and can be turned off as well if you’remulti-lingual.
As mentioned above, this is the first two-disc release for a Bond film andthe extras are as follows:
- Behind the Scenes (8 mins):Shot in 4:3, this blends work-in-progress footage on-set and various crewmembers. Sadly, there’s no English subtitles for this section so unless youcan understand Italian you’ve got no idea of what they’re talking about.
- Asia Argento Interview (17 mins):Ah, this is in English. Asia talks to an off-screen interviewer about whatthe film means to her and how personal it is, given that her father isa co-producer and her mother plays the same role in the film.
- Asia Argento Biography:Four pages of text and then a brief filmography.
- Trailers and TV Spots:The original theatrical trailer (16:9 anamorphic, 1½ mins) beforethe DV-recorded content was treated (decently) to look like film, and threeTV spots in 16:9 letterbox, running 15, 30 and 60 seconds, respectively.
- Production Stills Gallery:28 pictures.
- Audio Commentary: Voiced in English by director and star Asia Argento.
There are a mere 15 chapters to the film, albeit labelled 2-16 if you’re selectingthem individually, I’ve mentioned already that the subtitles only appear whennon-English dialogue is being spoken and the menus have small repeated sectionsof sound and animation.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.