“E-‘MAY’-NUELLE”
FORMAT: BLU-RAY
Nicholas Winding Refn produced this breezy and entertaining documentary on the legendary king of Italian sleaze, Joe D’Amato, AKA: Aristide Massaccesi. Joe is prominently featured throughout the documentary and talks at length about his early career as a cameraman and cinematographer, the origin of this Joe D’Amato non de plume, the genesis of the Black Emanuelle series, his transition from sleazy exploitation movies to full-on porn, the creation of his film company Filmirage (which produced everything from Stage Fright to Troll 2), and his work in the various Italian genre films of the ‘80s, which represented the last gasp of the once-thriving industry.
The film also humorously shows a list of all his (over two hundred) films in Star Wars font ascending into the stars and a scholar compares his tireless output to both Jess Franco and Woody Allen! It also supposes his later work in porn (which was done out of financial necessity) is what caused the critics to look down on him.
The list of interviewees is long and impressive. We have Lamberto Bava, Ruggero Deodato, George Eastman, Tinto Brass, Jess Franco, Eli Roth, Michele Soavi, and Claudio Fragasso (who calls D’Amato “the Italian Roger Corman”), just to name a few. All of them provide insight into D’Amato’s career as contemporaries, coworkers, and just plain fans. While there isn’t a whole lot of insight into what made D’Amato himself tick, the film does deliver an impressive rundown of his various career highlights. When you’re dealing with such a workhorse of a filmmaker, it goes without saying that some titles are bound to be overlooked (most notably, Emanuelle in America). However, lots of time is spent on Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, Beyond the Darkness, and Anthropophagus (AKA: The Grim Reaper). As someone who just spent a month watching the man’s work, this doc certainly was a nice way to pay tribute to him.
No comments:
Post a Comment