l’erotisme
Distributed by Cinema Abbatoir, the compilation of sexually charged films known as L’érotisme is hands down the single most disturbing film project I’ve ever seen. By the way, that’s a compliment and an extremely sincere one.
I recently read (and reviewed) Jack Sargeant’s history of the Cinema of Transgression movement, Deathtripping, and in it he asks each and every filmmaker if transgressive films are still being made. Basically all the filmmakers, such as Nick Zedd and Richard Kern, give the same answer of “I don’t know,” but they qualify that by nature a transgressive filmmaker isn’t going to be widely known or publicized. But, to find the real answer to Sargeant’s question, one needs to look no further than L’érotisme to see that transgression is certainly alive and kicking. And kicking sharply.
Generally when it comes to underground film festivals and DVD compilations, there’s usually a film or two that really pushes the limits of taste or just really gets under your skin and makes you itchy. Cinema Abattoir has taken eleven of those kinds of films and smashed them all together on one disc. The result is an unrelenting emotional assault and battery. I watched the entire disc in its entirety in one sitting and there were moments when I wasn’t sure I could accomplish that. It was a combination of feeling completely beat down, as if my squeamishness button had been ferociously pushed in a continuous pounding, as well as the fear of what I would be forced to endure next. There were honestly times when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, but I had a need to see what over-the-top cinematic perversions would follow.
I’m not sure if I’m making this DVD sound appealing at all to whoever is reading this. Punishment, perversion, transgression, assault and battery — I don’t know if these are terms that are going to make people say, “Hey, I gotta see that!” No, this isn’t an easy disc to take. As a challenging piece of art, it’s an extremely harsh mistress and a cornucopia of visual abrasiveness that’s as rewarding as it is difficult to digest.
keep reading mike everleth’s review on badlit.com
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