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Released by: Cult Epics
Released on: 7/26/2011
Director: Tinto Brass
Cast: Anna Jimskaia, Riccardo Marino, Max Parodi, Nela Lucic
Year: 2005
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The Movie:
In the most recent feature length offering from Tinto Brass' directorial resume, Dario (Max Parodi) is a small book publisher visiting a book fair with his newly wed wife Marta (Anna Jimskaia) in tow, and staying at a luxurious hotel while there. She's bored with the convention so spends most of the time when he's gone visiting museums and galleries. Early on it is revealed that she can no longer reach an orgasm with her husband, pretty much ever since they tied the knot. She confides in her swinging friend Sylvia (Nela Lucic) who in turn gives Marta some advice: make Dario jealous. He'll then go at it like an angry beast and she'll be able to get off.
Marta meets a French photographer, Leon (Riccardo Marino), who makes incredible advances on her, but she splits the scene before Leon can split her. All the while she keeps a journal of her time in the hotel, telling the journal all about Leon and her unhappiness with her sex life with Dario. Hubby Dario finds the journal and of course gets jealous. It's working! He gives it to her like he paid for it and she still can't get off. She decides to take it further and it goes beyond playful groping with Leon. Now watch what happens…
This story sounds like any random Skinimax softcore offering. A dumb plot, unlikable people who look great with no clothes, and cliché dribble. But what separates it from those 2 a.m. erotic escapades is in the way it's presented. Tinto Brass has his name attached to films sprinkling over fifty years. And as many would attest, he's done for female butt what Russ Meyer did for huge boobs…presented perfection. But on top of having an eye for amazing asses, he has a wonderful eye for what looks great on camera. Interesting frame compositions make up this film from start to finish, enough so that watching it with subtitles can be tricky. There's so much going on you may want to watch rather than read and hence miss the story. Then again, does the story really need to be paid much attention to once you know the plot? Probably not.
The sex is quite erotic. Of course being a softcore picture, missing will be all the extreme close-ups of genitalia and juices, but Brass does step pretty close at times of going past the single X mark. He employs the use of erect plastic penises for any near-explicit scenes, which is a bit odd, mainly because it's blatantly obvious that it's a phony. If you like pubes, Marta's got them. If you like armpit hair, she's got those too. And she is smoking hot. Her friend Sylvia is hot too and is no more or less shy than Marta in showing off her goods. Thank God for that, especially where Marta is concerned.
The pace is slow, not a whole lot exciting happens, but with the visuals being so interesting and titillating, the hour-and-a-half running time seems to go by pretty quickly. Brass knows what he's doing, and while this effort isn't going to be put up along side of his more well known films (Caligula, Salon Kitty), Monamour certainly gives you a good helping of that which is Tinto.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Cult Epics brings to the masses Monamour with an AVC encoded picture, 1080p resolution, and with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Skin tones look great, blacks are deep, the detail is clear, and the colors stand out nicely. It delivers a satisfying picture without any artifacts to report and no disc authoring issues were noticed. The audio is handed by one of three tracks: 5.1 Dolby Digital Italian language, 2.0 Italian Dolby Italian language, and 2.0 Dolby Digital English language. English subtitles are also available. It of course delivers the best sound using the 5.1 track, as the music really stands out by comparison. But the English dubbed track sounds fine as well with no issues to report.
This is a 2-disc set, the first disc containing the feature plus the trailer and a 15-minute “Making of†featurette. Pretty typical stuff, but nice to see. Interviews with the cast crew talking about the usual thing.
Disc two has a 12-minute short film called “Kick the Cockâ€, which is not what it sounds like. There is no cock kicking. According to the box copy that's an old Dutch saying that means “peek in the kitchen†and that's just what this is. Angelita Franco (who also wrote the short) plays a maid at Tinto's place, and he sits at the kitchen table and watches her as the parades around in an ass-less latex dress. Lots of bending over ensues. Then he peeks in on her through French doors as she diddles herself with vegetables and he diddles his huge rubber schlong. No dialogue in this one at all, and there does not need to be any. Ms. Franco is gorgeous and needs not say a word to command attention. This disc also contains a making of featurette that is almost the same running time as the short film and in all honesty more interesting. Angelita is even more attractive when acting natural (and au natural) and her flirting with Il Maestro is sweet. Then there's a short piece on a comic strip by Franco Saudelli (approximately 3 minutes) and a few minutes-long spot covering the premiere of the short film at the Venice Film Festival. Next is a Spanish Dance by Angelita Franco in front of a crowd and finally a trailer for the short. It seems more effort was made for the supplements to a 12-minute short film than to the 94-minute feature, but it's still all interesting stuff.
The Final Word:
While not up there with the greats of softcore cinema, Monamour still delivers what is hoped for: hot, non-explicit sex and a gorgeous leading woman. Its visually exciting and putting this one in the player with someone who turns you on just might help you get a little action. This one should please fans of Euro-erotica and Cult Epics has done a nice job in presenting it.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
