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Released by: Retro-Seduction Cinema
Released on: June 28, 2005.
Director: Joe Sarno
Cast: Marie Forsa
Year: 1974
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The Movie:
After their first collaboration, Veil Of Blood, did well and made some money, Nebes and Sarno decided to collaborate on another production, once again based in Germany, though this time with a more specific focus on the erotic, rather than the horrific or the fantastic. Known under the two titles - BiBi being one and Girl Meets Girl being the other (a title that E.I. seems to have made up for this release for some reason), the film follows the titular and very lovely young lady named Bibi (Maria Forsa again) who leaves her home in the quaint countryside to hit the big city and hang out with her Aunt Tony for a little while.
Once she arrives at her destination, Bibi has no qualms whatsoever about letting her wild side cut loose as she devours any man or woman lucky enough to get in her way. Bibi, it seems, has taken a page out of Aunt Tony's book and indulges herself with partners of both sexes, which leads to an encounter or two that makes the alternate titling of the film a little more appropriate than it would be otherwise. Eventually, however, after Bibi has had her way with anyone and everyone she can, the Sarno soap operatics kick in and she has to own up to what she's done. You can't go sleeping around with as many people as Bibi does in this film and not get on someone's bad side or wreak havoc with someone's emotions…
Bibi could almost be a remake of Sarno's earlier Swedish coming of age story, Inga, as it follows pretty much the exact same basic plot line of that earlier effort, though it doesn't do it quite as well and because of that it seems to lack some of the originality that made Inga so good. At any rate, it's still a very solid effort from Sarno that should please his fans as it combines pretty much everything that his body of work is known for in one, neat little package.
As you'd expect from some of Sarno's better films, the camera work and the direction are both excellent. The film is paced very well, wasting no time getting the plot setup and the action moving and once it starts, it keeps up until the end as we tag along for Bibi's hot and heavy adventures, watching her break a few taboos as she dabbles in things with her Aunt that no girl ever should and hangs out with a few of the more 'swinging' locales who are only too happy to give her the attention that she wants. It's not particularly deep stuff, but it's fun and it's sexy and it is really well shot. The dialogue and the acting is hampered by an obvious language barrier but let's face it, we're not watching this one for the line delivery… as classy as it is, it's still a low budget sexploitation film and sometimes you've just got to accept a movie for it is and enjoy it on that level without shame! Look for a guy who sure as shit looks like Harry Reems (look at the guy on the right hand side of that screenshot!) during the disco scene. If that isn't Harry, he's got a doppelganger somewhere in Germany... a doppelganger with killer dance moves!
Video/Audio/Extras:
Girl Meets Girl is presented fullframe and the framing looked pretty decent here indicating that this is probably the correct aspect ratio for the movie - though the fact that the opening credits sequence is letterboxed at roughly 1.85.1 is curious, and what's up with the video generated title card? Regardless, as far as video quality goes, the transfer looks to have been taken from a 35mm print in decent enough shape. The picture quality is generally pretty clean looking though there is some color fading and minor print damage throughout. None of this is really a big deal though, it's pretty much a non-issue as you can tell from the screen caps. All in all, fans should be pretty happy with the way the film is represented here.
Presented with English dialogue in Dolby Digital Mono, the sound quality isn't going to blow you away but aside from some mild hiss here and there, there's little to complain about. Understanding the performers and following the dialogue is easy enough and the score for the film sounds quite good.
Extras for Bibi kick off with an excellent audio commentary with producer Nebes. His memory proves to be pretty sharp as he covers how he came to work with Sarno again on this second film. Nebes also provides a lot of details on the shooting locations and, once again, on the casting choices as he tells us why a few of the specific performers were chosen for their specific roles, Forsa in particular as they figured that they could capitalize on her screen presence easily enough. There's very little dead air in her and Nebes keeps the track moving at a good pace. When he isn't hitting us with trivia and interesting facts about the movie he's got an anecdote to share or a quirky story to tell about the people he made this movie with.
Sarno joins Nebes again for a featurette on this disc as well, and Nebes is the dominant voice in the discussion. Sarno does manage to get some really interesting points across here though as he almost sort of psycho-analyzes his own film to a certain extent, talking about some of the more cerebral aspects of the movie while Nebes gives us more dirt on Forsa and her performance in the movie. While the commentary has more information in it as a whole, this is still a very worthwhile addition to the set as it does afford us the chance to get Sarno's take on the movie.
The trailer vault is packed with some different promo spots, and a quick scan through the menus shows advertisements for newer E.I. fare such as Playmate Of The Apes, Lord Of The G-Strings, Roxanna, Spiderbabe, Sexy American Idle, Sin Sisters, The Sexy Adventures Of Van Helsing, Pleasures Of A Woman, The Seduction Of Mistry Mundae, Flesh For Olivia, New York Wildcats and The Erotic Diary Of Misty Mundae. There's a whole lot of skin packed into these promos, perverts rejoice! The Sarno trailers vault also includes loads of spots for various releases for his movies also available from Retro-Seduction Cinema. Menus and chapter stops are also included.
The Final Word:
Forsa fans will want to snag this one, without question, as she's great here. In typical Sarno fashion, the movie plays around with some interesting psychological themes and ideas, all of which actually translate well to the sex film he's made here. Retro-Seduction Cinema's release is a good one, offering up the movie in decent shape and with some solid extras. All in all, a very fine release.
