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Released by: Cult Epics
Released on: 02/24/2009
Director: Anna Biller
Cast: Anna Biller, Jared Sanford, Bridget Brno, Chad England
Year: 2007
The Movie:
Set in the Los Angeles of 1972, during the height of the sexual revolution, writer/director/actress Anna Biller's Viva is a beautifully photographed slice of domestic turmoil that tells the story of a woman named Barbie (Biller) whose husband, Rick (Chad England) leaves on a business/ski trip. After posing for some racy photographs with her neighbor, Sheila (Bridget Brno) she decides to head out into the seedy, sexy underbelly of the city.
With Sheila along to keep her company, Barbie changes her name to Viva and experiments with modeling, gay hairdressers, working as a call girl, lesbian sex, nudist camps, and even an orgy as the pair discover the wonders of their own newly liberated sexuality. Eventually, however, Viva's escapades catch up with her and as much fun as all of this has been for her, moral dilemma's are never fun to deal with and her case is no exception at all…
Owing a debt to the trashy soap opera sexploitation films of Joe Sarno, with some visual nods to Alex De Renzy's Femmes De Sade (sans the defecation or bestiality!), Viva is a beautifully shot film that Biller made with an obvious eye for authenticity. Everything from the paintings on the walls of the various California homes used for the sets to the wardrobe worn by the various cast members right down to the magazines that they read, Viva definitely nails the right vibe it set out to recreate. Made with tongue placed firmly in cheek, this loving nod to seventies trash is shot with a classy eye for framing and features some truly gorgeous cinematography courtesy of C. Thomas Lewis (who has worked with Biller on a number of her short films). Even the organ-heavy soundtrack fits in perfectly with the world Biller and company have created with this picture.
The humor in the film is, thankfully, pretty effective. From the ham-fisted dialogue that feels like it was lifted right out of an episode of The Young And The Restless to running gags like Barbie's need to relax with a smoke and a bubble bath to more subtle touches like nod to the nudist camp films of the sixties made by the likes of Doris Wishman, Viva is quite a clever and funny movie underneath the slick visuals. The story is essentially built out of a string of clichés but that's half the fun in it and anyone remotely familiar with the types of pictures that Biller is paying homage to will find a lot to appreciate here.
Musical numbers used throughout the film remind you a little bit of Russ Meyer's Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls while Metzger-esque melodrama keeps the story interesting enough to matter. Biller's performance as Barbie has this wonderfully naí¯ve and distant quality to it that contrasts perfectly with her characters' sexual reawakening. It's a blast watching her transform from a perky and unknowing housewife into a woman fully in control of her carnal wants and needs. The plot isn't particularly heavy, it really just strings the characters along from one sexual escapade to another, but were it any deeper than that it would rise above the film's it pays tribute to, and that would completely defeat the purpose. Thematically simple but visually complex, Viva is a rare successful attempt at playing off of the glories of trash cinema's past from a filmmaker who obviously has a love and respect for the material she's mining.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Viva arrives on DVD in a 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen presentation that is, unfortunately interlaced. One thing you'll probably notice right off the bat is that the reds and oranges are really pumped up and a bit oversaturated. Some of this is probably intentional as this is an incredibly colorful film, but there are times where the detail gets blotted out because of it. Aside from that, the image is clean - there aren't any problems with print damage at all nor are there any compression artifacts or edge enhancement issues. It's a shame that the transfer isn't progressive, however.
The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track on this release is quite good. There's a fair bit of channel separation throughout the mix that gives it some depth and the levels are all properly balanced throughout the movie. There aren't any problems with hiss or distortion to note and dialogue is clean and clear from start to finish.
Aside from the theatrical trailer for the film, Cult Epics has supplied a behind the scenes featurette that has some welcome commentary over top of it from writer/director/star Anna Biller in which she talks about how she strived for accuracy in casting and in creating the sets and talks about all the work that went into creating Viva. It's an interesting little featurette and makes you wish that she'd gone and supplied a full length commentary track over the feature itself. A brief still gallery featuring some classy nude shots rounds out the extras. On a related note, thumbs up to Cult Epics for the nice design work on the packaging for this release. A swanky slipcase covers the cover art itself, likely because of the full frontal nudity on the back!
The Final Word:
Modern day manufactured camp rarely works, but Viva proves that it can be done and done well at that. The attention to detail in the sets and wardrobe really help create an authentic backdrop for the wryly humorous sexy soap opera high jinks to play off of while Biller's oddly distant lead performance and slick directorial efforts make for the tasting icing on this trashy treat!
Want more info? Hit the Cult Epics website by clicking here or check out Anna Biller's website here!