A Song of Love

Really makes you think about how far we've come. The only time you see cigarette smoke eroticized these days is by middle-aged blonde women with Tom Waits voices and extremely large fake breasts. You do, not me.

i'm almost positive that this wouldn't have been nearly the experience that it was if it weren't for simon fisher turner's indescribable score.

A movie I liked on first viewing, hated on second and loved on third, which was half an hour ago... You can see it's a poet's film because you can count the unnecessary shots on your two bare hands and still have some fingers left. The actual filming of the male body isn't sterile and might look unpleasant to some, but eroticism isn't the point, only the tool Genet uses to convey meaning.

Even by today's standards, it's explicit enough to merit the description of arty gay porn. Look past the novelty value, however, and you'll find that it's a work of some substance.

I usually hate when people describe things as pretentious but this movie is the definition of pretentious. It's so fucking bad, I can't believe anyone likes it.

Serious homoerotica. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH PUKE RETCH SWANDIVE OFF 20-STORY BUILDING ECCHHH

A unique, daring and provocative experimental art film about a couple of gay prisoners. The artistry is undeniable but the film seems to have been a very personal endeavour and it really does nothing for me.

Beautiful and erotic. Captures well the feeling of feverish sexual thoughts.

Amazing that this was released when it was. While it didn't do anything for me erotically, as an exploration of loneliness, desperation, and other topics. I think more than anything, though, it's a prime example of sound and score elevating a film beyond what's happening on screen. I'm pretty sure that without the score and what's going on with sound, this might not have worked for me at all, but those elements give it such an atmosphere and feel that completely changed how I felt about it.

A very passionate, surprisingly graphic and unapologetic homoerotic piece by Jean Genet. And that from a time when this sort of thing was illegal just about everywhere. Incredibly brave and artistic, and not some cheap porn-like thrill.

o jean genet é bizarro

It seems likely that I need to read some (if not all) of Genet's work (plays, novels, poems) to fully appreciate what he is trying achieve here. So my rating might increase with further viewings. At the very least, his depiction (working with Cocteau as cinematographer) of bodies contorting in concrete (jail cells) and abstract space (blackness) is captivating. A violent (in themes but not content) and sensual (in both themes and content) film. The absence of sound lets the visuals speak loudly.

How is this on the border of being pornography? Good stuff.

A bunch of reviews said there was a lot of dick in this. I was disappointed on that front, but this is a great movie.

A sadly forgotten short. Daring, considering the time it was originally released, and told in an extremely visual and cinematic way. Recommended.

Daring and provocative for the time, a little cutesy nowadays, but still an effective film about sexual longing and hypocrisy. I really liked the revamped score (2003).

#573

It's suprisingly flowing and technically flawless, which makes it a very pleasant viewing. It probably was very provocative during the time it was made, but nowadays it fails to be some kind of an extreme cinematic experience. It's suprisingly not-artistic, too. 16.2.2011

Could've used some tits to balance out the dongs. Seriously, though, the modern score that came with this probably made me like it much more than I would have normally. I found it to be very arty, yet not in a repelling way.

542

As a homosexual who spent most of his life in prison, it's not surprising that Jean Genet would make a film about homosexual longing in prison (and authoritarian suppression of it). Some of it is really lovely... the ways in which the prisoners communicate is a poetic representation of forbidden love. But a lot of it is kind of silly, or maybe the subject matter just makes me feel that way. I kept thinking of ways that I would make it better (and I don't just mean editing out all the wang).

Holly crap.

485

# 602