Date sent: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 00:05:16 -0700
From: Kuang-Jung Chen <[email protected]> To: [email protected]
Subject: private hardcore by pierre woodman: the author theory in porno movies?
Private Hardcore by Pierre Woodman: the author theory in porno movies?
Reading lots of the reviews about private, and I find out that, except for those endless private stories, magazines and triple X, most reviewers mention the following private feature movies: "The Tower 1-3" (private film), "The Gigolo 1-2" (private film), "Capetown 1-2" (private gold), "Kruger Park" (private gold), "The Pyramid 1-3"(private gold), "Sweet Lady 1-2" (private gold). These movies are all directed by Pierre Woodman, who in my opinion is the best in the business. His private feature movies are not only far better than most American porno movies but also outshine other private productions. I think that Woodman is so far the real adult movie author and that nobody before me ever try to adopt "author theory" to evaluating porno movies.
The "author theory" was introduced by French film critics in the late 1950s; it treats certain movie directors as "authors" of their movies just like authors of books: certain distinct features are displayed in all the movies by these directors. For example, Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most respected movie authors and the theme of "male anxiety" is prevalent in all his films. Outside the "normal," mainstream film world exists Pierre Woodman. His unique authoretic "features" are totally relevant to porno movies, and that's why I distinguish him from John Leslie, Andrew Blake, and Michael Ninn, as the by now most qualified porno movie author.
Firstly, Woodman brings adult movies back to the filthy sexual literature tradition. That is, women are totally degraded as the sexual imagination, which is always ready for men to abuse) of men. In Woodman's movies, women are frequently called as sluts and whores (which I know really offends some American reviewers). Directly calling women as sluts, whores, pussies etc. is a tradition in sex novels; however, in most American films it doesn't usually happen. Compared to the women in Woodman's movies and the traditional sex novels, in American porno, the ladies are more aggressive and appear to have more power. This tradition of degrading women is very powerful in his movies because, at the same time, Woodman situates sex within a upper-middle class style of life. Most Woodman's sex adventures feature spectacular mansions or castles, and luxurious cars. The location where sex scenes occur are so delicate, and the sex is so direct. This contrast explores the irony of human desire: no matter how beautiful the outlooks the upper-middle class pursues, the basic human desire is nothing sacred but raw sex. Woodman's powerful use of the filthy tradition makes Andrew Blake's "middle class" porno movies fake and weak.
Most importantly, Woodman successfully combine the essential porno elements: full body shots and close-ups. In Woodman's movies, both full-body-shot and close-ups lovers can find what they want. In the review of "Reckless Encounter," I already pointed out that the excessive amounts of close-ups and not enough full body shots reduce the feeling of a sex scene. Since, the soft-core on cable dose not feature blowjob and facials, Woodman's private features become the prime choice for full-body-shot and facials lovers. Moreover, these movies also show a lot of clear, well shot close-ups, including countless anal, dp scenes, which can satisfy close-ups lovers. This alliance of full body shots and close-ups is the main reason why Woodman's movies are usually longer than 2 hours, especially he likes to put about 8 sex scenes in every his movie. As for the sex scenes, Woodman loves 2 men / 1 woman and shows more 2 women / 1 men in "Sweet Lady" series (his latest production); he also loves dp/anal and facials(in "The Tower" series, he even gives the main characters' loving of anal sex a reason: they are gays; thanks God he does not really show a man/man scene); he does not like orgy, and the biggest is 3 vs. 3 (this feature is contrast to other standard private productions which show huge orgies; I think it's because Woodman likes to show more detail of the fucking, so he would like to focus on fewer couples); his gang bang scenes usually feature no more than 5 men; he does show girl / girl scenes, which are rare in any private production, in "Capetwon 1" and "Sweet Lady 2," and only the one in "Sweet Lady" is a pure girl / girl scene (in "Capetwon 1," Woodman place a father fucking the stepmother while they watching their daughter fucking her female classmate, an extremely hot scene). Except for these Woodman's authoretic features, there is one more thing makes his movies more exciting than other private productions -- the women in his movies are more beautiful than those in other private productions. These features, including the combination of full body shots and clear close-ups, appear in every single Woodsman movie. His authoretic elements are all about porno movies, not about cinematography, art design (Andrew Blake), or computer effect (Michael Ninn, whose movies also have great cinematography and art design), or pseudo-documentary film form (Buttman) which has been popular in Japanese porno industry since mid 1980s.
One reviewer used to comment that Woodsman's authoretic features make his movie predictable and boring. This comment is true for porno audience who does not like this kind of routine (beautiful ladies, great full body shots, clear close-ups, dps, facials); however, for a porno fan, such as myself, who loves full body shot and facials, probably would grab every movie following this routine. Viewing more than hundreds of porno movies, I do not really expect there is "surprise" about sex (however, there is surprise about filmmaking in such movies as "The Curse of Catwomen" and "Shock") in an adult video. To me, Woodman's routine is far superior to the routine in standard American porno movies, and I appreciate that this kind of routine exists.