Wednesday, February 11, 2009

netflixed



There is a segment of Salo entitled "Circle of Shit." That pretty much sums it up!

Pasolini made a film about Marxism and Lenin and medieval monks and a talking crow which was charming and funny beyond its meager elements. How could he take such hilarious and vigorously imagined source material as the Marquis de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom and turn it into one of the least entertaining films ever made? I mean, God, it's worse than Quills. I didn't know that was possible.

There's simply nothing going on here. It's not aethestically interesting (excepting perhaps a few moments near the end); the acting is at the approximate level of a Will Ferrell SNL skit; the marriage of Italian and Nazi fascism with Sade would seem fruitful, but nothing much is done with the idea (I think Sade is too anarchistic for a marriage to right-wing extremism).

After an hour I hoped to be shocked or disgusted or outraged; instead I was bored. Give me The Piano Teacher or Pink Flamingos!

Yawn.

1 comment:

Silenus said...

I was surprised by Salo's quality too, albeit I was a bit more shocked than you were. The film wasn't visually interesting at all which is uncharacteristic for Pasolini. I agree "The Hawks and the Sparrows" seems like it was made by a completely different director. "Mama Roma" might be my favorite though.