Ask Me What You Want
Rumours, Teasers and Expectations Before the release of Ask Me What You Want (original title Pídeme lo que quieras), the anticipation in the romance-thriller community was quite evident. Based on a best-selling Spanish novel, it was described as a romance in which the psychology of the characters was intense and one that would push the […]
Last Tango in Paris
The Raw Dance of Desire: Last Tango in Paris and the Lives Behind the Story Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris was a landmark the year it was released. Summary of grief and passion, it was a reflection of the grief and the emotional reckoning of its time. An intimate emotional drama, it was, as […]
3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy
Behind the Silk Sheets: The Trials of 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy When 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy was released in 2011, it was marketed as Hong Kong’s first erotic 3-D film. It made headlines as a film that was a radical development in the market as a 3-D erotic film. The film […]
La Marge
The Silent Ache of Desire: How La Marge Reflected the Lives Behind Its Characters La Marge (1976) was Walerian Borowczyk’s ‘daring’ film because of the ‘soft-core’ erotic imagery. La Marge also it was ‘deeply melancholic’ because it reflects the ‘almost unbearable’ loneliness, sorrow, and grief. Unlike Borowczyk’s other films, La Marge was more than ‘sensitive’. […]
Bitter Moon
A Love Story That Refused To Framework A Roman Polanski’s Bitter Moon, released in 1992, had viewers puzzled. Love story, warning example, or money shot gone wrong? The movie, based on a novel from Pascal Bruckner, encapsulates all these genres in one — a blur of ardor, savagery, obsession, and decay. What not only makes […]
9 Songs
The Unspoken Story Behind ‘9 Songs’ More than anything else, Michael Winterbottom’s 9 Songs, which first aired in 2004, served as a cultural flashpoint and not simply a movie. The numerous un-simulated sex scenes included in the movie led to the film being touted as one of the most sexually explicit mainstream movies in contemporary […]
Shortbus
A Compassionate Interrogation of Love, Sex, and Affinity John Cameron Mitchell’s Shortbus (2006) is, and is still, the only film like it. Most certainly, it is the only film like it made in the mid-2000s. It is a innovative risk that is still expected in parts of the industry. It was made with the intention of trying […]
Monamour
Tinto Brass’s Monamour: Exploring the Relationship between Love and Lust Tinto Brass’s Monamour (2006) is one of the few films to closely examine the relationship between love and lust. After all, he is the one who turned this aspect of film into an art. Brass, who is known for pushing the limits of eroticism in […]
Two Moon Junction
The Forbidden Passion That Defined Late-80s Eroticism The arrival of Two Moon Junction in 1988 was like a whisper that turned into a storm. Directed by Zalman King — the same visionary who would later shape Wild Orchid and Red Shoe Diaries — this film wasn’t just an erotic drama. It was a fever dream […]
Fifty Shades of Grey
Fifty Shades of Grey: Beyond the Shades Fifty Shades of Grey was released in 2015 and was more than simply a new romance. It was a new cultural touchstone. The film, based on E.L. James’ best-selling books, and focused on the contentious interplay of passion and violence in the relationship of a young literature graduate, […]