Viva
11. Mar, 2009 | by Brian |
5 Comments
- Rating:
- Starring: Anna Biller, Bridget Brno, Jared Sanford, Chad England
- Directed by: Anna Biller
- Year: 2009
- Studio: Cult Epics
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Wow, for at least the first 10 minutes of this movie I thought I was watching an old 70’s flick that had been found in someone’s attic or basement and restored for DVD. But then I realized—holy crap, this is new. The set design and attention to vintage detail in this movie is nothing short of incredible. If it’s 70’s era camp you want, it’s 70’s era camp you shall have. And boy, if Viva is anything, it is pure unadulterated camp.
Writer and Director Anna Biller stars as Barbi, a bored and neglected suburban housewife who finds herself on the fast track to the sin and sleaze of the swinging 70’s. Her husband, Rick (Chad England), is too busy with work to pay her much attention, so she begins to experiment with life on the wilder side. Reborn (i.e. empowered) as “Viva”, she finds herself involved in a series of sexual adventures, with trysts including hippies, artists, lesbians, orgy revelers, and of course, as this is an homage of sorts to sexploitation, groping bosses and rapists.
By accident or design, the dialog in this movie is hilarious. Jared Sanford, in particular, as Sheila’s out of work actor husband Mark, is so over the top with his forced bursts of phony laughter and uber-suave 70’s swagger that it had me laughing out loud. And the musical number featuring Elmer (Paolo Davanzo), the hippie guitar player from the nudist colony, was so ridiculous it almost had me on the floor. In addition to the music and bold colors, this movie even features a short piece of animation (also by Biller) with an Eve and the Apple motif that adds to the surreal experience.
Despite having plenty of full female and male nudity, Viva never descends into true sexploitation territory; there is little sex to be seen here. Instead, you get a movie that deals with the sleaze without really getting its hands dirty. Sex scenes begin and then fade out, and when there is onscreen action, it is mostly implied and left to your own imagination. The film is certainly a love letter to an era long gone, as evidenced by Mark’s speech (while a naked girl sits in his lap): “There’s never been a better time to be a man…the willing women, the dandy clothes, the open shirts, the sense of entitlement…take it from me, savor this time for it will soon be gone.”
If you’re fond of the exploitation films of the late 60’s—70s, such as those made by director Russ Meyer, or have an appreciation for the fashion and culture of that era, you will likely get a kick out of Viva. But if you’re looking for smoldering erotica or some genuine softcore sex, you will not find it here. You’ll probably spend much of your time wondering why the hell you are sitting there watching it. But despite the overall “badness” of the film, and as someone who has ingested a steady diet of Something Weird releases over the years, I actually enjoyed Viva. It’s a funny cult film with a striking visual style, plenty of offbeat humor, and a surreal pastiche that left me feeling trippy, dude.
- Female Nudity: Full
- Male Nudity: Full
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Forum Talk
I saw Viva at one of its openings, with Anna Biller and some of the actors there to take questions. I think a subtle point you’ve missed is that Biller claims to be a feminist and buried underneath there somewhere is supposed to be some sort of a feminist subtext (i.e. as a man, you’re supposed to feel guilty for getting a hard-on at this kind of stuff). I think her words were something to the effect that, “the movie is supposed to question whether the sexual revolution really liberated women, or turned them into sex objects.”
It’s hard for me to take this seriously as a feminist propaganda film, though. It’s a cute movie with lots of eye candy that perhaps inadvertently shows what a sewer American culture has become since the 1950’s, but as far as having a deeper meaning, it’s ultimately pretty shallow. The fact that you saw this more as a tribute to sexploitation than as satire proves my point.
What Anna Biller has once again proven, if unwittingly, is that women have a talent for making things look good, but that they ought to leave the heavy thinking to men.
I couldn’t agree more with Igor, although if Anna’s point was to show how women are exploited she pretty much just exploited them some more for the sake of a mediocre would-be art film.
I have to take great exception to most of what has been written here about this inventive, marvelously idiosyncratic work of film art that is Viva. Viva transcends genre like soft core or camp or any other designation. It is not political propaganda nor is it merely a slide show of “pretty” pictures. What Viva is is an INTELLIGENT examination of sex and culture through the lens of comedy, farce, music, and even melodrama. All too often movies with or about sex leave their brains at the entrance, as if sex were only or merely about bodies. I would strongly suggest Igor receive a proper education given his attitudes towards female intelligence. Evidently he has not heard of literary greats like Emily Dickinson or George Eliot for starters. It is clearly evident that not much thinking was going on in HIS head when watching the film because if it had he would have seen that there is much more going on in Viva than in any “sex movie” of years past. Whether Viva turns anyone on is really besides the point, though the film has a lot to offer in the eros department and there is nothing in the film that makes fun of anyone’s desire per se. Viva simply points out the eternal absurdity of the human sexual condition, whether female, male or trans etc. and like all good comedy it reveals ourselves to ourselves more fully.
This movie seems to be a good softcore movie.
that women have a talent for making things look good..:)