Reviews

This must be one of the most mocked films ever, widely considered a joke. I think it was Prince's narcissistic and effeminate character that bothered audiences. The film is undeniably silly, but good and quite effective, but with a quirky quality that pushes it into the cult realm. An example is the scene in which Tracy and Tricky (Prince and Jerome Benton) meet Tracy's refined love interest at a posh restaurant and grill her: "Where do you go if you want to get a Sam Cooke album?" Tricky holds up a sign reading "Wrecka Stow" and finally, writhing in discomfort, she gets it and reluctantly answers, "the record store." Believe it or not, the film is well put together, each scene memorable in its own way and a climax that might make you cry. I've never seen a film quite like it, because (like all cult movies), it takes place in a desirable alternate world - one in which gender and race boundaries are blurred.

Has anyone noticed how Richard O'Brien's wacky "Shock Treatment" looks forward to TV's preoccupation with the everyday lives of normal people (dramatized in "The Truman Show" and "EdTV"). "Marriage Maze," the show in which Brad and Janet's marriage is taken to task, is not unlike Jenny Jones, Rikki Lake or that ilk: shows in which a yelling audience gets involved in a couple's dysfunctional relationship. DTV has become more important than everyday reality in "Shock Treatment," and, as recent satires show, we are approaching that condition now.

I have a special feeling for this German film that I bought at a bargain video store in New York. While it is marketed as a softcore sex flick, the (minimal) nudity is not really the point, and definitely fits into the plot. Susie is at first reluctant to swim in the sea without a bikini; by the end of the film she is relaxed and topless on the nude beaches of Ibiza. Michael and Suzie are an engaged couple taking their honeymoon off the coast of Spain. Their reservations are lost and Michael loses their luggage and money to a scam artist promising to get them a room. Suzie berates him and Michael, disenchanted with his nagging wife-to-be, gives in to the temptations that are all around them. He falls in with a free-wheeling motorcycle gang. Eventually his lover leaves him (Hemingway-style) for a bullfighter, and he and Suzie, having found their wild and independent spirit on the island, come back together. While clearly a low-budget venture, this film has a spirited innocence that I find winning. Offbeat characters add color: the son of a rich woman who, looking to get laid, keeps getting taken advantage of; the young, gay bohemian who lives on the beach but gets into trouble over his affair with a businessman's son... Check out this 1980s gem.