Opening 20 Jan 2005
Directed by:
Michael Winterbottom
Writing credits:
Michael Winterbottom
Principal actors:
Kieran O'Brien, Margot Stilley
I am not sure if anyone ever got around to defining what qualifies as pornography, but in my opinion this film certainly fits the bill. It is 71 minutes long, about 50 of which are graphic, non-simulated sex scenes. The New York Times would say, I “can’t give you the details as this is a family paper”, but to be clear, nothing at all is left to the imagination. There is no real story – the plot, if you can call it that: a British scientist (Kieran O’Brien) flying in a small plane over the Antarctic remembers, in flashbacks, his sexual relationship with a young American girl (Margot Stilley).
The multiple sex scenes are interspersed with nine badly filmed and poorly recorded live music gigs from rock stars such as Primal Scream, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Michael Nyman.
Director (and screenwriter) Michael Winterbottom has made a number of gripping, unambiguous films, Welcome to Sarajevo (1997) and In This World (2003) come instantly to mind. His intention in this film, he told The Guardian, was to show a relationship entirely through the explicit sexual encounters of the couple, and that he does, in overwhelming detail. (Adele Riepe)
