eldoradofilm2

The film was made for the 2009 DVD (Anolis / Germany) ofr the Freda / Bava film I VAMPIRI (aka Lust Of the Vampire, 1957). I just saw it today for the very first time (as part of splendid new German Blu-ray deluxe box) and I am delighted I did! Being a film historian myself I know the Swiss-born actor Paul Muller of course, he acted in more that 200 European films! But this being the age of "genre film fans", film lovers mostly remember him now for his work on trash-master Jess Franco's sleazy exploitation films. Not my cup of tea really (besides Soledad of course) and I always was fascinated that Paul Muller had been in so many more classy films before. Rosselini, Anthony Mann, Becker...

People who experienced the European film business from the late 40s till the 80s have a lot of stories to tell. And it's wonderful that some of us care to document them for future generations! (I do my share documenting the life & films of Sam Peckinpah among others). Ginster, Rink & Lange did a great job getting these anecdotes on film, and some of them are absolutely hilarious! Just great and fascinating. Bava, Riefenstahl, Cocteau, Harlan... here you get everything! Highly recommended !!

Sure, the other SUBURRA entries (and the champion, for my money the best TV series ever made, GOMORRA) were stronger. A few situations could have been written and / or directed better, but even a series that delivers "only" 80-90% from that group of film makers delivers more quality, better acting and less artificial storytelling than the usual stuff from the US with all those terrible dialogues. Great atmosphere, as usual very fine visuals and belivable acting makes this series another winner from Italia. Especially the way they dealt with the church I liked a lot, quite brave. (The new series' only minus, for me anyway, is the last episode. Can't wait for the next season!)

I saw it today - for the very first time. I missed it in the 80s and since I have that set of 80 color transparencies from that film in my archive (Jamie!), I always wanted to see it. For starters, I feel that the 80s is the least interesting decade in filmmaking. I'm into 60s/70s filmmaking and think that the feel-good glossies of the mid/late 80s killed off cinema as an art form in LA. But that's OK, I'm from Europe anyway and I lived through the 80s - it was a superb time to be young - no need for TAXI DRIVER in 1986 :). PERFECT is one of the ultimate 80s films and not nearly as bad as I thought it was. Travolta is quite good and Jamie is adorable - I am not subjective here, I guess that crush still holds on! The script is formular but quite good. The Laraine Newman sequence (a bit much), may be a few minutes to long, as is the whole film (almost 2 hrs.), the last three or four scenes are edited TV style (as though they HAD to cut, to avoid a 130 minute version). But I feel one of the major reasons people had or have problems with the film is its set up, dealing with the health club scene. Which is nice to look at (minus certain fashion), but never as cool as other "everyday life" subjects of 80s filmmaking, like "tending bar" (COCKTAIL, certainly not a better film, just box office-wise). Anyway, I liked it a lot. Especially Jamie :).