389-390 WR: Mysteries of the Organism and Sweet Movie

[a spectator bird]

WR: Mysteries of the Organism

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What does the energy harnessed through orgasm have to do with the state of communist Yugoslavia circa 1971? Only counterculture filmmaker extraordinaire Dušan Makavejev has the answers (or the questions). His surreal documentary-fiction collision WR: Mysteries of the Organism, which begins as an investigation of the life and work of controversial psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich, then explodes into a freeform narrative of a beautiful young Slavic girl's sexual liberation. Banned in the director's former homeland, WR is both whimsical and bold in its intersection of politics and sexuality.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Dušan Makavejev
- Audio commentary assembled from Raymond Durgnat's 1999 book on the film
- Hole in the Soul, Makavejev's 1994 tragicomic autobiographical short film, originally made for the BBC
- New video interview with Makavejev
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A new essay by critic Jonathan Rosenbaum

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Sweet Movie

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Pushing his themes of sexual liberation to their boiling point, Yugoslavian art-house provocateur Dušan Makavejev followed his international sensation WR: Mysteries of the Organism with this full-throated shriek in the face of bourgeois complacency and movie-watching. Sweet Movie tackles the limits of personal and political freedom with kaleidoscopic feverishness, shuttling viewers from a gynecological beauty pageant to a grotesque food orgy with scatological, taboo-shattering glee. With its lewd abandon and sketch-comedy perversity, Sweet Movie became both a cult staple and exemplar of the envelope pushing of 1970s cinema.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

- New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Dušan Makavejev
- New video interview with Makavejev
- New interview with Balkan film scholar Dina Iordanova
- Actress Anna Prucnal sings a song featured in the film
- New and improved English subtitle translation
- PLUS: A booklet featuring new essays by Stanley Cavell and David Sterritt

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[justeleblanc]

At an appearance at Facets in Chicago, Dusan Makavejev mentioned that Criterion is working on a DVD release of "Sweet Movie" and "WR: Mysteries of the Organism".
Very cool news.

(Apologies if this has been mentioned elsewhere).

You know, one of my film professors always wanted me to see a Makavejev film, but I never got around to it. He said they were amazing.

[Oedipax]

Now that's more like it! A release I can really get excited about. Very cool.

[portnoy]

Oh my god yes.

W.R. Mysteries of the Organism has been a dream release of mine for years. One of my absolute favorites, and hell, if I have to take the (partially unwatchable) Sweet Movie to get it, I'll do that.

[Gordon]

YES! Best Criterion news this year, thus far.

[Gregory]

Without having seen Sweet Movie, I probably would have preferred Innocence Unprotected and/or The Switchboard Operator. They all would have made an outstanding box set, but Criterion probably doesn't want to go that far with a relatively unknown director.
Perhaps, if not in R1, Inncence Unprotected and Switchboard Operator will eventually get released on DVD by the BFI.

[cafeman]

As a Serb, an addition of a Serbian director into Criterion will make me mighty proud. I would also prefer Switchboard Operator, but a watchable edition of Sweet Movie will be welcome.

Innocence Unprotected was just released at the Serbian newsstands, sadly sans any subs or extras, but with excellent, seemingly restored picture and sound. I`m not the biggest fan of this one, but it`s an important movie in Serbian cinema history. Any DVD of it would be incomplete without the original '42 movie as an extra, though, since I found that one a much more fulfilling experience, speaking in camp value terms.

[putney]

strangely enough, sweet movie came out on dvd 2 years ago, in brazil!
it was the french version of the film. i don't have it with me right now to look at the company info, sorry.
that is great news. it's one of my top three films. does anyone know how many different "international" versions there were? there were three different soundtrackrecords, each with different language versions of "is there life after birth?"..really odd. until i got the brazilian dvd, the facets version was the only one i'd seen.

putney

[Narshty]

Nice. As for W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism they must - MUST - include excerpts of the version Makavejev prepared for Channel 4 in the UK, which, to avoid breaching broadcasting standards, had to optically obscure some of the more explicit imagery. Far from simply blurring his own work, he slapped goldfish swimming across the screen and other bizarre, hilarious CG-hijinks. It's up there with the Repo Man "melon farmer" redub.

[Schkura]

a watchable edition of Sweet Movie

I'm not sure there is such a thing for me. Everything I have read about this film makes me want to avoid it like the plague. Perhaps someone could illuminate what exactly makes this an important piece of world cinema, or link me to a more positive review than those I have been reading?

W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism does sound interesting, though. I like subtext, but I prefer it without all the golden showers.

[cafeman]

Well, Makavejev in general is anything but subtle. He likes his subtext on top.

The golfish on W.R. remind me of red communist stars he occasionally put on the asses of people in Innocence Unprotected (the original footage parts).

[portnoy]

Even though I attacked it earlier in this thread, I'll say that Sweet Movie is, for all its unsubtlety and grotesquery, an incredibly potent work that remains as shocking in 2006 as it was in its time. It's spottier and less focused than W.R., but it's got some fantastic moments - the sugar bath, in particular, is a great scene.

But that is not a movie I need to see again any time soon, whereas I could watch W.R. all the time.

[Schkura]

That's what I was thinking. Sweet would be a rental.

[ianungstad]

Would something like Sweet possibly fall under Eclipse? From the bits I've read on the net about it, it seems pretty far out there...and kind of gross.

[a spectator bird]

Nice. As for W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism they must - MUST - include excerpts of the version Makavejev prepared for Channel 4 in the UK, which, to avoid breaching broadcasting standards, had to optically obscure some of the more explicit imagery. Far from simply blurring his own work, he slapped goldfish swimming across the screen and other bizarre, hilarious CG-hijinks. It's up there with the Repo Man "melon farmer" redub.

he showed this during his appearance, and it was really hilarious; pulsing rainbows of light to mask the penis plaster casting, which then carry into the stalin propaganda footage. i would hope it would be included. also, having just seen makavejev discuss his films, the prospect of a director commentary on either/both of these films is really exciting. he's a very engaging speaker.

[backstreetsbackalright]

I've nagged Criterion about WR and Switchboard Operator for some time. This rumor is exceedingly encouraging!

[Narshty]

It's an irritant, but very much in the vein of "If we must censor, let's at least make it funny". I don't suggest putting the whole thing on the disc, but clips of the most berserk examples would be a very welcome addition.

[Lino]

In the back of my mind I always knew that Criterion would get around to these two movies (both of which I'm yet to see but have however read extensively both online and on books, most noticeably on the Amos Vogel one: Film as Subversive Cinema). Sweet Movie sounds and looks er, really, er...sweet!

http://filmtortenet.tar.hu/SweetMovie06Choco.jpg

[mteller]

Sweet Movie is one of the worst films I've ever seen. It's the kind of thing that college sophomores latch onto as "genius".

[DrewReiber]

At an appearance at Facets in Chicago, Dusan Makavejev mentioned that Criterion is working on a DVD release of "Sweet Movie" and "WR: Mysteries of the Organism".

WOOHOOO! And here I was complaining just a few months ago of the inevitable, horrorfyingly awful Facets release of WR. Thank you, Criterion, thank you!!!!

[Daze]

I haven't seen WR in 20 years. This is great news.

Innocence Unprotected would be a great choice too.

[Mr Pixies]

From Video Hound's Cult Flicks & Trash Pics for Sweet Movie;

"South African tycoon purchases a virgin bride whom he sexually exploits. More soft-core sex masquerading as Marxist dialectic from exploitation king Dusan Makavejev, who has spent his entire professional life trying to break into capitalist cinema, all the while feigning superiority to it. In the 80's his dream came true with the mediocre comedies Montenegro (which sexually exploited poor Susan Anspach) and the Coca-Cola Kid (which launched the career of talentless sexpot Greta Scacchi). Makavejev is a case study in the hypocrisy of so many perverts who conceal their misanthropy under the banner of radical politics." "*/****"

These titles really interest me. I just saw Montenegro and it was a lot of fun. And I just rented the Coca-Cola Kid, so I will watch that one soon.

[Barmy]

sweet

[justeleblanc]

Not to break the excitement, but I was hoping Criterion would also release SWITCHBOARD OPERATOR.

[denti alligator]

WR is a fantastic film. This was expected, but still, it's nice to see it's finally here.