Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) (1972) - Allen's curious sex comedy is a riot

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This upbeat poster for Woody Allen's Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) invites us to its free-minded vagaries

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) is a kind of anthology of various sex-related topics, based on Dr. David Reuben's (Any Woman Can!) same-titled 1969 book, written and directed by New Yorker master filmmaker Woody Allen (Crisis in Six Scenes (2016), TV-series), including:

What is Sodomy? Gene Wilder (The Frisco Kid (1979)) is a sheep-loving man in free fall. Why Do Some Women Have Trouble Reaching an Orgasm? Allen conjures up an homage to Italian cinema as the title issue is broached. What Are Sex Perverts? Perversions are put under the magnifying glass in a mock TV show. Are the Findings of Doctors and Clinics Who Do Sexual Research and Experiments Accurate? John Carradine (The McMasters (1970)) is a madly funny mad doctor conducting sexual experiments, and a giant tit attacks. What Happens During Ejaculation? A look into the male internal system leading up to an intercourse and ejaculation.

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) is a crazy-funny movie full of hilarious absurd comedy. My favorite segment is the one with Carradine as a sex research doctor. The film investigates sex without taboos and serves its truths with a childlike glee concerning its topic, which is coupled with great intelligence. SPOILER Its end is blunted, but the film is great.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) is unique and elevated madness. - You have to see it!

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Woody Allen: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess

Café Society (2016) - The greatest living American filmmaker hands us another splendid gem

Irrational Man (2015) - Allen's pleasant morality tale divertisement

2014 in films - according to Film Excess

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - Allen's irresistible French Riviera romance

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Blue Jasmine (2013) - Allen presenets Blanchett, a woman under the influence

Fading Gigolo (2013) - Turturro's pleasant turn as a high-end NY prostitute  (as actor)

To Rome with Love (2012) - Woody Allen's slightest film to date  

2011 in films - according to Film Excess

Midnight in Paris (2011) - Allen's zany (and a little depressing) crowd-pleaser  

Cassandra's Dream (2007) - Allen's well-laid but inconsequentiel English cul-de-sac  

Top 10: The best big flop movies reviewed by Film Excess to date  
Anything Else (2003) - Perfect contemporary relationship comedy  

The Curse of the Jade Scorpion (2001) - Allen's hypnotic, noirish shenanigans 
Celebrity (1998) or, Stars in New York
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) - Sin and guilt up for laughs and rumination in unspectacular Allen work 
Broadyway Danny Rose (1984) or, Keep Your Heart   
Annie Hall (1977) or, My Relationship with Alvie Singer   
Bananas (1971) - Woody Allen's South American misadventure is still a barrel of laughs   
Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time (as actor)   

Watch a short clip with Gene Wilder from the film here

Cost: 2 mil. $
Box office: 18 mil. $ (North America only)
= Mega-hit
[Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) premiered 6 August (New York) and runs 88 minutes. Shooting took place from January - March 1972 in California. The film reached #1 in North America on its second week of release, rocking Deliverance from the honor for a week. The film became the 13th highest-grossing movie of 1972 in the US. It also seems to have been a hit abroad with 2 mil. admissions in West Germany, 1.7 mil. in France and 1 mil. in Spain. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) is fresh at 89 % with a 7.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask)?

The Duke of Burgundy (2014) or, The Kink in the Woods

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+ Sexiest Movie of the Year

The sexually suggestive poster for Peter Strickland's The Duke of Burgundy

The Duke of Burgundy is the new, third feature written and directed by English filmmaker Peter Strickland (Katalin Varga (2009)).

In a large estate in a forest, two women cultivate their sexual relationship that is based on the younger woman's subordination to the older.

Strickland has created a rare, rich and strange film that is infused with inspirations from 70's sexploitation cinema.
The success of Burgundy lies in its portrayal of the dynamics of the sub/dom-relationship, delightfully precise and as detailed as the formal plot and character blueprints are deliberately fuzzy. - The two characters and their relationship, which is basically the whole film, live in a place that seems outside of time, and which is solely inhabited by females.
The film is carried by two great performances: Danish Sidse Babett Knudsen (Speed-Walking/Kapgang (2014)) presents a new side of her talent as the positively sex-steaming moth-professor (!) dominatrix, and Italian Chiara D'Anna (Berberian Sound Studio (2012)) gives just the right both simultaneously subservient and demanding glances as her lover Evelyn.

Sidse Babett Knudsen and Chiara D'Anna are resplendent in Peter Strickland's The Duke of Burgundy

Duke is a really great, lustful piece of elegant erotica, much sexier than most all of the very sexually explicit films of recent years, regardless of the viewer's gender or sexuality. It might not appeal to the probably few individuals who cannot relate to the sexual bondage relationship, but its strong visuals, music and performances might persuade them anyway.
The problem in Duke only arises in tits third act, as Strickland doesn't know when to wrap it up and attaches a redundant final conflict of perhaps around 15 minutes length. He had the perfect opportunity to end his film, SPOILER as the camera zoomed in and seemed to disappear in Knudsen's dark, mysterious panties, but he didn't catch it.
Still, this good and very kinky film shouldn't be missed.

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2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
 

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: Estimated 1 mil. $
Box office: Around 120k $ (US and UK only) and counting
= Uncertainty
[But most likely a huge flop. The film has played at several festivals and earned many great reviews. It is in theaters in a range of countries right now and is pending summer premieres in Sweden, Australia, France and Holland. Read an interview with Strickland, talking about the making of the film here.]

What do you think of The Duke of Burgundy?
Seen Strickland's other films?
If so, how was/were it/they?

Tom a the Farm/Tom à la Ferme (2013) - Intense, eerie sub/dom-themed sex thriller (without sex)

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+ Best Canadian Movie of the Year

Xavier Dolan plays the lead as Tom in his own Tom at the Farm

Tom arrives at his late boyfriend's childhood home, where his controlling brother lives with the mother, who is to be kept in the dark according to his design...

French-Canadian master director whiz kid Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother (2009)) radically changes tracks here with his 4th feature film, which is a creeping thriller adaptation of a play by Michel Marc Bouchard (Lilies (1987)).
Thematically, Tom, at its core, is a reflection on kinky sub/dom-fetishes, - but it's also about big city alienation, loss and psychopathy.
The film bolsters some strong scenes, among them a hot tango-scene, (the closest this brazen picture gets to a sex scene.) And strong acting, especially from Dolan in the lead and from Pierre-Yves Cardinal (Polytechnique (2009)) as the dangerous brother and Lise Roy (The Barbarian Invastions (2003)) as the innocuous mother.
The ending is a bit unresolved, but the film is good.
Dolan's acting talent can soon also be seen in the highly anticipated thriller Elephant Song (2014) co-starring Bruce Greenwood (Flight (2012)).


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Xavier Dolan: 2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]

2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Laurence Anyways (2012) - Dolan serves a stylish, jumbled, massive transsexualism tale

Watch the trailer with English subtitles here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown
[No financial results are known for the movie, unfortunately. It did win the FIPRESCI-award (critics' award) at Venice Film Festival 2013, where it premiered, and it was also nominated for a slew of awards at the Canadian Screen Awards.]

What do you think of Tom at the Farm?