Now & Later [DVD] [2011] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

There have been a few films in the past decade presented outside of the adult film industry that included graphic sexuality, almost all from Europe... though to my mind this is the first to show such honest and warmly sensual sexuality. If you've actually made genuine, heartfelt love to someone, you're not likely to be offended by anything you see or hear. Just the opposite.

But aside from the nudity and surprisingly graphic nature of what goes on, there's so much more here. There's a political message that needs to be told, and it's delivered with a calm and easy hand.

The heroine (Now) is a creature of intelligence, genuine love and simple, unquestioning compassion the likes of which one seldom finds in film, or for that matter in life. The leads in this small cast effort let loose and express real emotion in a way that almost convinces you that they're lovers in real life, though they only met after being cast.

Writer and director Phillipe Diaz has created a small masterpiece. The scenes are long and languid, the script is conversational - this is how people actually talk to each other. Above all else it's difficult to imagine another actress bringing this story to life as exquisitely as Shari Solanis, whose performance is worthy of an Academy Award, though this will never happen.

Very, very highly recommended to those with open minds and open hearts. I can honestly say that after watching film both as entertainment and as an essential art form for over four decades, I've never seen anything quite like it. Unforgettable. Perhaps even a turning point in contemporary cinema.

The only thing I want to add, seeing the other reviews covered it well, is that the background music is awesome too. Wish there was a soundtrack. The acting, is, exceptional, especially considering how most would be awkward 'performing' the dialogue and the sexual interactions, but they were so natural and convincing. This movie is special on many levels. The sex is real, and visually erotic. Fantastic photography or whatever they call it, filming... And the way she deals with the condom situation was fantasticly graceful.

NOW & LATER: A `Thinking Man's' Love Story?

On the one hand, it's hard to make anything substantive of NOW & LATER, an independent feature written and directed by Philippe Diaz: two somewhat down-on-their-luck urbanites (Bill, on the run from the law, and Angela) meet, hook-up, have sex, talk about their lives, and then part ways. Think of it as a contemporary coming-of-early-middle-age where "the bad boy" meets "the free love girl" but they're denied riding off into the sunset together because THAT wouldn't be the ending for an independent feature, now would it?

On the other hand, the film serves as a kind of blatant political pornography, the kind of cinema one can share with Liberal friends around the world. In fact, Bill is described as "a former golden boy of the banking industry" (why, isn't that prescient?), and his soul-saving is provided by Angela, who's described as "free-spirited" and "an illegal immigrant." Where else but in Hollywood could capitalism and lawfulness be giving such righteous comeuppance? Where else but in Tinsel Town U.S.A. could the journeys of two hardened criminals intersect with the destination being sexual euphoria?

It's the perfect movie to market to all of those Occupy protesters!

Now, in fairness, I didn't want to make this review political, but it's hard not to when you're given such obviously manipulative storytelling. Initially, I had hoped for what I believed was going to be an adult love/lust story centering on two like-minded souls who'd lost their way in life. They'd come together and learn from one another, not only the obvious things about sexual attraction as are promised by the product's packaging. There is an important message tied into NOW & LATER's central theme about living "in" the present, not so much as "for" the present. NOW & LATER cleverly refers to the two character nicknames: she chastises him for always living for the future, for `later,' while he criticizes her for always choosing to live in the moment, in the `now.' Thematically, I think what these two learn from one another was important, that life wasn't so much about one view OR the other, but, instead, it's a healthy mix of both.

Clearly, I'd like to think that Diaz wants to `teach' in his story that Bill's life is arguably just as enriched by sharing with Angela as hers is positively changed by him. It's just that, come the film's conclusion when these two drifters part company and blend into the crowd on a busy city sidewalk, no other message beside the politics (sexual and otherwise) are hammered out as loudly. What we're left with is sex between a man and a woman is good; sex by yourself is good; sex as a voyeur is good; sex with multiple partners is good; sex can make you feel whole even if life when your own actions cannot or may not; and, oh yeah, don't forget to hate America for a whole host of sensible and nonsensical reasons on the way out.

Instead of being an adult story (with condoms!) of two people finding themselves (and an occasional third person) over an odd couple of days (and nights) and having lots of mature sex, NOW & LATER takes a relatively easy, predictable way out by descending into clever but erotic bits of two people unhappy with the U.S. hooking up, hating the country, and then parting ways, albeit better (we're led to believe) because they've known one another. With writer/director Diaz's penchant for America-bashing (Bill's a jilted Wall Street banker on the run, for pete's sake!), it's hard to tell where the foreplay stops and ... well ... the foreplay begins. One wonders if it's Bill's sad sack story that makes Angela all hot and bothered ... or was it her own verbal stinging indictment of America, the great Satan that's destroyed the Third World?

Despite it all, I still felt NOW & LATER was worth watching, if only once. It is a well made independent feature. It certainly captures the mood of its two principles, and James Wortham ("Bill") and Shari Solanis ("Angela") played their roles convincingly. It certainly wasn't as `principled' as it was `passionate.' While I may not agree with its message, I can sympathize with the messenger. While I may not agree with its politics, I can appreciate the opinion.

In the interests of disclosure, I'm pleased to announce that the kind folks over at Cinema Libre Studio provided me with a screener copy for the purposes of completing this review.