Pink Narcissus [VHS]

Pink Narcicuss is piece of self indulgent cinematography, but then again with that title what else could be expected? No dialogue and with a score that juxtaposes classical music extracts with synthesized sounds this film portrays a beautiful young man, in various states of undress, as he explores and lives out his inner fantasies from the crude to the exotic. This video will appeal to all lovers of the male body and those with a panchaunt for the bizarre and erotic. This is not a porn film, the actors are part of a dream-like tablueax of linked scenes from the supposed mind and experience of the central character who is obsessed with his own beauty. Now almost thirty years this is a true classic of the alternative cinema genre. Question...what ever became of the guy who played the central character? Don't expect perfect picture quality the film has been edited from the original shoot using what remains of the first print.

This film is amazingly beautiful and just gets better with every viewing, so much attention to detail in terms of sets and costumes. The book on James Bidgood by Taschen describes how it was made and the process is fascinating - it was filmed over a period of about 7 years with each separate scene shot in Bidgood's apartment, which was periodically redecorated with his insane handmade sets (including fake urinals and trees). At one point it was even flooded to film the bubble-bath scene (though that one always seemed a but strange to me since they use a much older actor to briefly play the main character as Bobby Kendall apparently wasn't around, and it looks a bit silly. But anyhow).

The one qualm I have is I think the BFI should have also included the 2000 documentary 'The Queer Reveries of James Bidgood', which screened with some festival showings of Pink Narcissus and is included on the French DVD release (by BQHL). The interview on the new DVD should be interesting though, Bidgood coming further out of the woodwork. Anyway, small issues surrounding what promises to be an essential product, so buy buy buy!

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The BFI have surpassed themselves by releasing this 65-minute film by James Bidgood, which he spent 7 years trying to make against the odds. There is nothing quite like it in all cinema as far as I know, and its poetry is quite astonishing. Bidgood creates images of such ravishing texture and saturation that one is held spellbound, even though there is no plot to speak of. Pink Narcissus used to be one of the staples of London's Scala cinema, which played up its sleazier aspects, as did its anonymity. At the time I found it a bit too much and was put off by the Georg Grosz-like sequence near the end. I still think that part is a bit too long, but it is part of the bizarreness of the whole concept, and seeing it out of that cinema has revealed it as an absolute jewel, full of images that anticipate Pierre et Gilles, and somehow surpass them. They are just so beautiful, and sexy, an unimaginable farrago of tropical vegetation, butterflies of monstrous size, and drapes and undergarments of irresistible diaphanous allure, gently wafting on the close summer air, while lips pout (usually Bobby Kendall's) and bikers rev up ... There's also an extremely erotic Arabian dance with another highly alluring young male. Bidgood's interview is wonderful, explaining the extraordinary making of the film in his flat, and finally putting a face on the work, and a very engaging one at that ... I don't quite agree with his narcissist theory of homosexuality but it certainly fits the film and it is good to know that Kendall really is an absolute doll in real life as well, a fairly naive country boy at the time of filming.