Home video debut for Matteo Botrugno, Daniele Coluccini and Nuccio Siano's impressive and beautifully written Italian drama, TAINTED SOULS

Note: This excellent film is now available

-- as of September 2019, at least -- via Amazon Prime

The original Italian title of TAINTED SOULS -- a new drama about a neighborhood, bisexuality, drugs, money and power -- is Il contagio, which translates, as you might guess, to The Contagion. Perhaps that sounded like too much of a sci-fi thriller for proper international distribution, but it makes a much better (and less pompous) title than Tainted Souls There is nothing at all pompous about this beautifully wrought and gorgeously written exploration of love (mostly unrequited), loss, and life among Italians trying so hard to better themselves with little hope of actually achieving this.

The films directing duo --  Matteo Botrugno and Daniele Coluccini (shown above, with Signore Coluccini on the left) -- also wrote the film, with some help from one of its stars, Nuccio Siano, who plays (and very well) Carmine, the major villain of the piece. One of the many characters in this tale of a Rome neighborhood, which looked to me maybe lower-but-still-striving-middle-class, is a successful novelist in the midst of an affair with a 40-year-old body builder, Marcello (Vinicio Marchioni, below), who is married to a woman who loves him, even if they rarely, if ever, have sex. Marcello's main goal is going to the gym and keeping that still-beautiful body in shape.

His writer/lover, called The Professor, and played to perfection by Vincenzo Salemme (shown below, center), sort of narrates the film. It is his words we hear at the beginning, and again those same words at film's end. Yet what a difference that second time around! If you are not moved to tears or perhaps experience a kind of catharsis at all you have seen and what it has meant, as those words resonate again, I shall be very surprised.

In the midst of the film, the professor speaks at length of what Marcello means to him, and the words are perhaps the most beautiful and moving I've ever heard expressed about "the love object." If this is not art, I don't know what is. I was certain at this point that the movie must have been based on a novel, with this portion of dialog taken word-for-word from the source. Evidently not. We have one, two, maybe all of the three co-writers to thank, as well as Signore Salemme's beautiful delivery of those words. (My mistake: Upon a second viewing of Tainted Souls, during the end credits, I found that the film is indeed based upon a novel, Il Contagio, written by Walter Sitti. I hope Signore Sitti was pleased with the film version.)

We also get to know a number of other tenants of the building and experience a peek into their lives, some of which are sad indeed (a robbery and fur coat figure into things). In the second half (there's a Three Years Later title card), the film turns its attention from Marcello to the character of Mauro (Maurizio Tesei, below), who plays second-in-command to Carmine's crime lord.

Mauro has earlier been instrumental in saving Marcello from the wrath of Carmine (Signore Siano, shown below). It is not clear if there may be a sexual attraction between Mauro and Marcello or simply the chance for a special and perhaps deep friendship.

Either way, that increasing contagion of the power/drugs/wealth combo will eventually destroy this relationship, too. Though the filmmakers deal with some awful and violent stuff, they never rub anything in our faces. We understand what happens and feel its horror and weight but are not subjected to anything approaching slasher-movie nonsense. (A stoning, below, is handled with a surprising, Saint Sebastian-like combination of terror and grace.)

Instead we get a good dose of everything from philosophy and religion to economics, politics and class (there are divergences in that latter category, it seems, even among the criminal set). Finally, as the end credits roll, we feel that we've lived with and loved these people. We understand them, suffer with them, and feel deeply their humanity -- even, in some cases, when there is almost nothing of it that remains.

The film also treats its female characters with unusual clarity and affection, especially Marcello's wife (played by Anna Foglietta, below, of Escort in Love and the recent Diva!), who handles her "other woman" role with the sadness, hope-against-hope and gravity it deserves.

From Breaking Glass Pictures, running 112 minutes and in Italian with English subtitles, Tainted Souls makes its home video debut tomorrow, Tuesday, July 24, on DVD and VOD -- for purchase and/or rental.

A country and a family on the road to ruin in Syllas Tzoumerkas' Greek drama, A BLAST

What was it like to have been a citizen of Greece back in 2014, when the film under consideration here -- A BLAST -- was first released? In it, we watch, semi-hypnotized by the behavior -- crazy, highly sexual, and not very loving -- of the family members we encounter. Even when they appear to be trying to approximate kindness, most of their actions comes out as either passive-aggressive or full out angry. And why not, since their country is headed for, if not already completely mired in financial ruin. As the whipping boy for the IMF and World Bank, Greece's employment rate was running at around 28 per cent, with the youth unemployment rate nearly double that. The family's personal lives and financial situation, we soon discover, are even worse.

As written and directed by Syllas Tzoumerkas (shown at left, and more recently the co-writer of that self-destructive doctor movie, Suntan), A Blast begins in media res, as we see a car racing through a forest near the sea, even as we hear a news report of a fire seemingly caused by arson. Tzoumerkas then flashes back to (sort of) happier days, and we see a pair of adults siblings playing/fighting at the beach, as exposition is dropped fairly speedily and well, prior to our meeting these young ladies' parents: mom, confined to a wheelchair but still apparently ruling the roost, along with a rather weak-willed dad.

Our star and heroine, Maria, is played by the oft-seen Greek actress Angeliki Papoulia (above and below, from Dogtooth, Alps and The Lobster), a beautiful woman who possesses a good body, expressive face and a fine array of acting chops. In this particular film however, Ms Papoulia proves mostly sex-crazed.

In one bizarre scene (above), she goes into a computer room full of men at work, turns on her computer to a porn site and proceeds to watch and listen, even as the poor guys around her find it, well, hard to concentrate on their own screen.

Her need for sex would seem to stem, at least in part, from the unavailability of her extremely handsome and hunky husband, Yannis (newcomer Vassilis Doganis, above and below), a Greek marine who's off at sea for much of the time. Yannis himself seems to be getting plenty of sex, even if his wife is not: We see him with a pretty black woman at one point (perhaps a prostitute), and then, having a very hot encounter with a male shipmate. Filmmaker Tzoumerkas makes certain we get, early on, a full-frame, full-frontal of his actor in the nude, and then intercuts often pieces of a soft-core sex scene (below) into his film's flashbacks. Thus we get plenty of the physicality of this rather amazing performer, whose first film this was, and who, according to the IMDB, has not been heard of since. Not to worry, what we see of him in A Blast should make Mr. Doganis a rather permanent fixture in some of our sexual memory banks.

As the family's fortunes wane further, and mom's misdeeds (that's Themis Bazaka in the role, below) become apparent, daughter Maria grows crazier and crazier. While Ms Papoulia does a bang-up job of creating this woman's disintegration, Mr. Tzoumerkas has not given us quite enough depth in his screenplay to make the movie into the tragedy that this kind of story probably deserves.

The family seems simply too crazy too soon, and so, even as more weird incidents pile up, our sympathy fails to be engaged past a certain surface point. The situation -- Greece's and the family's -- is certainly fraught and vitally important. Yet the handling of it all, while perhaps enough for the Greek audience that has by now lived through so much pain, austerity and other major crap, may not prove quite enough for those of us internationally who have yet to feel the ever-tightening vise of globalization and wealth inequality as wielded by the world's most powerful at their most damaging.

Perhaps a little less sex and a little more specificity regarding Greek life, family and otherwise, might have made this movie -- if less marketable internationally -- more meaningful and important.

From IndiePix Films and running a just-about-right 80 minutes, A Blast makes its U.S. DVD debut this coming Tuesday, August 22 -- for purchase and/or rental.

Being "bi" in a culture that's either straight or gay: Marcone & Norero's IN THE GRAYSCALE

A welcome exploration of what it means to be a bisexual living, as most of us do via western culture these days, in a world divided into either straight or gay, IN THE GRAYSCALE (En la gama de los grisas) features, as one of its two leading characters, a gay man who insists that his new lover must choose. It's either/or, kiddo. But, no. Despite what our culture insists, including everyone from many shrinks and medical pros to multitudinous gay rights advocates, maybe it's not. As a bi-sexual man who more often identifies as gay because, yes, it's just easier that way, TrustMovies can understand one of the two protagonists on view in this new film -- and at least appreciate to some extent the attitude of the other.

Bruno (played by Francisco Celhay, above, left, and below, right) is a successful architect who has been given a plum assignment of creating a lasting monument for his Chilean city. To that end, his boss has arranged for him to meet and use a local tour guide, Fer (Emilio Edwards, above, right, and below, left). Bruno uses Fer, all right (and vice versa); soon the two are deep into sex and exploration.

The film's writer (Rodrigo Norero) and director (first-timer Claudio Marcone, shown at right) allow the initial five or so minutes to pass without dialog. This is chancy but also enticing, particularly as we see Bruno disrobe completely and retire to bed. When dialog does begin, we learn that our guy is married with a young son, and has suddenly left his family in order to be... alone. For awhile, anyway.

Once we begin to learn the backgrounds of Bruno and Fer -- via a screenplay that allows for some mostly excellent interplay between the two: smart dialog, good moment-to-moment acting, one hot sex scene and plenty of full frontal (on Señor Celhay's part, at least) -- events take place naturally and feel unrushed. It also helps that both men, while attractive, are not drop-dead gorgeous so that we seem to be living in some gay fantasy land.

It also helps that Bruno's wife, Sole (a nice job by Daniela Ramirez, above, left) has her own agenda and reasons for better understanding the situation in which her husband has suddenly placed his family. Fortunately, the moviemakers appear to want to lay out the problem more than try to solve it -- which would take at least another full-length movie to manage. So don't expect a lot of closure here.

Just lean back, enjoy, and consider the pleasures and possibilities of a culture in which the scale of sexuality and its practices has many more gradations than currently are "allowed."

In the Grayscale -- from Wolfe Video, in Spanish with English subtitles and running 101 minutes -- arrives on DVD and digital platforms today, Tuesday, November 3, for purchase or rental.

Xavier Villaverde's alert and alluring ANGELS OF SEX explores bisexuality among Spanish youth

Bisexuality, along with the possibility of anything approaching a genuine threesome, is a topic much-loved by TrustMovies but generally avoided by most movie-makers, unless it's tossed into the mix as a kind of hook for transgressive appeal or entry into a character who's -- aha, we knew it! -- not to be trusted. This makes the Spanish film ANGELS OF SEX (El sexo de los ángeles) all the more welcome, then, as it explores, surprisingly gracefully and without judgment, the slow unfolding of a relationship between two young men and the girlfriend of one of them.

Imagine if you can a rendition of The Servant, in which the character played by Dirk Bogarde brings a freeing and positive sexuality to James Fox in his relationship to Wendy Craig, Sarah Miles or, hell, even to Bogarde himself. Crazy, no? Well, that Joseph Losey/Harold Pinter film landed in our laps a half century ago, and though it punched "class division" squarely in the jaw, anything outside the realm of the "normal" sexuality just had to be seen as terrifying and dysfunctional. Xavier Villaverde, shown at left, who directed (and conceived of this new film, along with José Antonio Vitoria) and Ana Maroto (the screenwriter) have concocted a breezy and smart opening involving a group of break-dancers working the street (below) and its audience, in which a pickpocket brings together our two heroes.

Once the two men have met, and it is clear that one of them is quite attracted to the fairly clueless other, it's just a matter of time before sexual attraction plays out, and Bruno (Llorenç González, below), who has never experienced attraction to another male...

...is finding himself torn between the young man, Rai (Álvaro Cervantes, below), who helped him and is now seducing him into feelings and actions he'd never imagined and which threaten...

...to tear him away from his long-time and much-loved girlfriend, Carla (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, shown at right, an actress possessing one of the most beautiful faces on screen today, and last seen here in the title role of The Well-Digger's Daughter). How the three interact in their dance of attraction, betrayal, sorrow, joy and finally comprehension makes for quite a heady and enjoyable mix of sunlight and shadow. The actors are as attractive as you could wish, and they're quite able to relax into everything and anything that is called for, including bouts of nudity -- though nothing quite full-frontal for the fellows.

The film follows some of the threesome's friends and relations, too, and probes a bit into the love-and-sex habits of the older generation (That's Lluïsa Castell as Carla's mom, above) as well as the younger (her friends, both straight and gay, from the workplace).

Angels of Sex (the original Spanish title is much better: The Sex of Angels -- who are said to be pan-sexual) is so well-executed and believable for so much of its running time that its ending may strike you as too easy and a tad forced.

It works, in any case, mostly because we so want it to work, and I suspect you'll be happy enough to go along. If the movie is not as thoughtful or rich as something like the German 3 (which details the lives of characters a generation older), or as deeply felt and art-oriented as the miraculous 3Some (aka Paper Castles), or finally as truthfully negative about the possible results of a threesome on young people who are simply not ready for it (the French Cold Showers), it remains a film to cherish in an alternative-sexuality sub-genre woefully short on bisexuality.

The movie -- running 105 minutes, in Spanish with English subtitles, and distributed in the USA via IFC Films -- is available now via Netflix streaming, Amazon Instant Video, and on DVD.

Jonathan Lee's PAUL GOODMAN CHANGED MY LIFE offers plenty of food for thought

Paul Goodman didn't change my life. Unfor-tunately. But I wish he had. Born 30 years before me (in 1911), he published his famous work, Growing Up Absurd, around the time I was attending a Christian Science school (Principia College), a place at which a fellow like Goodman -- proudly bisexual and "out" (before the use of that word had even come into being!) -- would not have found favor. Once I abandoned that foolish religion and began to grow up (absurd or not), I did learn something of Goodman and read an occasional essay.

Now, seeing the fine documentary that first-time filmmaker Jonathan Lee (shown at right) has assembled, I realize how ahead-of-his-time the man was, and how -- as a married bisexual with children who fairly constantly gave in to his homosexual impulses -- his life and mine were relatively similar (in that regard, at least). Had I but known a more about this man and his astounding capacity for understanding and writing about so many things (education, urban planning, civil and sexual rights) in so many forms (poetry, novels, essays and ground-breaking non-fiction books), he would have, should have, been my hero.

Lee's film makes you understand the importance of Goodman at the same time as you understand how difficult a guy he could be. And not just around his own family (that's his wife Sally, shown with him, below). We hear from everyone from Judith Malina (of The Living Theater: Goodman is seen chatting with some of its actors in the penultimate photo, below) to the late Grace Paley (shown with Goodman at an anti-war rally in photo at bottom) and William Buckley, Ned Rorem, Deborah Meier, Noam Chomsky and a lot more. By the film's conclusion, we see a fairly rounded view of its subject, and while we can appreciate him fully, we don't have the nagging sense (that arrives with some biographical documentaries) of watching an exercise in hagiography.

The only thing mis-sing is Goodman himself. We so wish we could hear from him about some of these sexual sub-jects. As outspoken as he was in his day, the rest of polite society was not, and so the very ques-tions we'd ask him now (and he'd certainly answer), were never brought up then. What a shame that we were unable to make near-ly full use of the man as we might have. He was, as one inter-viewee labels it, "inconvenient."

I think it may have been Ms Meier who also points out how women simply do not seem to exist in the world of Growing Up Absurd -- even though he was married to one (and then another), and had sired a daughter with whom he was close, to boot.  From what we learn here of his politics, one imagines that he would heartily approve of the current Occupy Wall Street movement. Of his sexuality, as one friend recalls, "He made passes at everybody: at men, women, at their mothers!"

Lee's film is not at all linear; it jumps all over the place yet is never hard to follow nor for a moment uninteresting. For the section on Goodman's contribution to Gestalt therapy alone, it proves fascinating. Oddly, the most moving section comes at the finale when one interviewee, a man who only knew Goodman through his many and varied literary works, talks about how much he would have loved to have met him -- and how he has indeed changed this fellow's life. I think many of us feel that way. We've missed something. Perhaps Lee's movie will herald a renaissance for Goodman's works, most of which have gone out of print.

Paul Goodman Changed My Life, from Zeitgeist Films, is screening now through November 1 in New York City at Film Forum. Click here for FF screening times and then here to see where else across the country the film will be playing. A DVD will no doubt be available eventually, but as this is a Zeitgeist release, the wait may be rather lengthy, so grab this film however and wherever you can.