Emiliano Rocha Minter's WE ARE THE FLESH further pushes the sex-and-violence envelope

Were it not for the use of the same time- and place-setting word -- twice -- in the press material describing this new movie from Mexican filmmaker Emiliano Rocha Minter, viewers like me might not be so easily taken in by WE ARE THE FLESH. God knows, the filmmaker himself never uses this highly descriptive phrase. He proves much too canny for that. He simply shows us a very grungy, dirty, crazy-looking enclosed space, then lets our imagination do the rest. Into this space an even crazier-looking man unloads his heavy cardboard burden and then begins preparing what might be the least appetizing meal ever captured on film.

Señor Rocha Minter, shown at right, would have us wondering "Where the hell are we?" And were it not for that all-purpose/oft-seen-and-heard phrase which we reviewers were sent and that quite dutifully and immediately fills in all the blanks, we might still be wondering. I will not use that phrase in my review and will hope that you don't get wind of it elsewhere, because it simply makes things way too easy. Despite its use, the filmmaker does provide some clues that indicate that something other may be happening. For instance, where in hell do those eggs come from? Wouldn't their continuing existence indicate chickens, too?

Into the environment of our weird but rather sexy little hermit (nice job by Noé Hernández, bearded above then post-corpse clean-shaven below) comes a pair of siblings who explain that they have been wandering the city for days and are very hungry. (The duo is played by María Evoli, at right, two photos below, and Diego Gamaliel, at left). Our oddball host feeds them and almost simultaneously begins feeding them a line of bullshit about all barriers having now been broken so we can give in to our darkest impulses, especially those involving sex or violence.

Before you can say incest, sis is sucking on bro and bro is fucking sis. And yes, this is all viewed hard-core style. (I did mention envelope-pushing in my headline, right?)  And, as our hermit watches all this while jacking off, we get a nice dose of double voyeurism, to boot.

Further, our host appears to have a heart attack while climaxing (the "little death" leads to the big one: shades of John Garfield!), but before long he is back again and weirder than ever, taking the threesome into murder, cannibalism and goodness knows what else.

The film's pivotal scene -- and maybe its best: it's as oddly moving as it is grizzly -- involves a military man, kidnapped and sacrificed for his blood and body. This leads to an orgy and the appearance of many more people than we've so far seen, and then to an ending that changes everything.

Rocha Minter's clever sleight-of-hand is the most impressive thing about the film. Though it is full of darkness and occasional bright shards of light (as below), it also offers some visual oddities like the major sex scene (done via rather needless and artsy posterization effect), plus a moment or two that capture our "heroine's" face in a singular manner (above), and unusual shots of a vagina and penis/scrotum, all at rest.

The orgy finale, which looks something like a particularly bad night at the old Studio 54, is followed by that game-changing denouement. And if this is not quite enough to lift We Are the Flesh into horny-porn greatness, it will at least leave those viewers who've stuck around for the duration a few things to mull over. And, yes, you could call this a "mixed review."

Being released in a dozen or so cities across the U.S. via Arrow Films -- unrated, I would images, due to its hard-core scenes -- the movie opens in Los Angeles at Laemmle's Arhya Fine Arts this Friday, January 13, and in New York City on January 20 at the Cinema Village. Elsewhere? Yes: It will also open for weeklong runs in Texas (in Laredo and San Antonio) on January 13, in Denver and New Orleans on January 20, and in San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Columbus on January 27. Special screenings throughout January and February include El Paso, Houston, Phoenix, Cleveland, Portland (Oregon) and Albuquerque. 

Raunch done right: Stick Maggie Carey's funny/smart THE TO DO LIST on yours.

It's a shame about that "R" rating, for THE TO DO LIST is the kind of movie you'd want adolescents to see and discuss. But they won't be able to get in unless you accompany them. So get ready. If America were the kind of adult society we often to claim to be -- fundamentalists of all stripes aside -- any film that explored sex and sexuality with the novelty, charm, intelligence, fun and, yes, raunch (the real thing, not the pseudo variety we more often get) of this one would be embraced. But these films are usually rejected out of hand : Look at Jon Kasdan's so-good-you-probably-didn't-even-hear-of-it The First Time, or the Scandinavian whoopie cushion Turn Me On, Dammit. To those and a very few others, we can add this new, very funny, envelope-pushing movie from writer/director Maggie Carey, below.

Rauch is a tricky thing to handle on film, and Ms Carey's movie is full of it. Getting your cast on the same page (and tone) about what you're doing is one important way to proceed. Then you just hope your audience comes aboard. It takes us and the film a little while to find our footing, but there are enough surprises and laughs along the way to keep us alert and interested. Slowly we're won over, as we watch and identify more and more with the movie's heroine, Brandy -- a smart performance from Aubrey Plaza (below and on poster, above) of Parks & Rec fame and Safety Not Guaranteed. Ms Plaza will hit 30 next year, but she still manages to make a relatively believable teenager -- looks-wise and (more important) emotionally. Most important (for our and the movie's edification), Plaza is funny and versatile -- going from controlling nerd to sexy young woman and hitting just about every stop in between.

Set in Boisie, Idaho, in 1993, the plot hangs on the idea that a just-graduated-from-high-school young woman who is still a virgin, in order to "lose it," come hell or high water, over the coming summer, makes that titular "list" of important steps along the way to deflowering. This is not especially far-fetched, although, in this day and age, a girl who graduates from high school a virgin is probably a relative rarity.

The movie's ace-in-the-hole is sex -- not so much the thing itself but the attitude toward it of everyone in the film. Most of Brandy's peers give it the kind of all-out embrace that makes it essential but somehow empty, while Brandy and her two best friends (played by Sarah Steele, above, center, and Alia Shawkat, above, right) are hopeful but properly skittish about what it is and what it means.

Brandy's sleazy sister -- the pretty, funny and properly raunchy Rachel Bilson -- uses sex (along with other people) for her own benefit, while the sisters' parents (Connie Britton and Clark Gregg, both pricelessly on-the-mark, as always) have their own agenda: She's all for it and, in fact, wants to help it along (with lubricant); Dad says no, of course -- until the usual pretense of true love and waiting-till-the-wedding go along with it.

The females of The To Do List are a good deal smarter and more receptive than the males, but Ms Carey does not make her men into pigs (not complete pigs, at least). The three most prominent are played by Scott Porter (the hunk), Johnny Simmons (above, right, as the best friend) and Bill Hader (below, who plays the boss at the outdoor community swimming pool at which Brandy finds a summer job).  Mr. Hader's role bears no small resemblance to that of Sam Rockwell's in The Way, Way Back, though the two charac-ters and the tone of the two films could hardly be more different.

The movie also features funny turns from Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Donald Glover, and a nearly unrecognizable Andy Samberg. By the time our heroine has discovered sex -- and how different it can be, depending on the partner --  I suspect that you will be so firmly ensconced in the movie's attitude and philosophy that you may be surprised at yourself. I hope so, anyway. And though the film flirts with some feel-good sentimentality toward the end, it smartly draws back just in time.

The To Do List, a kind of stealth groundbreaker/troublemaker, is a film that teenagers -- hell, adults, too -- will be all the better for having seen.

The movie, via CBS Films (which seems to have disowned The To Do List, if its web site is any indication) and running 104 minutes, opens tomorrow, Friday, July 26, all over the place. Click here, and then enter your zip code under Find Tickets & Showtimes, to find the theater nearest you.

3SOME (aka Paper Castles, aka Castillos de cartón) debuts On-Demand

TrustMovies has been wondering just why a review he posted over three months ago is suddenly getting so many hits that it's now among his top ten posts.  The reason: In the interim IFC Films has picked up this exceptional movie, now titled 3SOME (originally called Paper Castles: Castillos de cartón in its Spanish language title), for an On-Demand release.  TM is happy to know this because the film is one of those that are so fine in so many ways, that it hurt to think it might not be seen again here in the U.S. (3some was first shown here as part of last year's Spanish Cinema Now series from the Film Society of Lincoln Center.)

As my original review notes, the movie is very smart about art, young people, self-image and sexuality, and all of these things come to the fore during its brief but powerful 94 minutes.  The sex scenes are among the best -- original, funny, moving and real -- I've ever seen, and the use of nudity (including plenty of full frontal) is handled so well and believably that it's a pleasure to view on several levels.

The importance of art in the lives of these kids is also something the film brings beautifully to life. I am trying to recall another movie in which art -- appreciating it, talking about it, making it -- is conceived and executed any better than here, and I am (except perhaps for Seraphine) coming up short. The relationship between these three kids also rings terribly, hilariously, sadly true, and this is the subject the director (Salvador García Ruiz, shown at right) and his screenwriter Enrique Urbizu (based on a novel by Almudena Grandes) capture in spades.

The three kids could hardly be better, and I hope we'll see them soon again: Adriana Ugarte (shown above, left with Nilo Mur) and Biel Durán (shown below).  The character played by Señor Mur, in particular, is full of surprise. We don't know until the end, just how smart and sad this fellow is, and when he unburdens, it is both devastating and cleansing. The quietest of the three, he also turns out to be the most perspicacious.

3some will be available On-Demand until May 11, 2010, as part of IFC's Festival Direct program; click here to learn if it's in your particular area.  I would advise a watch before it's On-Demand time is up.  Though, even then, I suspect it will make a DVD appearance.

At least, I hope so.