Get to know this dear exploitation couple in Wiktor Ericsson's A LIFE IN DIRTY MOVIES

TrustMovies has long known (and somewhat appreciated) the oeuvre of sexploitation filmmakers Russ Meyer and Radley Metzger, but the name and work of one, Joe Sarno, had somehow escaped him. No more. Thanks to one of my favorite distributors, Film Movement, together with its new genre division, RAM Releasing, and a young Swedish filmmaker, Wiktor Ericsson, a new documentary about Mr. Sarno -- his life, wife and work -- is about to open here in New York City. And it is one pip of a movie.

What Mr. Ericsson, shown at right, has given us is a  lovely portrait of a man and his time and especially his obsession with filmmaking and sexuality from -- of all things -- the woman's point of view. If you haven't seen many sexploitations films, trust me: This is very unusual. As attuned to women and their needs as was Sarno in his films, Ericsson proves equally so where Sarno's wife. Peggy, is concerned. This woman, a young actress when she met the filmmaker (who was 17 years her senior), worked with him, married him (against the wishes of her family) and then devoted her life to her husband and his movies.

Peggy (above, left, dancing with Joe) is a pip, too -- beautiful in her youth and almost equally so now. She seems to have been the glue that held it all together, and Ericsson makes full use of her. The movie finds the couple working on what is to be Joe's comeback -- his first film in decades -- which he is writing on an old word processor, and which Peggy proofreads and gives suggestions for. The two (mostly she) talk about their life together and past endeavors, and the reminiscing is filled with archival footage (below, with the younger Sarno shown center, left), much of it from Joe's films.

Sarno greatly admired the work of Ingmar Bergman and when he was asked to come to Sweden to make a movie, the couple leaped at the oppor-tunity. They loved that country and have spent time there every year since. (That's they below, in Sweden, back in the day.) It soon becomes clear that Peggy is currently more necessary to Joe's well-being than ever before: emotionally, physically, even artistically. (We watch as she proofs and then explains to him why he'll have to change a scene in which a girl makes a phone call from a telephone booth into one in which she uses a cell phone.)

Ericsson has chosen to only slowly reveal points from the couple's personal life. Do they have children? Eventually we learn the answer to this and other questions, while meeting Peggy's aged mother in the process. The filmmaker seems to have become a kind of protecting presence in his subjects' lives; he certainly make us viewers feel protective of this endearing pair.

We get some surprises--both lovely and sad--in the film's final 20 minutes, as we learn of the couple's financial struggles ("Don't ask!") and the story of Joe's teen years. The movie is also full of interesting talk and opinions via everyone from film historians to Sarno aficionado John Waters.

Finally, we grow to, yes, love the Sarnos, I think, and certainly appreciate them. Yet, Ericsson never pushes. Simply by his choice of what to show and tell, he allows us to come to care for this couple on our own. The film lasts only 80 minutes; in that time you'll laugh, learn and, I suspect, be very moved. Best of all, as with the recent doc Art and Craft, you'll come to care for people whom you would very probably never have expected to.

Another thing that A Life in Dirty Movies should do is gear you up to watch one or more of Joe's films. Fortunately, along with the debut of the documentary -- this Friday, September 19, here in New York City at Anthology Film Archives where it will see a one-week run -- a selection of Sarno's movies will also be shown, screening for eight days through September 26.

Click here to see the entire program listed, here for directions to AFA, and here to buy tickets.. 

The surprising and gut-bustingly hilarious JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK

My biggest question before viewing JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK was why filmmakers Ricki Stern (below, left) and Anne Sundberg (below, right) would collaborate on this subject, after previously giving us the likes of The Devil Came on Horseback (about the genocide in Darfur) and The Trials of Darryl Hunt (tackling the [il]legal system in our own country). Both films manage to be extraordinarily depressing and finally uplifting because of the way in which they force us to confront what would otherwise seem very difficult to bear. Now that I've seen their new film, no further explanation is needed. If their new documentary is necessarily lighter in weight, it bears the same hallmarks as their earlier films -- including getting close enough to the person-in-charge so that the documentary becomes, necessarily, both about and for its subject.

Under Stern & Sundberg's microscope, Ms Rivers proves a fascinating object that the twosome is able to probe with a combination of clarity, honesty and humor (much of it provided by their subject) -- if perhaps with something less than full candor. Post viewing, I did begin to wonder just how much control the subject exercised over the finished product. Did gaining this kind of access to a celebrity mean that Rivers called at least a few of the shots? Although in the press materials the filmmakers note that they were given for fourteen months unlimited access to "meetings, rehearsals, hiring and firings, dress fittings, birthdays, dog training and holidays" -- whew -- one can still wonder about the editing process: What made the cut, what did not, and why?

Still, the movie offers a surprisingly rich, warts-and-jewelry look at a life dedicated to being funny by making people laugh, wince and think -- as our best comedians have always done. If that life if also a sad one (obsessive and blinkered to a large extent) that has taken a toll on its owner and those closest to her, well: You get what you ask for, and you pay for it, too. As I am sure Ms. Rivers would be the first to admit.

As usual, I will not go into much about "what" you are going to see. Granted, there's no "narrative plot" to spoil in most documentaries. But there are enough juicy tidbits and chunks of surprising information that it would be stupid and graceless to give them away here. I will say one thing, however, in way of a warning. If you read, as I did ( literally within an hour of seeing the documentary) the piece by Jonathan Van Meter that appeared on Ms. Rivers in New York magazine's end-of-May issue, you may find yourself shocked by the amount of duplication between the article and movie.  Juicy tidbit after juicy tidbit is repeated until I found myself thinking, "Someone should sue." (And TrustMovies doesn't even like lawyers.)

Even if you did read the New York article, there's some discovery to be made and fun to be had as the filmmakers cover everything from Rivers' new theater piece (performed to success at the Edinburgh Festival but not so much in London) and her history on and with Johnny Carson to her recent appearance on -- oh, god -- Donald Trump's Celebrity Apprentice.  (How desperate is she? As she tells us early in in the doc, "I was playing the Bronx at 4:30 in the afternoon!")  By the finale of this very amusing, sometimes sad, occasionally creepy documentary,  you may view this "piece of work" in a way that adapts that famous line about travel:  "She's a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there."

After being featured at various film fests across the country this year -- and just finishing its stint as Centerpiece presentation at NEWFEST here in New York City -- Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work opens Friday, June 11, on three screens at the IFC Center, as well as Lincoln Plaza Cinema, Cinemas 1, 2, 3 and the Chelsea Clearview.