Customer Reviews

Exposure (aka High Art) [VHS]

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The above quote opens the film "Exposure" (also known as "A Grande Arte"), a well-crafted if somewhat low-key thriller that involves the equally fascinating and repulsive subculture of knife fighting.

Peter Mandrake (Peter Coyote) is a photographer working on assembling a coffee table book of photographs about Rio de Janeiro. The book is to cover the dark and less 'tourist friendly' side of Rio--having nothing to do with the wildly costumed and intoxicating festival atmosphere of Carnivale. Rather, his black and white photos showcase criminals, derelicts, people in crisis, prostitutes, pimps and train surfers (adrenaline junkies that climb up onto the tops of trains, riding them like a surfboard, dodging cables and overhangs).

As he moves about the seamier and more squalid neighborhoods in Rio, Peter becomes casual friends with one of his models, a pretty young prostitute/masseuse named Gisela (Giulia Gam). When Gisela asks Peter to accompany her while she returns a computer disk belonging to one of her more dangerous clients, Gisella winds up being horribly murdered and Peter is mistakenly identified as her blackmailing accomplice. Afterwards, Peter and his girlfriend, Marie (Amanda Pays), are savagely attacked in their apartment by knife-wielding thugs in search of the elusive computer disk.

Traumatized by the near-death knife wound he receives, Peter wants vengeance in kind. To dispatch his and Marie's attackers with a gun simply won't do; it must be with a knife. To this end, he tracks down Hermes (Tcheky Karyo), an elusive and mysterious professional assassin, who Peter saw earlier in a to-the-death knife fight in the street. Hermes is a per-sev (short for 'perforate and sever') or Knife Master. He reluctantly agrees to train Peter and finds an enthusiastic and obsessed pupil. The training sessions are some of the most morbidly fascinating scenes in the movie. Hermes maps out the body's kill zones with lipstick on a mirror where Peter practices slashing and stabbing. They also practice the offensive and defensive maneuvering techniques required to inflict the maximum amount of damage on the opponent. Peter then sets out to track down his assailants.

Before watching this movie, I didn't know there was an actual art to knife fighting. I simply thought that you attempted to cut the other guy while trying not getting cut yourself. The stylized choreography of the knife fights does have a certain elegance and fascination. The cinematography is also quite striking, and the diverse countryside of both Brazil and Bolivia is visually arresting. The seasoned and capable actors elevate what could have otherwise been a rather mediocre thriller. However, this film will probably still have a rather narrow and specific audience appeal.

I enjoyed this film and its handling of knife techniques. It led me to seek out training in Arnis and other Philippine arts. Now I just wonder when it will be available in DVD. Its hard to believe nobody has released it yet.

This review is here to correct the misguided comments of "Syber Ronin" who insists that the knife fighting featured in this movie is Spanish in origin. According to IMDB (http://us.imdb.com/Credits?0101834), the knife fighting advisor to this film is Christopher Kent. Kent - who is a student of Dan Inosanto - is a teacher of the Filipino martial arts. The basic techniques and the numbering system that are shown in this film are common to several Filipino Arnis systems. While there are knife fighting systems still alive in Spain, they are not featured in this film...

One of the most troubling, and fascinating films I'v ever seen, leaving a permanent mark in my memory.
Far from actual Hollywood balet fightings, this is a movie in which you get a glimpse of the street life & death, and what the power of the knife really is.
Superb!

The spare rural scenes and bleak urban scenes make an interesting background for the revenge tale plot of this underappreciated gem. Tcheky Karyo has the standout role as Hermes the persev (an expert knife fighter) who teaches Peter Coyote his art.

I ENJOYED THIS MOVIE VERY MUCH, EVEN THOUGH AT TIMES IT DID MOVE SLOW. FINNALY A MOVIE SHOWING THE REALITYS OF A KNIFE FIGHT, PEOPLE ALWAYS UNDERESTIMATE THE DANGER OF GOING UP AGAINST SOMEONE WITH A KNIFE, AND FINNALY THIS MOVIE SHOWS WHAT CAN HAPPEN WHEN YOU FACE SOMEONE WITH A KNIFE. I AM A STUDENT OF LAMECO ESKRIMA UNDER GURU FELIX VALENCIA, AND THE BOSTON SCHOOL OF ARNIS, UNDER PUNONG GURU GEORGE BREWSTER, AND COMPETED IN KNIFE FIGHTING TOURNAMENTS, AND KNIFE FIGHTS. ALSO THE BRAZILIAN MOB BOSS IN THE MOVIE WHO WAS CUTTING HIS INITIALS INTO THE WOMENS FACES WAS VERY BELIEVABLE, EVEN DOWN TO SHOWING HIS CUSTOM MADE KNIFE AND HOW HE WORE IT. THE MOST COMPLEX CHARACTER IN THE MOVIE WAS HERMES (CHEKY KARO) HE IS AN EXCELLENT ACTOR WHO WE HAVE SEEN IN A LOT MORE MOVIES LATELEY. HE ALSO WAS VERY BELIEVABLE IN HIS ROLE. THE MOVIE SHOWED A DARK PART OF LIFE THAT IS A REALITY, THAT SOME PEOPLE DO NOT WANT TO RECOGNIZE.

....leads him to learn the art of knife-fighting.

I like this movie a lot, but be warned, there are only two action sequences involving the actual fighting technique, and, of course, the training sequences with Hermes (Tcheky Karyo).

I saw this movie and it had a lasting affect. I get real tired of the canned movies that show people doing what is politically correct. This movie is probably Peter Coyotes best movie. Why it has not made it to DVD is obvious to me. Since it's release in 1995 the movie industry, (influenced by more powerful government figuares), tries it's best to curtail anything that would suggest that people take matters into their own hands. I think some of them think it would be a good idea for the government to name your child and they would probably do it if not for people like me and the ones reading this review. This is a great Film and I highly recommend you see it at least once. It will change your idea of knife fighting forever.

Star Wars (Episode 4,5,& 6), The Matrix, Above the Law, Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings. These are the movies that I remember. ....and Exposure. I couldn't follow the plot very well and there was some questionable acting and scripting, but I remember that I have rarely ever seen full speed fighting and the training leading up to it like in this film. It made me want to buy kevlar clothing and a gun.
I don't remember any details of the movie today, but I remember the impact it made on me.

. . . My many-many years' old taken-from-TV VHS offers a lame view
of this fine film, All elements work; but the script is exceptional.
Oh, and the direction, editing an d might as well say the acting, too...

With all the garp about today, I really hope
for a re-release or a boot to emerge.