1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Paranoid Fantasy, September 2, 2001
This review is from: Secret Cinema [VHS] (VHS Tape)
This short feature hits paranoid adolescent insecurities with manic humor. Similar plots have been filmed since, but I think the sentiment was best done in this concise manner. Of the 30+ films I saw in a college film class in 1973, this was the one that still comes to mind most often. The only possible negative is that the low-technology (it is old and low-budget) may make it harder to engage currently young viewers. Also, I would recommend skipping the introductory interview with the director.
For this price though, it's definitely worth sharing.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent short by a master of sensual, dark humor, February 20, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Secret Cinema [VHS] (VHS Tape)
Somewhere it has been mentioned that Peter Weir got the idea for his film "The Truman Show" from this Paul Bartel film. There are similarities but the big differences are in the length, age, and feel of each film. This film is in the 20-30 minute length range and is supplemented by the even shorter erotic short "Naughty Nurse," but I'll get to that later. The story centers around a woman who works in an office which is a front for someone to be filming her life in episodes and watching them in secret locations, hence the title. Every person she runs into during the film is either behind it, or knows of it. With a story and title like this it's not really important if I tell you the story because it's already given away. The only reason to see this film after knowing what it's about is: Paul Bartel's strange and sardonic sense of humor and direction. Sometimes he's absurd and other times unbelievably dark. At any rate, many of the characters in his films are very skewed indeed. They are overwrought in their simplicity and motives, this is obviously playing to the audience so that everyone can understand perfectly and maybe get a chuckle out of it. On the technical side of things it's in black and white and is old and low budget, so it has obvious flaws that were in the print this was copied from. Also, the soundtrack doesn't completely match the dialogue because it was done with the Italian system(Mr. Bartel has a five minute introduction to the films and he explains why he used this) so watching might be annoying if you're not a fan of old Spaghetti westerns and are used to it. About "Naughty Nurse" it's a 7 minute erotica short that is really nothing substantial. Just a sadomasochistic nurse who frequents lunches with other medical personel. It does have a bit of humor at the beginning, but rest is pretty much rubbish. The action doesn't really build and as I said there isn't enough humor, or actual erotic content, or any kind of content to make this piece feel complete. I was just glad that it ended.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun and Creepy, February 11, 2012
This review is from: Secret Cinema [VHS] (VHS Tape)
An influential (in it's time), inventive 30 minute black and white
short that examined an 'Ed TV' like idea way before others did. A woman
has her life secretly filmed, edited and shown to a laughing audience
each week. Far more surreal and stylized than the features and TV shows
that later used this concept, it's stylish, a lot of fun and effectively
creepy. On the other hand, the acting is amateurish, production values
nonexistent, and the post dubbed sound is pretty awful. But somehow,
that homemade quality sort of works with the story. Worth seeing if you
have any interest in the semi-experimental late 60s cinema that
combined what would have been sleaze with far more artistic aspirations
(Brian DePalma, Bartel, Jonathan Demme and many others were part of this
art/exploitation film trend).
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