Customer Reviews

That Man: Peter Berlin

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A brilliant film by Jim Tushinski about a fascinating and unforgetable gay icon. Peter Berlin with his chisled abs, smooth skin, Dutchboy haircut, exaggerated (and self-altered) wardrobe, and unflinching gaze epitomized the boldness and sexual freedom that marked gay life in New York and San Francisco in the years immediately following Stonewall. Often referred to as a porn star, he surprisingly only made two erotic films. But like a true icon, he is remembered more for his still images--photographs taken by Robert Mapplethorp or himself, posters and newspaper ads for his movies, and drawings by Tom of Finland. Some of the most fascinating of these still images are the double exposures he took of himself in which, Narcissus like, he seems to be trying to seduce himself. He was extremely conscious of his ability to attract attention and managed to project both an androgynous and hyper-masculine image. Madonna could learn a lot from him should she ever deign to emerge from whatever glen she is lurking in.

Tushiinski does a great job of blending a generous amount of vintage film footage showing Berlin in his heyday with insightful interview clips from people like Armistead Maupin, Jack Wrangler, Wakefield Poole, and John Waters. Skillfully interwoven with these are interview clips with Berlin himself, alive and well and living in San Francisco. At 60, he dresses the same and looks, well, like an older version of himself. Berlin is comfortable talking about himself and needs no prompting from the director. He even provides the voice-over for much of the film. He speaks about his interactions with Andy Warhol and Mapplethorpe, his inability to make any real money, and his close friends who died from "the virus." (His own HIV-negative status is probably attributable to the fact that he enjoyed exhibitionism and seduction more than actual sex.) He is not in denial about growing old. He's honest about his regrets but is neither bitter nor overwhelmed by them. He is and always has been apolitical (declining to be grand marshall of San Francisco's gay pride parade). It's hard to say why he remains such a fascinating figure. Perhaps we just admire (and envy) his unflagging, unrepentent self-love.

This DVD has lots of extras, including a gallery of many of those wonderful still images. The director's commentary is way above average. Fascinating stuff, from beginning to end!

This documentary on Peter Berlin's life is really quite extraordinary. I've know his face and I've known his face since I bought my first porn mag back in the early/mid 80's but I had never put the two together. And, getting to see ALL facets of his work and life, especially all of the amazing self-photography he did, is great. There are so many gay men out there who know his face (or name), like I did, but don't know Peter's full-story...and here it is...and quite and intriguing one it is. They don't make 'em like this anymore...a porn star's shelf life, as is said in the documentary, is about 14 minutes these days, but Peter Berlin and a select few men from the 70's and very early 80's still endure and I believe always will. Well worth your buck both for the biography and for all the images of this stud.

Growing up gay in the 1970's, one could not help but be aware of the name, persona and photos of Peter Berlin, perhaps the most successful gay model/photographers of the past century. With his clean good looks, longish blonde cut, and defined body, always framed by a series of creative leather and other wardrobes, Berlin was an icon of that decade's gay porn, starring in self-produced vanity pieces like "Nights in Black Leather" and "That Boy" that had extended runs at the gay porn film houses of the time. He was unique at that time when gay society pretty much demanded the "clone look" (short hair, moustache, flannel shirt, jeans, boots), while his look was almost exactly the opposite. Information or interviews about him were few and far between, as the highly personal and reclusive Berlin limited access to get to know the "real" him, preferring to let his photos and people's imaginations carry him to fame.

Thirty years later, this 2005 documentary looks at Peter Berlin from his childhood to the present, getting additional perspectives from those who have known or interviewed him over the years, including author Armistead Maupin, producer/director Wakefield Poole, director John Waters, and fellow porn star Jack Wrangler. At least of the 80 minute running time consists of classic film shot during Berlin's prime, walking the streets of San Francisco, on photo shoots, doing his poses as "street art" in cruising areas, and scenes from his two feature films and several shorts. We learn about travels in Europe, his lifepartner of over 20 years, his friendship with Andy Warhol, and - though I found it hard to believe - the fact that he led a fairly celebate life in San Francisco. Peter gives a tour of his apartment, displays some of the souveniers of his career, and talks honestly about his motivations and influences over the years. It's an interesting look at a unique individual, kind of gay porn's answer to Garbo.

DVD has photo gallery, additional interview and director commentary. I give it three stars out of five.

Peter Berlin was a star in the same sense that Edie Sedgewick and similar personalities were: they were extraordinarily famous within an extremely narrow subculture, but that fame did not translate to broader celebrity.

Born Armin Hagen Freiherr von Hoyningen-Huene in 1942 Germany, Belin trained as a photographer and wandered Europe for several years before arriving in San Francisco. There he tapped into the city's gay community and reinvented himself as a street icon, instantly recognizeable for his open shirts, obscenely tight pants, and Dutch-Boy haircut. In 1973 he starred in the X-rated KNIGHTS IN BLACK LEATHER; both the film and Berlin's poster design were widely known. A year later he starred in yet another X-rated film, THAT MAN; he made four short X-rated films; he was also the star of at least four X-rated "loops." Photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe, drawn by Tom of Finland, he was very much an "underground" star.

Berlin, however, had a bit more going for him than an attractive body and a willingness to display it. At some point Berlin began to do his own art work, most of which involved photographing himself in various stages of far-out attire. Although his work hardly places him in the same class as, say, Robert Mapplethorpe or Andy Warhol, it did achieve a following, and is still seen today in various exhibitions, collections, and displays. But time was against him: his favorite subject, his own body, passed its peak of perfection--and in the 1980s AIDS began to unravel the gay culture that had made his celebrity possible.

Created in 2005 by Jim Tushinski, THAT MAN: PETER BERLIN is a portrait of Berlin both then and now, featuring interviews with such notable gay men as John Waters and Armistead Maupin--but most particularly with Berlin himself, who emerges as an odd mixture of blankness, narcissim, and hard-core realist. Sometimes described by interview subjects as "Garbo-esque" for the distance he imposes between himself and others, Berlin now passes his days in casual obscurity, recognized occasionally on the streets by old fans, self-absorbed but far from self-pitying, still interested in the art for which he is his own canvass.

The DVD comes with a number of bonuses, most particularly the images created by Berlin, additional interview materials, and a director's commentary. Berlin's celebrity is very much of a certain place and time, and his personality is not easily evaluated--but he is indeed an icon on an era in the gay community, a brief window in time during which anything seemed possible in the city by the bay. Recommended.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

This documentary was surprisingly tasteful, credible, and informative. Even though Peter Berlin represented 1970s "gutter" gay eroticism, the eroticism here is encased as a documentary about an erotic art form: Peter Berlin himself.

While Anais Nin made herself an icon by publishing her erotic diaries in the 1970s and then later her pornography in the early 1990s, and while Madonna in the Eighties was on a roll "re-inventing herself" and showing off her sexual attributes, and Calvin Klein was getting Brooke Shields to reveal her tush in jeans, Peter Berlin was the original progenitor of this Romantic and erotic enterprise: LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT MY BODY!

If only Peter Berlin had learned the business of advertising better than he did and with more ambition is what I felt by the end of the documentary. He could have really been a contender! Nonetheless, the documentary does an appealing job of making him an admirable object and subject of our attention.

It was appealing to learn that this Narcissus was not offensively egotistical, greedy, or even overcome by his sexual desires and persona. He maintained his health and his HIV-negative status throughout.

In one sense, Peter Berlin reminded me of Ayn Rand and what she felt about finding the right person in life. Peter Berlin stated he made himself into a sexual icon in the hope that he could "look up" to someone, as Ayn Rand had wanted to look up to someone more intellectual and more brilliant than she, someone who, for Peter's sake, had the same sexual charge and interest to arouse Berlin's physical interest as he aroused others. He wanted someone like himself, but not the same.

While Peter found over the years two very imporant and very dear friends (both of whom later died), he never found, like Ayn Rand didn't find, "the right one" who erotically dreamed as he (and she) had.

While the story is a little tragic in the Romantic sense, Peter Berlin is a healthy 60-year-old and his Narcissism doesn't seem to have limited his life or estranged him from friends in any way. He stayed true to his Bohemian roots, financially and spiritually. A happy ending! (No pun intended.)

I'm glad I've got Peter Berlin in my mind now, not as "only" some former porn star, but as an admirable living gay legend.

P.S. It's a hoot to hear John Waters, of all people, say he was "SHOCKED" by Peter Berlin's display of himself! John Waters, shocked? Watch the DVD! I don't think it can be improved upon.

I had never heard the words "peter berlin" until a few weeks ago; googled him and learned that there was a doc about him available...I have no special interest in gay/lesbian issues, but this fellow, iconic as he is in those demographics, should also be particularly meaningful to any wannabe out there. Just like indie producers scoff at Scorcese when he says it's "harder and harder to make good movies without studio interference", so should anyone who wants to break into being themselves as a business...Mr. Berlin was ahead of his time: he was his own photographer, clothing designer, art director and model. All on a shoestring in a little S.F. apartment.
Boy, he IS pretty, rent this just for that if you want, but rent it!

This documentary focuses on a man who is narcissistic and self-indulgent. Peter Berlin is certainly that. But there is so much more to Peter Berlin. Peter ist kunst. (Peter is art.) And given that fact he warrants all of his self-indulgence and all of his narcissism. I saw the documentary today for the first time and I am still flying high because of it. One critique though - Peter states that he regrets not having done more with his life - I don't agree with this view - when one is art one needn't do more than be. Few of us can justify that. Peter does. Buy this terrific document!

Back in the 80's, I remember seeing photos of Peter Berlin. I was struck by how different he was from other performers. He went out of his way to stand out in the crowd, and he was keenly aware of how clothes (he chose the most skin-hugging/daring outfits) can actually enhance eroticism, as opposed to looking at the male form in full-on nudity.
As this fascinating documentary about a fascinating man states, Berlin was the ultimate artist, using himself as his own "canvas"...and he did so with striking effect. The face. The body. The clothes. Berlin helped define the 70's gay culture, combining faint androgony with masculinity.
The film explores all the facets of his life, while simultaneously displaying tons of photo stills of Berlin: His youth in Germany; his "awakening" in America under the persona of Peter Berlin; the two legendary films he made; his deeply touching 20-year friendship with James; surviving the AIDS crisis; and finally, growing old. For a man in his 60's, he looks almost the same as he did decades ago. Retaining much of his boyish looks, he's in such good shape that he can still wear those same daring outfits!
Chock full of interviews from others (including Berlin himself), this is an intriguing film about an iconic artist who virtually became "the Greta Garbo of porn". A must-see!

I honestly couldn't say what I was hoping for when I bought this film, but I certainly didn't get it. Jim Tushinski's documentary of self-made 70s gay sex icon Peter Berlin is a perfectly respectable talking-heads-with-film-clips exercise, and some of the heads talking (John Waters in particular) are quite fun. The home movies and clips from Berlin's porn flicks (he only made two) are welcome, capturing a time and place long gone, and serving as a time machine for those of us who were there and lived to tell the tale. The problem here is that Berlin himself is a less-than-scintillating interview - you could get more interesting repartee any Saturday night in any gay club in America from the old queen at the far end of the bar knocking back his third Rob Roy. And while he is still slender and very handsome at 60-something, there's something Baby Jane-ish about the sight of Berlin still wearing the trademark Dutch-boy haircut and nothing-left-to-the-imagination skin-tight clothes of his youth. Watching Berlin pulling back the loose skin at his throat and wondering aloud "should he get a lift?", is a squirm-worthy experience. As he slumps into the sofa in his small San Francisco apartment that's pretty much a shrine to himself, prattling on about his films, his countless erotic photo self-portraits, his lovers and friends, and just how he got those pants so tight, one can't help saying, So what? Thirty-odd years ago, Peter Berlin dressed provocatively and pointed a camera at himself. I mean, come on kids -- this ain't AIDS research we're talking about, is it?

This DVD probably merits two and a half stars. As Peter Berlin came well before my time, it's somewhat difficult to appreciate the impact that he supposedly had on 70's gay culture as it was defined by gay (white) men.
This documentary is a curious artifact of a long-dead cultural moment that is still remembered with fondness by people who were there. Aside from the subject himself, interviewees include author Armistead Maupin, Former porn star Jack Wrangler, Porn director Wakefield Poole, and, best of all, filmmaker John Waters ("Hairspray," "Pink Flamingos") who provide interesting and insightful comments on the subject, his life and the free-wheeling era of 1970's gay life. Were it not for these interludes, there would certainly not be much of a film.

This documentary traces ad nauseum the life and career (if one could call it that) of a figure who, like many others of the period (see John Rechy) lived through his genitals. Other than that, there is not much more to it. The plethora of photos and footage here convey that Berlin was a gorgeous but often hideously narcisistic specimen (think Dorian Gray, without the angst), who spent his entire life walking, posing and roaming the bars, streets, parks and many other underground gay by-ways of major cities in Europe and, in America, California and New York 24/7. German-born and bred, Berlin was a Tom of Finland cartoon come to life, a would-be porn star (he only made two such films) far less interested in sex than in flagrant exhibitionism and his effect on his rabid fans. In fact, Berlin seems to have aspired to--or been interested in--little else. To his credit, he is frank about his life, philosophy and pursuits and he does not shy from the ravages of age. But his sneering comments about the world being "boring" are thuddingly ironic, since he is scarcely touched by anything that does not revolve around himself--the one exception being his apparent loyalty to a live-in companion who eventually died of AIDS. Owing to his brazen self-absorption, he emerges HIV-negative.

All told, neither art (that does not involve him), people, history, culture, nor work of any kind seems to rouse him. His vapidity is sometimes hard to take--especially given that he was a disturbing reminder of how "little one has to do" to become famous in America. Now in his sixties and virtually forgotten, Berlin appears to be resigned to his fate, which has the pungent whiff of poetic justice. Summed up, Peter Berlin remains a hermetically-sealed footnote to the so-called gilded age of American gay history. I would recommend this documentary to hard-core fans. The remotely curious might find it amusing for the bizarre spectacle it provides.