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Érotique Vérité is erotic truth, pure and simple. It is a rally against the homogenized, bleach blonde, cookie cutter “porn” that has permeated 98% of the adult film industry and serves as a manifesto which clearly states that the cinema of human sexuality does not have to remain in the gutter; that the chronicling of real people, embracing real sexuality, should not be reduced to what it tantamount to prostitution with a camera, but, with the right components, be elevated to the status of true art. E.V. is on the vanguard of
a new era in adult cinema; one that combines artistry with eroticism and
intellect with a primal edge. Adopting the aesthetic principals of Cinema
Vérité and merging them with the sumptuous (yet grainy)
excess that defined classic, 70’s, big screen Porn is continually devolving into a random series of clips which celebrate the lowest common denominators of human sexuality. Ludicrously quick and innocuous snippets of video that are completely devoid of any of the substance, story or grandeur that was once a hallmark of classic, theatrically released sexy cinema… This is a shame. Long gone are the halcyon days of erotic cinema when brilliant auteurs like Joe Sarno, Russ Meyers, Radley Metzger and Just Jaekin could paste their deliciously amoral fantasies across a strip of celluloid just as fluently as Picasso could slap paint on a canvas. A wonderful era ushered in by the
academic critique on sexuality that was Vilgot Sjöman’s “I
am Curious Yellow” and that continued with the subtle sophistication
and joie de vivre seen in the films of Roger Vadim and Luis Bunuel; days
when the dark edge of Nicolas Roeg and José Ramón Larraz
could be celebrated alongside the salaciously juvenile leering of Jesus
Franco and Nick Phillips. |
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All extraordinary directors, who managed to make cinematic history with almost no money, scads of beautiful women and the courage to go out and make the kinds of movies that they wanted to see. From the “nudie-cuties” of the 1950s, to the Super-8 “roughies” of the 1960s, to the golden age of big screen smut that reached its zenith in the 1970s, to the big hair and shitty video that has defined the 1980s and beyond, the adult film industry has become just that – an industry. Now don’t get us wrong. We’re
not succumbing to some sort of bullshit post-punk ethos, which decrees
that anyone who makes a dime on their creations is a sellout. Hell, there’s
not a damn thing wrong with turning your passion into a source of income.
Ever since the modern hardcore era was ushered in by Alex de Renzy’s landmark ”Dansk Sexualitet,” the world of porn has been populated by old school filmmakers who were trying to push the boundaries of cinema (and, yes, make a quick buck). Nowadays, however, this once thriving
cinematic club has been degraded by the presence of any random hack packing
more than six inches, who can pick up a video camera, pop a Viagra and
rustle up enough dead presidents to convince an up and coming young starlet
to kill an |
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But as deeply steeped as our influences may be 70s grind-house, drive-in fodder or Euro trash sleaze, we here at E.V. are equally enamored by the French cinéma-vérité and Italian Neo-realist movements that took the motion picture world by storm in the 50s and 60s. We’re talking about maestros like Jean-Luc Godard, Vittorio De Sica, John Cassavetes and Michelangelo Antonioni. Men who made pictures that showed the starkly poetic lives of the downtrodden, hard luck losers and lost souls with a gorgeous, yet unflinching eye for realism. If it seems with all our “art
film” and “Euro-sleaze” references we have yet to define
the parameters under which the Érotique Vérité banner
will exist, then that’s just fine… Let’s not make any bones about it; E.V. wants to turn you on. The goals that we have set for ourselves may sound lofty, but the bottom line is clear: We want to make sexy movies that
are fun to watch and maybe… just maybe… leave you something
to think about after the Kleenex has been crumpled and tossed into the
garbage. |
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