P.O. Box Tinto Brass Blu-ray Review

THE MOVIES — 3.75/5

P.O Box Tinto Brass (1995) — Italian director Tinto Brass is known as the absolute master of erotica. His gift at perfectly portraying the beauty of the female body has made him celebrated by both men and women. And it is precisely the latter category that sends him boxes full of fan letters. P.O. Box Tinto Brass is a collection of those letters, photos and videos of female sexual fantasies.

Istintobrass (2013) — In this documentary Tinto Brass talks candidly about his long-life career from his earliest anarchistic, innovative and experimental arthouse films to the decidedly derriere-obsessed fetishism of his later work. The biography brings to light an almost forgotten chapter of cinema history, thanks to the analyses of Marco Muller and Gianni Conova, who trace the beginnings on up to the films on power. To this very day, Brass remains an icon of erotic pleasure and voyeurism, and his story is revealed in the tales of Gigi Proietti, Serena Grandi, Helen Mirren, Franco Nero and Sir Ken Adam, among others.

Review: I’m not really familiar with Tinto Brass (heard of the name due one particular, controversial film), but from my research, and watching both of these films, he’s an Italian filmmaker who rose to fame in the indie circuit in the 60s and 70s with avant-garde features, in a variety of genres and apparently also got offered to direct A Clockwork Orange but turned the job down due to scheduling conflicts.

Where Tinto Brass really rose to fame in some circles, is with his 1979 controversial erotic historical drama, Caligula which still fascinates some today, all these years later with various cuts being edited from different scripts, some not in Brass’s vision. Personally, while I actually do own the DVD (3-Disc Imperial Edition), never got around to watching but know of its reputation and upon its release stateside, got blasted by critics but retrospectively seen some acknowledgement in the past decade or so.

In regards to P.O. Box Tinto Brass, it’s more or less Red Shoe Diaries for anyone remembers. It was a show that ran from 1992-1996 and starred David Duchovny, this film released in 1995, so got to think some inspiration was taken. Both basically find a presenter (here Tinto Brass) reading letters, or watching videotapes, submitted by women telling their erotic stories and re-enacted here for the audience. Nothing really more to that, lots of T&A (of both sexes) plus some amusingly and cute banter between Brass and his voluptuous secretary, and the segment themselves were pretty funny, in the right kind of ways.

Meanwhile, IsTintoBrass is a well done documentary with insights from the man himself and those who worked with him, including Helen Mirren who was in the much discussed Caligula. If you ever want to learn more about Brass, can’t think there would be any better place to get started. He is very much a character himself and I would think a fun mockumentary could be made out with this.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5

This two-disc release comes in a nice, matted slip cover. Inside is a nice 46-page booklet with images from Tinto Brass’s films.

P.O. BOX TINTO BRASS:
Interview Brass (16:01) is from 2003 with the filmmaker discussing his career and where he started out.

Poster and Photo Gallery (1:25) with some production stills and some candid shots.

Trailer (1:06)

ISITTINTOBRASS:

Interview Zanin (18:25) features the director of the documentary and his relationship with Brass.

Photo Gallery (2:48) with more behind-the-scenes pics, a good number of which are in the booklet.

Praise (2:49) is sort of a video essay.

Last up is the Teaser (1:11) and standard Trailer (4:02).

VIDEO – 4.5/5

AUDIO – 4.0/5

OVERALL – 3.75/5

There is no doubt Tinto Brass is a fascinating character and filmmaker, mostly known for directing Caligula, and these two films, P.O. Box Tinto Brass and IsTintoBrass gives some insights into the man, the second one especially, though both are well worth checking out.