Bruce LaBruce has been harangued for years - "When are you going to
make a REAL porno film?" Yet my brother, when I reported LaBruce finally
HAD, asked, "what's the difference between that and what he already does?"
Ah, the eye of the beholder.
While No Skin Off My Ass, Super 8 1/2, and Hustler White all included
explicit -- even hardcore -- sex, they could hardly be considered "pornography"
across the board. So when German adult industry money came a-callin',
LaBruce decided to go full-on, make-no-mistake, jerk-off worthy fuck film.
Voila! The fruits of said labor is Skin Flick, which premiered to a sold out
crowd at New York City's Anthology Film Archives in May. Scads of local and
national celebrities were in attendance, including John Waters, Gus Van Sant,
Ela Troyano, cable staple Robin Byrd, and a naked, hooting, chair-climbing
woman happy to upstage LaBruce.
Introducing Skin Flick, LaBruce clarified that this was HIS version
of the film, "softcore" as it were, and that a hardcore porn shop version
would be released by All Worlds Video later on, likely under a different
title.
Shot on Super 8 and digital video, Skin Flick concerns a gaggle of
dichotomous Nazi skinheads -- one's a closeted Jew, they masturbate to
bi-racial pornography, disparage queers yet sleep together, and even indulge
in anonymous tearoom sex. After one "cottages" with a wealthy queer, the
posse invade his home hoping for filchable riches. They find a bonus -- the
guy's black lover. LaBruce's often silly exercise in pornography turns
rather serious from that point on.
While many would love to conveniently dismiss LaBruce as a trashy,
indulgent, pretentious, sleazy, etc. filmmaker, his hand at twisted humor,
underlying romance, and visceral verve can't be denied. Admittedly, some of
that verve is a bi-product of his oftentimes politically incorrect subject
matter. Nazism, long fetished in adult film, still packs an offensive punch,
which LaBruce isn't afraid to confront (indeed, there's a shocking Romper
Stomper-esque twist down the line). In Skin Flick, much like Penelope
Spheeris' The Boys Next Door (made prior to her transformation into Hollywood
whore), you're unsure whether to laugh at the director's brashness or cluck
in disgust at their shamelessness. Sophisticated daring or immaturity?
Personally, I'm inclined to choose the former, although using Nazism for any
reaction barring "NAZIS WERE WRONG" is morally dubious. And the Nazis here
aren't right in any sense.
Skin Flick's sexual interludes are entirely memorable, ranging from
playful (a plumber splashes water from the faucet on his employer's face,
which happens to be pushed into the sink) to intense (a vengeful queer spits
into a Nazi's face as he fucks him), to slapstick (Manfred, a clumsy skin,
keeps falling while attempting to jerk-off, and during an insane bisexual
scene, a female character throws every kitchenware item within reach onto the
floor). It'll be interesting to see what remains when All Worlds finishes
their sex-focused edit. No doubt the currently trimmed sex scenes will be
restored, emphasized, long, and detailed. But what of the poetry readings,
talking head interviews, Nazi sentiment, and harsh dramatic turns? It could
end up being a porno epiphany, much like Gino Colbert occasionally creates.
It would seem that LaBruce has inadvertently found the happy medium
he seems to have been striving for all career long. A REAL, well, whatever.
--Larry Ferber
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