Marco Ferreri is a challenging film artist. His films are powered by an
insistent, intense focus on the passions of flesh - the human response
to, need for, and meditation on our bodily bounds and desires. In his
other films he's explored the excesses which bind our mortality from
hunger to sex to suicide. Here he zeroes in on the texts of the poet
Charles Bukowski, whose poetic life of booze and sexual conquest has him
teetering on the brink of annihilation but remaining firmly in the realm
of fierce, soulful expression. The main character in Tales of Ordinary
Madness is a poet whose relationships with women range from the
infantile to the sadomasochistic while he continues to binge on a diet
of alcohol. What he doesn't expect is to fall in love. Being a poetic
film (that is based around symbols and evocative imagery rather than
plot) this is a beautiful, estranged experience. Its a fascinating
glimpse of America from the outside. Vividly powered by Ben Gazzara's
performance as the outsider poet in the shadows of society, this is a
film to be explored with a roving eye. Its a film where the sex scenes
are not choreographed and sensual but brutal and unflinching in their
approach to the passions of flesh. Its a rough film but one which takes
us into the dark corners of love.
insistent, intense focus on the passions of flesh - the human response
to, need for, and meditation on our bodily bounds and desires. In his
other films he's explored the excesses which bind our mortality from
hunger to sex to suicide. Here he zeroes in on the texts of the poet
Charles Bukowski, whose poetic life of booze and sexual conquest has him
teetering on the brink of annihilation but remaining firmly in the realm
of fierce, soulful expression. The main character in Tales of Ordinary
Madness is a poet whose relationships with women range from the
infantile to the sadomasochistic while he continues to binge on a diet
of alcohol. What he doesn't expect is to fall in love. Being a poetic
film (that is based around symbols and evocative imagery rather than
plot) this is a beautiful, estranged experience. Its a fascinating
glimpse of America from the outside. Vividly powered by Ben Gazzara's
performance as the outsider poet in the shadows of society, this is a
film to be explored with a roving eye. Its a film where the sex scenes
are not choreographed and sensual but brutal and unflinching in their
approach to the passions of flesh. Its a rough film but one which takes
us into the dark corners of love.