Catherine

That's what Ninn calls this, artcore. His strategy is to differentiate his films from other porn by either making them more extreme, or as here, rooted first in cinematic art.

While some production values are high: everything having to do with the image is extraordinarily well done, even compared to any film. But the acting, sound and actual written lines are laughably inadequate in comparison. Since the story is simple enough and told visually anyway, you'll be better off turning off the sound altogether and listening to layered "surreal" music of your choice, perhaps Bjork's sound track for "Drawing Restraint." (NOT Van Halen who provided music for another Ninn project.)

Before the opening credits appear, Ninn gives us a signature Tarkovsky shot: our heroine on the floor in a modern apartment, next to her (dead?) husband (actually this actress's real lie husband). The camera pans left and we see the same woman standing against a wall as an observer. The camera continues to pan and we see a third instance of that character with the other two behind. She looks at the camera and tells us that its "all that bitch's fault."

Also before the credits, we get an obvious nod to Eisenstein, his famous baby carriage in peril of rolling down steps. DePalma turned it into a sort of quotable bit, and since then we've seen it in three or four joke movies (I forget which ones). In this case, it does roll down the stairs, Ninn letting those of us who know that disaster has already occurred.

The story is of a modern woman, Catherine, who is haunted by her own fantasies, sufficiently haunted that she inhabits them. The folding is similar to the other Ninn project I have seen, where LSD trips overlay a sexually laden fantasy world on the "real" one. The ambiguity is stronger here. The imagined woman is a Renaissance queen, sort of an extreme Elizabeth the first. In fact though the actress would hardly understand it, Ninn has her emulate Cate Blanchett's version of that character.

The hair is red, radically so, piled high and dotted with pearls. The color of the stock is so saturated that red hair becomes a character unto itself, perhaps the urge that crosses realities. The imagined scenes are photographed in Budapest, with one three-girl scene in front of a cathedral. Wonder how they managed that. The first of these — talk about film literacy — quotes Derek Jarman's version of Elizabeth, "Jubilee," in which a similar overlay of epochs occurs. The quoting is obvious, with a grotesque maiden in waiting and a fat courtier. (Same red hair and pearls, by the way; oh how we should have seen Jenny Runacre here!)

Anyway, the porn bits are dull. They're only there is seems, to allow the thing to be financed. If you can fast forward past the porn bits and turn ff the sound, you'll have a pretty interesting film experience, especially if you know Jarman and Tarkovsky. The modern possession scenes resemble "Repulsion," also about sexual madness. The main set in the fantasy world is an outside staircase of a Budapest building. I think the design here is patterned after a set in Julie Taymor's "Titus," which also incidentally featured (in a very minor role) a magical redhead.

I know writer that could have made this an effective and important film, possibly still could with the shot footage.

I encountered Ninn because after making 100 films, he has moved into producing and Max Candy is supposed to be some sort of worthy successor. We'll see. Meanwhile, I'm mark this a two...

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.