Tinto Brass Goes to London 

DIRECTED BY TINTO BRASS/ITALIAN/2000

4K UHD STREET DATE: OCTOBER 22, 2024/CULT EPICS

Cult Epics continues its tremendously impressive series of late-career Tinto Brass softcore titles with its most recent yet, 2000’s sunbathed nudie piffle, Cheeky! (its native title being “Tra(sgre)dire”, a non-translatable bit of clever Italian wordplay evoking both “transgression” and “cheating”).  Set in London but spoken in Italian (with English subtitles, with the alternate English dub as an option), this colorfully playful exploration of one-sided casual infidelity may not blow up everyone’s skirt the way it does our heroine’s.

Carla (sweet girl-next-door type Yuliya Mayarchuk), a perpetually perky undergarments-averse Venetian young woman in London, needs an apartment.  The nice kind of love nest that she’s looking for don’t come cheap, but fortunately (?) for her, the landlord (Francesca Nunzi) turns out to be a sexually voracious lesbian and is sharply turned on by Carla’s free spiritedness.  Their initial meeting in the landlord’s office veers into brief physical flirtation and ends with Carla sashaying out the glass doors in her oh-so-thin wardrobe in front of- get this– a wall full of ladies’ underwear billboards.  This is Brass’ playful punchline, for anyone with the eyes to see it.  Distractions amid such intentional details do of course abound throughout this film.

Immediately as the movie starts a stern constable asks, “Who is in charge?”.  The obvious answer is immediately given by an introductory text graphic informing us that this is a Tinto Brass film.  Seconds, not minutes later, that text becomes comically redundant, as the opening locale- an ordinary-looking public park- is revealed to be the kind of outrightly decadent hub for horny free-spirited exhibitionists looking to hook up and get down in the sun.  In this Tinto Brass fantasyland, the biggest infraction for said constable to object to is littering.  But… (butt!…) the final answer of “Who is in charge?”, asked again at the very end, is left to Mayarchuk, who’s subsequent reaction makes it quite clear what region of her anatomy is in charge of the filmmaker.

Earlier, her boyfriend, Matteo (Jarno Berardi), fantasizes of rowing downstream with her on a perfect spring day.  Carla, ever the giggly passenger, wears a cute hat and sits at the bow.  This being Matteo’s Freudian daydream, she decided to slip her panties off to tease him. Much to her ticklish delight, neighboring rowers nearly capsize upon registering her exposure.  All the while, Matteo’s own frustration at the “far away/so close” of it all is represented in the perpetual “X” crossing of his oars which happen to separate the young couple, an on-the-nose physical barrier if ever there was one.  He jerks back to reality with an unpleasant lurch.

Later, at a posh orgy, the women wonder why they’ve been placed into a lineup, bare butts facing outward.  “A face can be deceiving while an ass never lies!”, an arranged veteran of this weirdness proclaims. Her friend agrees, “Yes, it is the mirror of your soul!”  This is something that Brass wholeheartedly believes (as stated in an interview elsewhere on this set).  Gynecologically, this particularly over-the-top moment in this increasingly explicit film truly nudges Cheeky! into a less comfortable realm of this sort of thing.  

To be perfectly candid, the wall-to-wall female nudity of Cheeky!, even in the whimsy of its shoehorned-in inclusions (why is Carla packing for a trip starkers??), runs it course sooner than it should.  The mundanity of the aforementioned lineup of exposed women is simply dulling.  The camera pans the posteriors– each as unique as its owner, yes- but all of whom just seem bored and uncomfortable.  So, not exactly an equal opportunity orgy, this.  One would assume, that this dynamic is imperiling the general claim that women- not just men- appreciate Brass’ erotic films.

Even in the confines of his later, more dismissed work such as Cheeky!, he’s better explored the subject of the itch for free love within a monogamous relationship.  Through no fault of Mayarchuk, Carla’s desires and unrealized worldview remain murky.  Not even her beau Matteo gets it, as he’s caught quite off guard when he discovers a nude beach photo she’d given a semi-recent lover.  When confronted by him, she downplays and denies, though a gorgeously shot memory montage reveal the exact opposite.  All the while, we just can’t stay upset with Carla… and neither can Matteo.  Granted, toxic dude-bros of today would have about as little patience with the hamstrung Matteo as Brass would for their myopic garbage attitudes.  So maybe that’s a silver lining.

For all its character flaws and tilted-into misogyny, it’s virtually impossible to hate Cheeky!  Most of the time, everyone does seem to having entirely too much fun.  Brass isn’t lazy in his filmmaking choices, either.  His trademark meticulousness shows in his patently artificial symmetrical (but not constricting) set design, blocking, and framing.  He loves to shoot through mens’ feet from behind.  Everything pops with color not unlike a Paddington film.  In a similarly youthful vain, toilets and bodily functions are inherently funny to Brass. The perpetual objectification of women’s physiques never gets in the way of them needing to sit on toilets, bidets, opting to freely display natural body hair, and perform all manner of other natural functions.

Here to discuss Brass’ flair for such nuances and personal obsessions are the always informative and well-spoken Eugenio Ercolani & Nathaniel Thompson.  These film historians dig into all the expected information (filmmaker backstory, career developments, controversy, and this film’s reception) as well as healthy smatterings of their own opinions about Cheeky!.  My favorite factoid might be courtesy of Thompson when he mentions that star Yuliya Mayarchuk currently has a personal fitness and well-being website and encourages any interested parties to sign up and ask her “all your Cheeky! questions”.  I hope she appreciates that, and that any such customers are fully respectful.

According to the informed memory of Nathaniel Thompson, this release marks the first time Cheeky!’s made onto disc in its intended 1:1.66 aspect ratio.  The film’s transfer to 4K UHD is vibrantly lush, with a fantastic assist by expert HDR grading.  This new transfer from the original negative and subsequent restoration makes this set a must for any Tinto Brass fans.  The new DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo/5.1 surround track for both the Italian and English language tracks are icing.

Pino Donaggio, the film’s composer whose name sounds most like fine wine, provides a somewhat uncharacteristic upbeat score.  Apparently, Donaggio has claimed that Cheeky! is his own favorite score of the ones he created for Brass.  A newly isolated version of the score is an audio option on this set.

In these and every other way, this release sits right alongside of the two previous recent Brass UHDs from Cult Epics, All Ladies Do It and Frivolous Lola.  Such care is extended to every aspect of these releases.  The weakest link in this case is the overall middling nature movie itself, though it certainly is no slouch in the Tinto Brass department.

To get down to the Brass tacks, there’s a fine array of bonus video features, both newly created and exhumed from history.  Most notable is a new nearly-forty-minute video interview with Cheeky!’s cinematographer, Massimo Di Venanzo.  

Di Venanzo speaks of his beginnings in the field working his way up from department gopher (being the son of a respected director of photography) to full-fledged cinematographer, a promotion that came about during his time working with Tinto Brass.  He tells of having worked in the presence of DOP greats as DOP Carlo Di Palma and filmmakers Federico Fellini, Lina Wertmüller, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Bernardo Bertolucci.  As for Brass, he recalls him to be exacting and demanding, but in good ways.  Brass would work with the same crew members from one film to the next if they understood what he typically wants and are efficient about going about it.

“Backstage with Tinto Brass” is an eight-plus-minute SD video interview piece with Brass contemporaneous with the initial release of the film.  As the filmmaker articulates his sometimes sensible/sometimes icky philosophies on the lost pleasures of sex and his belief that all women are chronic cheaters, we see plenty of slowed-down footage of the beautiful naked actresses cavorting in the buff, often while the crew of mundane technicians deal with the camera and go about doing their jobs.  It’s a living…

Even the film’s trailer is presented in 4K quality, as Cult Epics has left few stones unturned.  There’s also a short slideshow of photos from the film and its production.  

Those who get the slipcased first pressing of this release will receive four exclusive Italian lobby card prints, reproduced to fit inside the case with the nice twenty-page illustrated booklet, which features liner notes by Eugenio Ercolani and Domenico Monetti.  The paper sleeve is double-sided, offering the original uncensored Italian poster art for those who’d prefer to display Cheeky! in a cheekier fashion.  

Truly, overindulgence is central to nearly every aspect of the cinema of Tinto Brass.  There’s a breeziness about Cheeky! to the point that it’s in danger of wafting away at any moment, but in its defense, it never touts itself to be anything more than exactly what it is.  If you think it sounds like this is for you, you can’t go wrong with the magnificent looking 4K UHD edition from Cult Epics.  To quote Carla when she answers her door to Matteo while completely pantsless and then leads him to the apartment window, “Come, let me show you the beautiful view!”

The official list of features:

4K ULTRA HD DISC – SPECIAL FEATURES:

  • New 4K Transfer (from the original negative) & Restoration + HDR
  • New DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo/5.1 Surround Italian & English
  • New Audio Commentary by Eugenio Ercolani & Nathaniel Thompson
  • New 4K Theatrical Trailers
  • 4K UHD first pressing Exclusive: 4x Repro Italian Lobby Card prints

BLU-RAY DISC – SPECIAL FEATURES: 

  • New 4K Transfer (from the original negative) & Restoration
  • New DTS-HD MA 2.0 Stereo/5.1 Surround English & Italian
  • New Audio Commentary by Eugenio Ercolani & Nathaniel Thompson
  • New Interview with cinematographer Massimo Di Venanzo (2024) 
  • New Isolated Score by Pino Donaggio
  • Backstage with Tinto Brass (2000) 
  • Theatrical Trailers
  • Photo Gallery
  • Double-sided sleeve with original uncensored Italian poster art
  • 20-Page illustrated booklet with liner notes by Eugenio Ercolani and Domenico Monetti
  • Slipcase