Description

A repressed wife living in an unloving household happens upon an erotically refreshing holiday. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

interesting movie
Mrs. Jordan is a rich house wife. She got all the things that maybe all of us need: a family, a couple of kids, a palatial house by the sea... But the movie shows the emptiness of her life: she is bored, she doesn't like her life. Her husband decides get some holidays on Brazil these Christmas... She decides to go with him but at the airport she falls in with some Yugoslavian immigrants that run a bar called Zanzibar. Attracted by their way of living she enters Zanzibar, she feels very well, she feels something different, she realizes that doesn't need all the things she had... When she phones her family, she finds out that her daughter (a nine years old girl) has taken her place at home: the girl cooks, cleans... Her husband says "it is so peaceful when your mother is not here"... He doesn't love her... And this is the problem: since Mrs. Jordan is unable to understand that, that her family doesn't need her, that all her life was wasted, and although she feels alive in Zanzibar, she forgets that she doesn't belong to the world of the Yugoslavian immigrants: she is out of place. So really she has no way to go. Very sad. Understanding that all your life was a nonsense, understanding that all your life has always been empty I suppose is not easy: so she kills the man who becomes her lover in Zanzibar and then kills all her family including the psychiatrist her husband hired !!!: the movie got some comic moments, but is not a joke in anyway. Makavejev scoffs at family, materialism, capitalism..., he is telling you "forget the money, forget the clothes, just feel the heat of life..." Think of it.
Very good movie.

Delightful but different. R and Lively. Anspach superb.
The movie begins with a family that seems to be duller than Dagwood & Blonde. Everyone seems safe. But Anspach, the lovely wife has a lust and yearning for excitement or at least a change of pace. She meets a neat guy who is part of gypsy clan. Somehow she wanders away from home and gets into a group of gypsies. The man's name is Montenegro. The vagabonds live a carefree life of abandon. Lots of love, lust and some women dancing in the buff for their own joy and group satisfaction. Anspach "tries" to resist Montenegro and their passion sizzles the screen. She adapts to the new life and seems more in it than to be a part of a family with a cockhold (dullard) of a husband. The end puzzled me in a way. Does she return for good or?

I found the movie much more lively and enjoyable than the reviews. At the same time, this is NOT porn. The movie shows contrasting cultures (staid vs gypsy) and Anspach won my heart as well as admiration for her beauty and acting. I note a new version is coming out. The 81 edition is excellent. I am reluctant to part with this VHS. It is worth watching two-four times at intervals and when in different moods. Each time one comes away livelier and also seeing new perspectives.

Dr. Alan Kardoff, Mgmtdr

Don't stereotype this film.
This is one of those movies that treads the thin line between softcore porn and legitimate comedy/drama. I only say that, because the few times I've watched it was on an adult cable channel. I think it's the latter. While it does have a good deal of sexual content (tastefully done), it's more interesting as a story. It's a wonderful tale of a bored housewife and her journey of discovery. A perfect blend of comedy, drama, farce, pathos, and erotica. In Dutch with English subtitles. (Stay away from the dubbed version.)

The best of the "revenge of the bored housewife" genre
While Susan Anspach parties with the gypsies, her husband has his party, too. The scene where he prances around their Danish Modern bedroom with his psychiatrist and his psychiatrist's wife, in matching white bathrobes, to the dulcet tones of ABBA, is worth the price of admission alone.

Generally ignored satire of Ingmar Bergman movies
Professional reviewers seem to have missed the obvious; Montenegro is an amusing parody of Ingmar Bergman movies. It mixes Bergman's combination of intellectual and vulgar comedy with the usual ambiguities: from beginning to end, one is never sure whether the heroine (Susan Anspach in her best role) is merely a bored housewife or dangerously insane. Similarly, one can't be sure whether the world of Yugoslavian immigrants that she enters is safer or more dangerous than her normal life. The real key is found when it becomes obvious that the psychiatrist (hired by her husband) is more clearly disturbed than any potential patient. If you're tired of Woody Allen takeoffs on Bergman, see Montenegro. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Chaotic Fun
I had seen 'WR' and 'Man is Not a Bird' before this one, but 'Love Affair' instantly became my favorite Makavejev film. Actually, it's one of my Top 5 now.

The subtitles suffer from the white-on-white phenomenon in a couple of places, but you can still always tell what the characters are talking about, and the film itself is so excellent that it doesn't really matter. Eva Ras was my favorite actress in 'Man is Not a Bird' (in which she had a charming supporting role), and she steals the show here in her own film. Regarding the actual story, it's about a young switchboard operator (Ras) who has a free-wheeling - and ultimately tragic - fling with a rat-catcher named Ahmed. This tale is interspersed with clips of a doctor of "Sexology" explaining his theories, clips of a criminologist discussing the tragic climax of the love affair story, and a couple of inexplicable scenes of two male and female nude models doing some sort of performance art.

When I watch this film, I can't help but feel that we all "lost the plot" in the 80s and 90s. There was more than enough naivety in the 60s - young hippies making idiots of themselves, etc. - but this film shows the REAL revolution. I wasn't born until 1971, but watching this film gives me that Miniver Cheevy feeling that I was born too late. And there is no way a film this magical could be made today. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A Total Distortion of Reich's Work
This video was undertaken by Dusan Makavajev, who according to a 1971 film review article in the Journal of Orgonomy, obtained original footage of Reich from the Reich Museum, and interviews with various individuals who knew Reich and who had followed up on his research, by posturing as a "friend of Reich". He then proceeded to mix that original footage with pornographic images designed to plunge a knife into the heart of everything Reich argued about, and stood for. Only a few of Reich's genuine friends had the forethought to grant permissions based upon their approval of the final film - and they promptly refused such permission. It caused an uproar among those who knew and understood Reich, but Makavajev got his footage and danced away a laughing man. This film has done more damage to Reich's name and legacy than any single item one might point to, by distorting Reich's excellent and important biophysical work on the "Function of the Orgasm" (see book of this title) into a malignant advocacy of "free sex for all". Reich would puke forever if he saw how his life's work was so badly twisted. "F--- Freely" announces one of the heroes of this film, in a plot about an ice-skater who seduces, but then murders and decapitates one of the "revolutionary proletariat" female characters. A weak "plot" indeed, interspliced with porno images from the plaster-casters, the first male erection to appear on a US film, masturbation images, and people group-fornicating to cartoon music -- Makavajev's apparent idea of the "sexual revolution" -- all under a smiling wall portrait of Reich. "Freedom Peddling" is what comes to mind, and I can say with confidence that there is nothing of accuracy or authenticity about Reich in this film, aside from the interviews and short seconds of film from Reich's original archives, which were obtained by fraudulent means. Reich's work informs us, that the pornographic character is a sexually-frustrated character, no less than the sex-negative moralist of the organized church, and that they are in fact mirror images of each other, flip sides of the same coin. "Brothels are built from bricks of religion" as the poet William Blake once said -- and Reich's clinical work put substance to this idea. And so when this film was shown at my university years ago, the theatre was flooded with all the frustrated fraternity boys, come to hoot and ogle at the images of naked people. They learned nothing. Neither will anyone viewing this film, except perhaps how deceptive some Hollywood-types can be, even if they come from Yugoslavia.

Organism or orgasm?
I saw "WR: Mystery of the Organism " in my youth, say age 20, at a film festival one evening almost 30 years ago. I do remember it having a strange effect on me and having stirred my original interest, delving into the work of (WR), Dr. Wilhelm Reich, the alleged mad scientist who died in prison for what he believed in.

I have read maybe 12 to 15 different books on the subject of "Orgone Energy" and the good doctor over time. Some of WR's own works, which are psycho-sociological and way scientific at times, are a little hard to grasp. Mostly I've read the hip psuedo-scientific biographies and post-WR studies of which there were once several books available.

Some were especially written by the followers and practitioners of his life energy and psycho-sexual liberation work. Though I remember the movie using just the more titillating portions of his theories as part of a spoof and sexual comedy, I still felt like there was a sense of truth and amazement implied in the use of them in the story. (Unlike the "Orgasmatron scene", a take off and exaggeration of his orgone accumulators, in Woody Allen's futuristic farce "Sleeper".)

I think there may be a documentary about the making of the movie "WR": out there as well? I am suprised it or a revised production about Dr. Reich has not showed up on PBS or the Discovery Channel by now.

Anyway, I was glad to find that the VHS tape of the movie is available and am looking forward to seeing it again.

Bulat Okudzhava
Reykjavik, Iceland Film Festival, September, 2000.

I was not sure what to expect from this. I am a longtime fan and student of all things Yugoslavian. I had seen Makavejev's comparatively commercial film A Night of Love prior to screening two of his more obscure films, Sweet Movie, which is nothing less than visually frightening and decidedly disturbing, and this, Mysteries of an Organism. With more disturbing visual imagery and borrowings from surreal fantasy, the second half of the film is more like a "film" in that it tells a story of a Yugoslav woman, who, like all women portrayed in the film, is very sexually liberated, and claims that this is so because all women have been justly liberated by the revolution and socialism in Yugoslavia. When she meets a visiting Russian figure skater, she realizes that the Soviet ideals of socialism are limiting and lead only to repression of the self. She tries to teach him that love and socialism are not at odds with each other, but are indeed intertwined. When they finally make love, he ends up killing her because his passions and love have been so repressed. The first half of the film, which is a bit excessive and strange, is more documentary in style, but it does illustrate the points that are made more eloquently in the second half of the film by probing the life of a man (whose name i cannot recall) who was demonised by the US government.

The screening in Reykjavik was luckily accompanied by the director himself explaining his ideas and what he hoped to accomplish. This is a fascinating film, a total departure from American, or really, any other films of any genre or nationality. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A hidden gem of a movie
I watched this movie when I was on my Greta Scacchi binge. It fared well against the others considering they included Jefferson in Paris and The Red Violin. It is like others have said, pleasingly wacky.
Eric Roberts is one of those actors I love to hate (along with Banderas and Gere) because of his gratingly arrogant manner. But he grew on me (like a wart) in this movie, as the sold-out Coca-Cola marketing man with a mission Down Under. It was funny seeing the disclaimer at the beginning of the movie that this does not represent Coke's actual tactics.
Scacchi is appealing as the pretty but inept secretary who throws herself at Roberts and has a secret related to the cola wars. Smalltown Australia is depicted in much the manner I have come to expect, with a bunch of oddball characters thrown in.

"Don't wanna go where there's no Coca-Cola...!"
I have been an Australophile forever; if there was one decade that really brought Australia's best side for the rest of the world to see, it had to be the 1980's; the pop music from Down Under during that time was among the best in the world, and the movies from Australia have a wonderful sense of the country that make them far more representative of itself than other movies from other countries...you see an Australian movie and you just KNOW: "That's Australia".
>
It may be hard to believe now, but there was once a time when Eric Roberts was much better-known than his sister Julia; this time parallels the time in Eric's career when he actually made good movies, like this one, f'rinstance.
>
This movie is very enjoyable in its quirkiness...Eric Roberts is terrific as an ex-United States Marine Corps, Southern-fried Gordon Gecko (Roberts, like his sister Julia, is from Smyrna, GA, so he does come by the accent naturally) who eats, sleeps, and breathes Coca-Cola and is sent by the Corporate hotshots to find out why in one remote corner of the Australian outback (redundancy, anyone?) no Coca-Cola is sold. The reason, it turns out, is the local Cola Baron (played by Australian cinema standard Bill Kerr...check him out in another great Aussie flick, "Gallipoli") who produces terrific cola virtually by hand and with it has won an almost cult-like devotion by the locals.
>
Greta Scacchi (who really does look like Susan Sarandon's kid sister in this movie) is the somewhat dizzy secretary with an on-again, off-again ex-husband and a beautiful wee daughter (who calls herself "DMZ", as in neutral territory where her parents can't fight) who starts attempting to seduce Roberts from his first day in Austalia. She may or may not have a motive to her madness, and it can at times be painful watching her attempts, but this is an enjoyable movie for someone who may not necessarily enjoy romantic comedies per se; and as a native Atlantan, I particularly enjoyed Roberts' monologue on the virtues of his product ("...the SOUND...of COKE")...made me want to pop one open on the spot.
>
And I PROMISE you will NOT be able to get that Tim Finn (former Split Enz, technically New Zealanders, but who's counting) Coca-Cola jingle out of your head after watching this!

The US and Australia Rules!!!
This is a great movie about an american coca-cola executive trying to invade a difficult sales district down under.Australia and the US rules!!!

Good fun
This movie is good fun. The sound track is excellent. Does anyone know how I can get a CD sound track of this movie? Send info to geraldkalisik@hotmail.com

"Speaking of the significance of personal disorder..."
In the film, "The Coca-Cola Kid," Becker (Eric Roberts) is a 'trouble-shooter' with Coca-Cola. Becker arrives from America, and the heads of the Australian office of Coca-Cola are advised by corporate headquarters to listen to Becker. Becker, apparently, has the Midas touch and manages to double or triple sales wherever he goes. Becker is given an office, and a secretary (Greta Scacchi), and he proceeds to try and learn all he can about the Australian market for soft drinks. He learns very quickly that there is one area in Australia where absolutely no Coca-Cola is sold. Here in the Anderson Valley, eccentric factory owner T.George McDowell manufactures and distributes his own brand of soft drink. Becker attempts to beef up sales in Australia and contact McDowell, but Becker's smooth behaviour and corporate strategies really get him nowhere.

I love Australian films. The problem is finding them. A handful make it to video rental, and so when I found this film on Amazon, I was thrilled. The reviews were glowing, and so I ordered a copy. However, I have to say that "The Coca-Cola Kid" is probably the most disappointing Australian film I've ever seen. To me, it seemed very dated (more like a 70s film), and while it had a very promising start, my interest dwindled after Becker's trip to the Anderson Valley. I think I was hoping for an Australian version of "Local Hero." Australian films can never be mistaken for anything other than Australian--their world view is so unique, but in my opinion, this could have been a film set in America--or anywhere else for that matter. The fact it was Australian was really beside the point. The plot lost intensity and direction about half way through, the characters were dull, and the film never really captured my interest--displacedhuman. ... Read more

Description

A sexy, comedic tale about revolutionaries trying to alter the political system. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Camilla Soeberg is excellent!
Danish actress Camilla Soeberg is very sexy in this film.The scene in the barn is very erotic. People who have seen the film will know the scene I'm talking about.Worthy of 4 stars!

Charming...
I recently attended a film festival here in Reykjavik to see two of Makavejev's films (Sweet Movie and Mysteries of an Organism, both from the 1970s), with Makavejev attending as the guest, answering questions and making comments as appropriate. I had completely forgotten that he directed this film and when I decided to do more research about his films, seeing as how the two I saw at the festival were dark, deeply symbolic, filled with perversity and obscenity (more to make a point than to be perverse and obscene for the sake of either quality). A Night of Love is a much more straightforward departure from these very hazy pictures from the 1970s. A recurring theme for Makavejev, though, seems to be the urgent need for openness in sexuality. This film charmingly illustrates that need through vivid imagery and great performances from the actors involved. Gabrielle Anwar was positively adorable in this role.

A wonderfully anarchic sexy little fable.
In true Makavejev fashion, this movie looks like a lovely fluffly cake, but inside it is filled with bugs and bizarre things! There is a great deal of sex in this movie, and it all feels feverish and vital and right. See early film performances from Alfred Molina, Gabrielle Anwar, and Eric Stoltz. The plot is as wild as the costumes and scenery- apparently this was shot in what was Yugoslavia, and it is beautiful. Definitely worth a look, but not with the kids! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Where's the Gorilla?
Viktor is an attractive and amicable Russian soldier stationed in Berlin shortly before the reunification. As his tour comes to an end, he phones home, only to discover an unfortunate fact. While he was doing his international duty occupying Berlin, a certain cab driver has been occupying his house, taking care of Viktor's domestic duty to his wife and child. So Viktor stays in Berlin, camping out with a motley group of homeless hookers and small-time hoods. Viktor loves Berlin, but he also has undying loyalty for his Socialist motherland. He proudly wears his uniform, and in vodka-induced dreams receives visitations from an oddly effeminate Vladimir Illich (Lenin). He has occasional flashbacks of the Victory, when his Red Army parents met at the Reichstag. If he gets too homesick --or just too hungry -- he visits his "compatriot", the Siberian tiger, at the zoo. (Despite the title, there is very little about a gorilla.) Viktor and the storyline wander rather aimlessly and light-heartedly through this Serbian film. Most of the dialogue is in charmingly accented English, and there are subtitles when German and Russian are spoken.

I am sure it is great
I just need to note that for some reason this film was listed as Russian, which it most definitely is not. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A hidden gem of a movie
I watched this movie when I was on my Greta Scacchi binge. It fared well against the others considering they included Jefferson in Paris and The Red Violin. It is like others have said, pleasingly wacky.
Eric Roberts is one of those actors I love to hate (along with Banderas and Gere) because of his gratingly arrogant manner. But he grew on me (like a wart) in this movie, as the sold-out Coca-Cola marketing man with a mission Down Under. It was funny seeing the disclaimer at the beginning of the movie that this does not represent Coke's actual tactics.
Scacchi is appealing as the pretty but inept secretary who throws herself at Roberts and has a secret related to the cola wars. Smalltown Australia is depicted in much the manner I have come to expect, with a bunch of oddball characters thrown in.

"Don't wanna go where there's no Coca-Cola...!"
I have been an Australophile forever; if there was one decade that really brought Australia's best side for the rest of the world to see, it had to be the 1980's; the pop music from Down Under during that time was among the best in the world, and the movies from Australia have a wonderful sense of the country that make them far more representative of itself than other movies from other countries...you see an Australian movie and you just KNOW: "That's Australia".
>
It may be hard to believe now, but there was once a time when Eric Roberts was much better-known than his sister Julia; this time parallels the time in Eric's career when he actually made good movies, like this one, f'rinstance.
>
This movie is very enjoyable in its quirkiness...Eric Roberts is terrific as an ex-United States Marine Corps, Southern-fried Gordon Gecko (Roberts, like his sister Julia, is from Smyrna, GA, so he does come by the accent naturally) who eats, sleeps, and breathes Coca-Cola and is sent by the Corporate hotshots to find out why in one remote corner of the Australian outback (redundancy, anyone?) no Coca-Cola is sold. The reason, it turns out, is the local Cola Baron (played by Australian cinema standard Bill Kerr...check him out in another great Aussie flick, "Gallipoli") who produces terrific cola virtually by hand and with it has won an almost cult-like devotion by the locals.
>
Greta Scacchi (who really does look like Susan Sarandon's kid sister in this movie) is the somewhat dizzy secretary with an on-again, off-again ex-husband and a beautiful wee daughter (who calls herself "DMZ", as in neutral territory where her parents can't fight) who starts attempting to seduce Roberts from his first day in Austalia. She may or may not have a motive to her madness, and it can at times be painful watching her attempts, but this is an enjoyable movie for someone who may not necessarily enjoy romantic comedies per se; and as a native Atlantan, I particularly enjoyed Roberts' monologue on the virtues of his product ("...the SOUND...of COKE")...made me want to pop one open on the spot.
>
And I PROMISE you will NOT be able to get that Tim Finn (former Split Enz, technically New Zealanders, but who's counting) Coca-Cola jingle out of your head after watching this!

The US and Australia Rules!!!
This is a great movie about an american coca-cola executive trying to invade a difficult sales district down under.Australia and the US rules!!!

Good fun
This movie is good fun. The sound track is excellent. Does anyone know how I can get a CD sound track of this movie? Send info to geraldkalisik@hotmail.com

"Speaking of the significance of personal disorder..."
In the film, "The Coca-Cola Kid," Becker (Eric Roberts) is a 'trouble-shooter' with Coca-Cola. Becker arrives from America, and the heads of the Australian office of Coca-Cola are advised by corporate headquarters to listen to Becker. Becker, apparently, has the Midas touch and manages to double or triple sales wherever he goes. Becker is given an office, and a secretary (Greta Scacchi), and he proceeds to try and learn all he can about the Australian market for soft drinks. He learns very quickly that there is one area in Australia where absolutely no Coca-Cola is sold. Here in the Anderson Valley, eccentric factory owner T.George McDowell manufactures and distributes his own brand of soft drink. Becker attempts to beef up sales in Australia and contact McDowell, but Becker's smooth behaviour and corporate strategies really get him nowhere.

I love Australian films. The problem is finding them. A handful make it to video rental, and so when I found this film on Amazon, I was thrilled. The reviews were glowing, and so I ordered a copy. However, I have to say that "The Coca-Cola Kid" is probably the most disappointing Australian film I've ever seen. To me, it seemed very dated (more like a 70s film), and while it had a very promising start, my interest dwindled after Becker's trip to the Anderson Valley. I think I was hoping for an Australian version of "Local Hero." Australian films can never be mistaken for anything other than Australian--their world view is so unique, but in my opinion, this could have been a film set in America--or anywhere else for that matter. The fact it was Australian was really beside the point. The plot lost intensity and direction about half way through, the characters were dull, and the film never really captured my interest--displacedhuman. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A hidden gem of a movie
I watched this movie when I was on my Greta Scacchi binge. It fared well against the others considering they included Jefferson in Paris and The Red Violin. It is like others have said, pleasingly wacky.
Eric Roberts is one of those actors I love to hate (along with Banderas and Gere) because of his gratingly arrogant manner. But he grew on me (like a wart) in this movie, as the sold-out Coca-Cola marketing man with a mission Down Under. It was funny seeing the disclaimer at the beginning of the movie that this does not represent Coke's actual tactics.
Scacchi is appealing as the pretty but inept secretary who throws herself at Roberts and has a secret related to the cola wars. Smalltown Australia is depicted in much the manner I have come to expect, with a bunch of oddball characters thrown in.

"Don't wanna go where there's no Coca-Cola...!"
I have been an Australophile forever; if there was one decade that really brought Australia's best side for the rest of the world to see, it had to be the 1980's; the pop music from Down Under during that time was among the best in the world, and the movies from Australia have a wonderful sense of the country that make them far more representative of itself than other movies from other countries...you see an Australian movie and you just KNOW: "That's Australia".
>
It may be hard to believe now, but there was once a time when Eric Roberts was much better-known than his sister Julia; this time parallels the time in Eric's career when he actually made good movies, like this one, f'rinstance.
>
This movie is very enjoyable in its quirkiness...Eric Roberts is terrific as an ex-United States Marine Corps, Southern-fried Gordon Gecko (Roberts, like his sister Julia, is from Smyrna, GA, so he does come by the accent naturally) who eats, sleeps, and breathes Coca-Cola and is sent by the Corporate hotshots to find out why in one remote corner of the Australian outback (redundancy, anyone?) no Coca-Cola is sold. The reason, it turns out, is the local Cola Baron (played by Australian cinema standard Bill Kerr...check him out in another great Aussie flick, "Gallipoli") who produces terrific cola virtually by hand and with it has won an almost cult-like devotion by the locals.
>
Greta Scacchi (who really does look like Susan Sarandon's kid sister in this movie) is the somewhat dizzy secretary with an on-again, off-again ex-husband and a beautiful wee daughter (who calls herself "DMZ", as in neutral territory where her parents can't fight) who starts attempting to seduce Roberts from his first day in Austalia. She may or may not have a motive to her madness, and it can at times be painful watching her attempts, but this is an enjoyable movie for someone who may not necessarily enjoy romantic comedies per se; and as a native Atlantan, I particularly enjoyed Roberts' monologue on the virtues of his product ("...the SOUND...of COKE")...made me want to pop one open on the spot.
>
And I PROMISE you will NOT be able to get that Tim Finn (former Split Enz, technically New Zealanders, but who's counting) Coca-Cola jingle out of your head after watching this!

The US and Australia Rules!!!
This is a great movie about an american coca-cola executive trying to invade a difficult sales district down under.Australia and the US rules!!!

Good fun
This movie is good fun. The sound track is excellent. Does anyone know how I can get a CD sound track of this movie? Send info to geraldkalisik@hotmail.com

"Speaking of the significance of personal disorder..."
In the film, "The Coca-Cola Kid," Becker (Eric Roberts) is a 'trouble-shooter' with Coca-Cola. Becker arrives from America, and the heads of the Australian office of Coca-Cola are advised by corporate headquarters to listen to Becker. Becker, apparently, has the Midas touch and manages to double or triple sales wherever he goes. Becker is given an office, and a secretary (Greta Scacchi), and he proceeds to try and learn all he can about the Australian market for soft drinks. He learns very quickly that there is one area in Australia where absolutely no Coca-Cola is sold. Here in the Anderson Valley, eccentric factory owner T.George McDowell manufactures and distributes his own brand of soft drink. Becker attempts to beef up sales in Australia and contact McDowell, but Becker's smooth behaviour and corporate strategies really get him nowhere.

I love Australian films. The problem is finding them. A handful make it to video rental, and so when I found this film on Amazon, I was thrilled. The reviews were glowing, and so I ordered a copy. However, I have to say that "The Coca-Cola Kid" is probably the most disappointing Australian film I've ever seen. To me, it seemed very dated (more like a 70s film), and while it had a very promising start, my interest dwindled after Becker's trip to the Anderson Valley. I think I was hoping for an Australian version of "Local Hero." Australian films can never be mistaken for anything other than Australian--their world view is so unique, but in my opinion, this could have been a film set in America--or anywhere else for that matter. The fact it was Australian was really beside the point. The plot lost intensity and direction about half way through, the characters were dull, and the film never really captured my interest--displacedhuman. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

YOU MUST BE PURE AND CLEAN
How are you supposed to react after seeing a film like this? The film was positively FILLED with symbolism at every turn... it would take multiple,careful viewings of this film to analyse its imagery and to interpret what Makavejev is telling the viewer. Luckily I was aided along in my own interpretation by the director himself when he attended a discussion at the Reykjavik Film Festival. The film is disturbing, tragic, strange, gripping, and somehow so disgusting that you almost want to vomit, but you are so stunned at what you are seeing that you cannot bear to look away from the screen.

When this film was shown, the director told us about how Norwegian sensors had mostly cut parts from the film that were particularly violent and grotesque and left the sexual parts alone. Until now the film itself was rare and difficult to get a hold of, which is why it is surprising to me to find this film available on Amazon, but I suppose interest has been revived in recent years. I am shocked by the nature of this film, made in the year I was born. It was prescient in that it discussed issues that affect society today... but also pays homage to history because it discusses issues that were prevalent in the past.

No amount of description on my part will prepare you for what is a vividly and strikingly disturbing film. A must see.

YOU MUST BE PURE AND CLEAN
Oops... in the first version of this I wrote "Norwegian sensors" and of course meant "censors". Freudian slip. How are you supposed to react after seeing a film like this? The film was positively FILLED with symbolism at every turn... it would take multiple,careful viewings of this film to analyse its imagery and to interpret what Makavejev is telling the viewer. Luckily I was aided along in my own interpretation by the director himself when he attended a discussion at the Reykjavik Film Festival. The film is disturbing, tragic, strange, gripping, and somehow so disgusting that you almost want to vomit, but you are so stunned at what you are seeing that you cannot bear to look away from the screen.

When this film was shown, the director told us about how Norwegian censors had mostly cut parts from the film that were particularly violent and grotesque and left the sexual parts alone. Until now the film itself was rare and difficult to get a hold of, which is why it is surprising to me to find this film available on ......., but I suppose interest has been revived in recent years. I am shocked by the nature of this film, made in the year I was born. It was prescient in that it discussed issues that affect society today... but also pays homage to history because it discusses issues that were prevalent in the past.

No amount of description on my part will prepare you for what is a vividly and strikingly disturbing film. A must see.

This movie does have a point.
To all those who said that this movie has not point I am sorry but you are wrong. The purpose of this movie is to basically give us a wake up call. The sugar represents how everything is sugar coated. All of the evil things that are done such as the children was sugar coated as if to make it less evil. Also the actual footage of the babies and the dead bodies, anyone know the significance here? It is real, this is not horrible things done by actors to make a movie. This is REAL LIFE but yet that does not phase us. Rather what freaks us out is people puking IN A MOVIE. The director reminds us at the end that this is a fictional movie because the children come alive, but the train in the background....any idea where that goes? It is a train to Aushwitz (dont think that is spelt right). The sailor that is picked up is the last suviving sailor from the ship that started the russian revolution(look at his hat). The rich man or Capitolistic america pisses and tarnishes all that is pure and innocent(his wife) in this world. There are so many connections to the real world. SO what he is saying is that actual footage of the true evil that has happened in this world should be more offensive to us then any finctional movie should be.

definitely oddball but worth it
An Icelandic reviewer remarked on the Norwegian censorship of this film. One of the interesting factoids about this bizarre film is that it had many versions - different countries edited it according to their (in)sensibilities. More interestingly, the director thought this very amusing rather than insulting.

Another reviewer remarked that he took a first date to this film which I find hilarious. Rather than demanding to leave however, I might have married him.

In any case, take it as you might any hallucinogen - expect both the expected and unexpected.

A favourite
I saw Sweet Movie in 1978, and twice at Reykjavík Film Festival 2000. In 1978 I was twenty and it went on screen in Laugarvatn High School as a part of Reykjavík Art Festival. The newspapers were full of noisy protest that the sweet movie was ugly and horrible. As youngsters we liked it in particular due to the uproar. We found the exchange of bodily excrements very funny. Next to me sat the school's prettiest girl. She found the chocolate bath at the end of the film beautiful, a different reaction from what Sidneysider describes below (Robert of Ashfield). She died of a terrible illness five years later, the same year Sidneysider saw his 10 minutes of Sweet Movie. In 1978 it was kind of fashionable to be open minded, and being old fashioned and prudish was very out. In 2000 Sweet Movie had got on well, though it was almost impossible to find a copy. It is a bit of a slide show of different ideas. I don't care about symbolism, it is just very beautiful. But it touches on various subjects. It even touches on sexual abuse. NOTA BENE: I should like to promote Sweet Movie as a music experience. Some of the music is quite strange, some indeed interesting, and all of it very pleasant. And the film is full of it. So, listen to the music. - I seldom watch films, but this one is a favourite, to be ranked with Orson Welles' The Trial, Kurosawa'a Dersu Uzala, and Tarkovski's Stalker. A grotesque world, but somewhat enviable .... ... Read more