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CONFESSIONS
OF A YOUNG AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE
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5
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6 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Troy
Howarth |
A
young woman (Rebecca Brooke) enjoys a voracious
sex life with her husband (David Hausman) and
the couple next door (Eric Edwards, Chris Jordan),
but things become complicated when her seemingly
uptight mother (Jennifer Welles) comes to stay...
Writer/director
Joe Sarno (Abigail
Leslie Is Back In Town, Suburban
Secrets) explores the phenomenon of "open
marriage" in this softcore opus. As usual for
Sarno the emphasis is strictly on eroticism of
the implicit variety, so viewers looking for hardcore
stimulation will want to look elsewhere. Sarno's
gifts in this department are sporadically in evidence,
but on the whole Confessions
Of A Young American Housewife doesn't sizzle
as much as his better known films.
The incestuous
undertones give the film a kinky vibe, with Rebecca
Brooke (nee Mary Mendum)'s relationship with mom
Jennifer Welles (who certainly qualifies as a
major MILF, but doesn't really look old enough
to play the part) venturing into potentially taboo
territory. Sarno, however, resists the temptation
to play moral crusader, simply documenting the
events with an air of dispassionate distance.
Perhaps it's this distance that robs the film
of a certain spark —
despite all the heavy petting the film never becomes
as palpably erotic as it could. While some set-pieces
— notably all of
Welles sex scenes —
work rather effectively, the majority of the picture
seems unduly dominated with halfhearted filler
material.
The actors are effective in
their sex scenes but have a hard time selling
the director's stilted dialogue. ("Your tits
drive me out of my mind... I wanna pump my juice
inside of you!") Brooke and Welles are certainly
photogenic, but neither is particularly inspiring
in the thesping department — that said, they seem
like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford compared to
the grating Chris Jordan, who gets the thankless
task of providing 'comedy relief'. Not only is
her character obnoxious beyond belief, but her
monotone line readings effectively kill any potential
for humor. David Hausman is similarly wooden as
Brooke's horny husband, though sex film vet Eric
Edwards (Laura's
Toys) aquits himself reasonably well as Jordan's
partner. Going back to Welles for a moment, the
buxom actress manages to combine an air of class
with a genuine enthusiasm for erotica — a rare
combination in the genre, and all the more reason
to regret her rather small body of work (the IMDb
lists a scant 28 titles, which stops cold in 1984).
Though by no means one of the
worst films of its ilk, Confessions
Of A Young American Housewife ranks as
a lesser entry in Sarno's oeuvre; even so, devotees
of the genre will surely find some areas of interest.
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Retro-Seduction Cinema's release of Confessions
is satisfactory. The print is a bit beaten
up, with some footage missing due to blunt splices
and print damage, but the transfer is otherwise
acceptable. The fullframe image looks as good
as one can reasonably expect, and despite some
noticeable speckling and scratches, the image
is sharp and colorful. The mono soundtrack is
as good as the crude sound recording will allow;
music and dialogue are clear and easy to hear.
Extras: Three minor deleted scenes (more like
extensions to existing sequences, in very rough
shape), an image gallery of Rebecca Brooke photographs,
trailers for other Sarno Retro-Seduction releases,
a 12-page booklet of liner notes by Sarno scholar
Michael J. Bowen, a bonus CD highlighting the
music of sexploitation composer Jack Justis' work
for three Sarno films (including Confessions),
and a featurette-length interview with Joe Sarno
himself. The writer/director comes across as a
lively and intelligent sort, and he recalls the
film and its cast with a lot of affection.
6/19/08
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