Archive for August, 2008

Do people really write blogs in the summer?! Watching films late in the evening to track down new sensual movies for women is about as much indoor activity as I can fathom. (It sounds like fun work, right? But it is tough going to find films that qualify. If you are reading this and have one in mind, go immediately to “Contact Us” and send in your suggestion to contactus@barefootaphrodite.com . We need more sensual films!!!)

The New York Times had a wonderful article today on how some of their writers plan to spend the last few days of summer and some of the suggestions are sensual indeed. It’s a sensual time–fading sunshine with a nip in the air promising seasons to come, happy memories of vacations gone by, a wistfulness for them but with a rush of new energy with the lifting of summer heat. What follows is just one of the stories about celebrating these last days of the season. I chose a story about enjoying film, not a sensual film but a sensual experience because of a letting go of hang ups in exchange for pure pleasure no matter how silly in the eyes of others. (Don’t be afraid that your choice of films is not sensual–sensuality is about you and you alone.) Think of your own way to celebrate the sensuals of summer:

What’s Happening to Me? 

I confess. I enjoyed “Mamma Mia!” Twice. 

I can’t quite explain it. I’m a man in his late 40s whose aesthetic taste runs to the detailed, the dank, the depressing. I tend to mull the glass half-empty, and I’m fine with that, thank you very much. So how could I be taken in by cotton-candy girl-power set to an Abba soundtrack? It defies natural law. But to those of us a little too weighed down with adult worries, “Mamma Mia!” on screen and stage may be a pinch in the potbelly, a reminder to lighten up already, for goodness’ sake. 

I’m a big Stellan Skarsgard fan, and the thought of a singing and dancing Meryl, Her Streepness, was enough to send me to the movie. What I found was like a charming Shakespearean comedy that hardly paused to take itself seriously. “Mamma Mia!” — with its hoot of a real Greek chorus — has the potential, at least in my book, for “Rocky Horror Picture Show” cult status. 

Ms. Streep, apparently determined to show off her loosey-goosey side in this feminist-tinged romance, seems to be having a blast in the lead role of Donna. What a pleasure to see her in the credit sequence, belting out “Waterloo” with her mature (kind of) co-stars, all happy not to have to play the hunks and babes. Skip to next paragraph 

The movie sent me to the Cadillac Winter Garden Theater on Broadway, where “Mamma Mia!” is still playing after almost seven years. I admit, I had my worries. Must have fun, I programmed myself. 

My concern seemed justified at first. The stage show has a simple but plain set, as useful as a wrench and only a bit more attractive, and some performances were hardly less mechanical. Others were rusty. The plot, primarily about a young woman’s desire to discover her father’s identity (there are three possibilities) before she gets married, clunked along. Where a camera cut found humor, this three-dimensional live show somehow lost a dimension. 

And yet. Gina Ferrall, as Donna’s sturdy friend Rosie, quickly became the audience’s best pal. Carrie Manolakos, as the dad-seeking Sophie, glowed with a convincing belief in her fairy tale. As Donna’s lost love, Sam, Christopher Shyer — well, he could sing! And though it happened rarely, there was the joy of watching a big ensemble of gyrating everyfolk, a bunch of dancing queens, kings, princes and princesses. 

By the time “Waterloo” came around at the curtain call, I was grinning and clapping with the packed house. We who love “Mamma Mia!” may be a select tribe, but we are a happy one. DAVID DeWITT  

I was recently reminded of how referring to the sensuality of women and sensual movies for women can bring on a glazed over look in conversation or even a look of fear. I’ve also been encouraged to abandon the Barefoot Aphrodite logo because it is too “provacotive,” too sexual. But the original intention of the site was to give women a film option to porn, beyond the “chick flick” (although certainly many of the selections would be considered “chick flicks” and there’s nothing wrong with that!!!), a more fulfilling film experience that might lead to the development of our senses or even to sexual pleasure (as I noted in my review of “The Painted Veil“–a highly sensory but hardly sexually explicit film–after watching I wanted to jump into bed with my husband!). Keep that in mind when you select a film from our archives. Think about how the movie makes you feel–sense smells, sounds, visual images, the feel of objects/people. The idea is to extend the experience of a good sensual film–part of this happens naturally but part can be encouraged by awareness. Sensualize!

I asked our team of reviewers to look at our movie archives and think about the men that appear in our sensual films for women. I then asked them to choose the actors they find sensual and explain why and then describe what type of men in film they find sensual in general. You can find BA reviewer Alexandra’s response in an earlier entry. Teresa responds:
Sam Neill (Sirens, Piano): Sam Neill can be very sensual (PBS series Reilly, Ace of Spies) – when he is, for me it’s his voice, and the lines along his jaw, and his intelligence or appearance of thinking inwardly. Actually, Harvey Keitel is the sensual one in Piano – loooves his woman and knows how to make her “happy.”

Viggo Mortenson (History of Violence, Walk on the Moon): Viggo Mortenson is very sensual – it’s that beautiful but masculine face. Actually, he appears to be very concerned about women – making them happy – or being good, doing the right thing. I think somehow he communicates that given a choice, he’d hang w/ the ladies rather than with the dudes – in a masculine way.
Johnny Depp (Benny and Joon, Don Juan DeMarco) is somehow very sensual while having a very boyish look.  I think it’s because he just has a magnetism that comes through on the screen.  Ordinarily he would not be my type, but I always end up watching him closely- and liking him - in a film.

Richard Gere (Shall We Dance, Unfaithful) is decidedly unsensual to me. He has an air about him that makes him look like he Thinks he’s sexy. Un unh. As a matter of fact, I think a requirement for sensuous male for me is entirely unaffected and natural in his attractiveness to the opposite sex – more he (a sensual male for me) is truly interested in women – not just trying to get their attention.
George Clooney (Out of Sight) – I love the man and think he is smart, sexy, and brave, but somehow there’s always a veneer so he seems a bit cardboard so not sensual for me.

Colin Firth (P&P) – not.

James Spader (Secretary) – afraid to say it almost, but Somehow he is sensual. Probably because he’s just a little bit scary. I think somehow he communicates a serious thinker or maybe he just appears to be really intense about whatever he is doing.

Mickey Rourke (9 ½ Weeks) – had so so much sensual potential in Diner and in this movie, but then he had to go and ruin it all with the poor poor movies and the face lifts. Sigh. What made him sensual was definitely not the brain, but his lips – the way he looked at women, and the appearance of trying hard to be good though it mostly was very hard.

William Hurt (Body Heat) – not sensual – a bit too blond and thespian for me. I think he’s a good actor, though and try to catch all his movies.

Daniel Craig (Bond, James Bond) – oh yeah, sensual, at least as Bond. And who can say why, with his big ears.  Jury still out – maybe it’s the director or Bond character.
Hugh Jackman (Someone Like You) – not for me – I don’t see any depth.
Mel Gibson (Year of Living Dangerously) – very sensual in Year of Living Dangerously (and Bounty). Mel has real potential to be a sensual male lead when he gets a good role with a good director, much, for me, like Russell Crowe. He is well intentioned, intense, living very much in the moment, and likes smart women.

Robert Redford (Electric Horseman) – a good man, but entirely too cardboard on the screen to be sensual for me.

Joaquin Pheonix (Walk the Line) – not at all sensual for me – too young and too scary.
Anthony LaPaglia (Lantana) – looks too much like your average business man to be sensual for me.
Robert Mitchum (Ryan’s Daughter) – Robert Mitchum has a whole lot of sensual potential, but not in this movie. The characteristics I see as sensual are big chest, deep voice, and the way he kisses – but again, not in this movie.

Jeremy Irons (Stealing Beauty, French Lieutenant’s Woman) – I love Jeremy Irons, and he clearly is a thinking man, but I don’t find him sensual. He comes across as too into himself, I think, maybe, to have that type of charisma. I’ll watch him in most anything, though, and am never disappointed.
Christopher Plummer (Sound of Music) – oh yes, very sensual. He’s an amazing actor, so he really becomes whomever he is portraying, but I love his voice and the way he looks at women.  Good intentioned, but he also can’t help himself.
Gael Garcia-Bernal (Mexican—Y Tu Mama Tambien) – incredibly sensual – a Beautiful face, loves the women, comes across as a good person with passions that can lead him astray.
Giancarlo Giannini (Italian–Swept Away) – yes, very expressive face and handsome, but I don’t find him sensual – possibly a cultural thing, especially for this movie.
Rolf Lassgard (Swedish–Under the Sun) – now here’s a man I find totally unsensual on the surface – large, blond, not particularly handsome – but in this movie because he completely inhabits the character, I fell completely for him. A sweet, good man.
Massimo Troisi, Philippe Noiret  (Italian—Il Postino—the postman/the poet) – I’ll give them both European looking, but not sensual for me in this movie and I do not know them from other films. The older was more just a symbol rather than a person and the younger, maybe the same thing, but too gaunt and too inexperienced to be sensual.

…when all is said and done, looks like I like a guy who likes the women, is deep down a good person, and who just can’t help themselves when falling for someone…