Flesh

Flesh (1968)

Flesh is the first film in the trilogy by Paul Morrisey presented by friend Andy warhol.
Flesh is definitley not a film for the homophobic for sure.
It is the story of Joe (Joe Dallesandro) A male prostitue and his wife and child.the film follows Joe through a day on the job ,picking up johns and conversing with his friends and co-workers or competition ,however you wanna paint it.There is alot of pretty nice dialogue in this film and it is a serious ,realstic approach to the subject matter at hand.The film is shot very amateurish,with alot of hard cuts throughout and some parts where conversations are sometimes even cut in half due to the way the film is put together,also there are some parts where full conversations are taking place with no audio whatsoever,leaving the viewer to assume what is being said,But all of these little quirks add to the experience for sure.It almost seems like an art students first attempt at film making ,which in my eyes adds to the charm of this film.Some scenes that stand out to me are, Joe and a few other gigalos are in the park talking about there daily routines and why they do what they do,then a youger male whore asks joe for advice and guidance in his newly chosen profession which makes for a nice little scene.Another one is when joe is picked up by a older gentleman who wants to take nude photos of joe in order to make larger scale paintings of him,the man is very particular with the poses and seems obsessed with the human body and art of the greco- roman era.Then there is a scene where joe ,a female hooker and two transvestites talk about beauty ,fashion and glamour tips.The Movie could be seen as a simple movie about prostitues and the seedy underbelly of N.Y. in the late 60’s but in all honesty this film is a social commentary on Body worship and the shallowness in human nature surrounding body image.The best way to sum this point up would be a line straight from the movie ,from the one scene described before with the hookers of all walks comparing beauty tips. the transvestite says to the female hooker who is considering breast augmentation " Why don’t you develop your brain ?"
she replies " My brain cant be developed anymore,Besides I think I’m cute. I don’t wanna change,if I learn too much I wont always be happy.Because I think the more you learn the more you are depressed."
Ignorance is bliss has never been stated any clearer than that,proven point I know some girls personally that just scrape by on looks alone and that is pretty much there take on life as well.So Flesh is a perfect summary of peoples percieved vision of beauty and how important it truly is to most people sad but true.
Another very good Experimental film from the mind of Paul Morrisey,I recently bought all 3 of the movies in his trilogy and am awaiting his two ventures into the horror genre as well "Flesh for Frankenstein’ and " Blood for Dracula" to arrive from netflix.
If he is as good at horror tale telling as he is with social commentaries than they should be good films as well.
If you are in the mood for something a little different or wanna impress your artsy "hipster" friends you cant really go wrong with this film or "Trash" for that matter.
But again,if you are homophobic or even if you are male and uncomfortable with your sexuality this movie or Morrisey/warhols works in general are not for you.
But with that said I would give this one 4 out of 5 as well
I guess tommorrow I will finish off the trilogy with "Heat" hopefully that one is just as good,I have been plesantly suprised with this series of films.