Reviewed by
Christopher Armstead
We watch us a lot of exploitation type films here at the FCU. Blaxploitation, The Italian masters Tinto Brass and that loon the late great Joe D'Amato or those crazy flicks that Joan Collins made with her crazy sister Jackie just to name a few . But even though we have seen an awful lot of these exploitation type flicks over the past few years I'm not sure that we've seen one that we can actually call 'good'. Now don't get your hopes up because this here movie 'Longer than Before' or 'Giulia' is about as far from 'good' as any of the exploitation flicks we've seen to this point and by the time actress Anna Bielska and her impressive six pack of abs went into field and started pissing we had probably had enough of director Roy Stuart's film, but we stuck with it. So we watch these movies, recognizing that the majority of them suck total ass, with the possible exception of one or two of those Laura Gemser Emanuelle flicks and maybe Tinto Brass and his homage to the female ass 'Cheeky', but we watch. We haven't quite figured out why, and it can't be because of the titillation factor because porn is easier to find than oxygen, but we watch. I will try to describe this movie 'Longer than Before' to you and this will not be easy.
Our film opens with some weirdo in the park propositioning some woman. I don't know what this meant but we will not see this woman again, but we will see the weirdo one more time, though seeing this dude again will mean almost nothing to this films narrative. Next we narrow in on Giulia (Bielska) who is one of those aerial gymnastic classes lorded over by extremely homosexual Gusatavo. The team is heading off to Rome for a show but for whatever reason Gustavo chooses to leave Giulia off of the team which upsets the girl something awful. I think Gustavo left her off the traveling squad because she sucks, but Giulia isn't hearing any of that. She does have this male friend we think is a drama teacher of some sorts who attempts to get the girl to get the most out of her talent in between desperately trying to get in those panties, but all he gets for his efforts is frustration and an invitation to Giulia's 'show' later that night. Before the show Giulia has to stop off and visit her loony mother and her chaste sister, both of whom Giulia is having major problems with. The sister will later run into that weirdo a little later on but that will be the last we see of either of them.
But now it's time for 'The Show'. Giulia is some kind of performance artist and she has this show that she does with this cat Eric. She invites her drama teacher to this show who apparently wasn't ready for Giulia's 'performance art'. Hell, I don't know if I was ready for Giulia's form of artistic expression either. This art consists of Giulia trying to coax a hard on out of Eric, a guy who obviously spends a lot of time in the gym, so that he can eventually have sex with her on stage. She will fail at this, however this will not stop a number of her audience members from pleasing themselves while she gives it max effort to arouse this clown. She even goes so far to invite the drama teacher on stage who apparently doesn't want that ass as bad as he thought he did and simply leaves the auditorium, and the movie for that matter.
Up into this point this movie is fairly incoherent but there is still a lot of movie left to go so I'm thinking there is some time for everything to get crystal clear for us audience members out here. Director Roy Stuart however felt that NOW was the time to get truly experimental with his film and experiment he does. Giulia will have some lesbian fun, kick the ass of a vagrant, piss in the woods, try to coax a hard on out of Eric again... by now we have learned that Eric is Gustavo's lover so maybe this why he was having some trouble getting aroused by Giulia... and then the movie will go off. Roll credits.
My friends, this movie beats the hell out of me. Director Roy Stuart has embarked upon a journey of cinematic experimentation that I can’t even begin to decipher. Note that I am placing my comprehension shortcomings squarely on my own shoulders and not on the shoulders of the film director for I am certain that there are all kinds messages, both obvious and subliminal in this film, I’m just too damn stupid to see them. For instance, Eric’s inability to achieve an erection could be a representation of the neutering of society and the inability to overcome our sexual repression. Or perhaps Eric simply doesn’t like girls. Then there’s Giulia’s desperate attempts at sex with Eric, unprotected sex with a bisexual man mind you. While on the surface this might represent a death wish, it could also represent the psycho sexual morass that women have to deal with in order to achieve some semblance of sexual equality. Or maybe Eric doesn’t like girls.
The weirdo in the park clearly stands for the dichotomy of religious conflict which is prevalent in Europe during this time in world history, propositioning women of unarguable purity, getting repeatedly shot down and then eventually disappearing is a representation of the emasculation of the man, despite his best efforts to please. At least in theory.
Of course these are all suppositions on my part as there are levels of depth in ‘Longer than Before’ which is beyond the scope of this treatise. Or we could keep it simple and say that this movie is worth seeing, despite the wacky experimentation of it all, because of Anna Bielska’s amazing figure and the fact that she’s more than willing to have hardcore sex on film, even her if partner isn't cooperating with her. Maybe because he doesn’t like girls.
