Scarlet Diva

I should have have seen the warning flag when director Asia Argento appeared before the film started and said that "you may have heard bad things about this film, but don't believe it, this movie is about redemption"

wow, this movie wasn't bad because of the sexuality or the drug use or the utter despicable lead character. No this movie was bad because it was an incoherent mess. She cut many scenes too short or held on too long on others. The photography was beautiful though.

The story, supposedly semi-autobiographical, I couldn't get into. I didn't care for the lead character, she gave me no reason to sympathize with her, nor did she draw me into her story. To me she was a spoiled rotten little kid who was given lots of chances and lucked out on many things yet continued to spiral into destruction. I also couldn't tell you how many times she was raped or almost raped. After awhile it was almost desensitizing. Really what it seemed like were incomplete snapshots of this persons life without any real connecting thread or a plot. This past weekend I saw a short horror film from some High School students that did the same thing, it was nothing really but scenes without a connecting thread of a plot.

With the acting most of it was over the top, but I did enjoy Schooly D's extended cameo/small role as the "Hash Man". The actor playing the sleazeball Hollywood producer looked like a rejected UFC fighter turned porn star.

I see what Asia was trying to do, but ultimately couldn't do. Either that or I'm so uneducated in Italian cinema that I just didn't "get" it.