Rating: 
Summary: A Lush Fantasia of Erotic Art
Review: Created by photographer James Bidgood, PINK NARCISSUS is a lush, exotic, and remarkably beautiful erotic fantasia that explores the face and body of model Bobby Kendal as he slips in and out of erotic fantasies--fantasies which range from bullfights with himself as a matador and the bull as a leather-clad motorcyclist to being held captive for the pleasures of an Arabian ruler. Both the the aparment in which the character lives and the daydreams into which he slips are remarkably designed, recalling such artists as Parrish and Klimt, and the film emphasizes the tactile nature of everything it displays; one of the most memorable moments in the film, for example, are photographs of beads in motion that eventually segue into an erotic dance. The camera also explores Kendall's exceptional face and body in the same tactile manner, and whatever his actual virtues as a legitimate performer might be he is perfectly at ease with the camera's voyeristic joy, and the resulting images are powerful, memorable, and virtually define the term "erotic art."It might be supposed that this film appeals primarily to a gay audience, but over the years I have shown it to a great number of friends--male, female, gay, straight--and their response has always been one of fascination; the film exerts a hypnotic allure that few can resist. At the same time, however, I must note several things about the film that some may dislike. If you expect a purely "skin show" type film or simple pornography, PINK NARCISSUS is likely to frustrate, for it works its magic more via tantalization than blatant nudity; at the same time, however, there is enough graphic behavior in the film to give it an X rating even today. It is also a purely visual film (there is no dialogue of any kind), and it is very much an experimental "underground" 1970s film; as such, it actually does require a certain degree of intellectual effort and interpretation. These aspects of the film may leave some viewers cold, but those able to enter into its sensual world will find it a powerful bit of erotica. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Slightly flawed work of Art
Review: I bought this DVD because the shopper recommended it.I'm particularly like to see Art House movies,but not this one.It's the most confusing,nonsense,and disgusting thing I've ever seen.
What's the point?I don't know.How it's become a classic film?I much more do not have any idea.
If you wanna see some movies artistic,I recommend you to see other Art House movies such as Sex and Lucia or an Iranian movie,Gabbeh.You'll be more impressed.But if you wanna see the movie about gays,why don't you look at Happy together,Lanyu,or Trick?They're more worth seeing than this.
This's just my feeling about this movie.Do not believe me all at once!See it yourselves if you've wanted to see it since first.But...but...if you don't have any interest in the movie,your feeling might be true.
Rating: 
Summary: What's the point???
Review: I bought this DVD because the shopper recommended it.I'm particularly like to see Art House movies,but not this one.It's the most confusing,nonsense,and disgusting thing I've ever seen.
What's the point?I don't know.How it's become a classic film?I much more do not have any idea.
If you wanna see some movies artistic,I recommend you to see other Art House movies such as Sex and Lucia or an Iranian movie,Gabbeh.You'll be more impressed.But if you wanna see the movie about gays,why don't you look at Happy together,Lanyu,or Trick?They're more worth seeing than this.
This's just my feeling about this movie.Do not believe me all at once!See it yourselves if you've wanted to see it since first.But...but...if you don't have any interest in the movie,your feeling might be true.
Rating:
Summary: Just a Warning!
Review: I would suggest that you rent this before buying it! Unlike the reviews above it was one of the worst thing I have ever seen. I walked out of the theatre on this and there were many people on the lobby that walked out before me! This is not a film for everyone and requires a very special taste! There was no story...that I could see just a bunch of clips that made no sense.
Rating:
Summary: Just a Warning!
Review: I would suggest that you rent this before buying it! Unlike the reviews above it was one of the worst thing I have ever seen. I walked out of the theatre on this and there were many people on the lobby that walked out before me! This is not a film for everyone and requires a very special taste! There was no story...that I could see just a bunch of clips that made no sense.
Rating:
Summary: Against Nature
Review: If you come to "Pink Narcissus" expecting your typical "art house film" (or even a "gay cinema classic"), you'll probably end up agreeing with the viewers who gave this film a one star review below. But to judge it on anything other than its own singular standard is to miss the point of it entirely.
Released as a work by "Anonymous", "Pink Narcissus" was the creation of a New York theatrical costume designer and physique photographer named James Bidgood, who filmed the entire production in his apartment over a period of seven years starting in 1964; finally, tiring of his relentless tinkering with the footage he had created with no finished product to show for it, his producers edited the film themselves and released it in 1971. (Bidgood demanded that his name be taken off the credits as a result, and its true authorship was not revealed until nearly thirty years after its release.)
While there is a plot - barely - "Pink Narcissus" simply isn't a conventional narrative film. Instead, it is a series of wordless vignettes focused on the stunningly beautiful Bobby Kendall, who imagines himself in a series of tableaus - a young sultan, a Roman slave - while he awaits the arrival of his lover, or john, or ... someone. The sets and lighting, all created by Bidgood himself, are lushly artificial and hallucinatory: fake butterflies float on visible strings, fake jewels glitter on every surface, and gels on the lights create unnatural shadows and skin tones. The scratchy film stock and soundtrack - mostly excerpts from classical works - add to its intimate but almost claustrophobic atmosphere. This is the work of a man obsessed by both his subject and the medium he's using to portray it.
Viewed within the context of Bidgood's career as a photographer (examples are collected in an excellent Taschen book - do an Amazon search to find it), "Pink Narcissus" is less a narrative film than Bidgood's photographic visions come to life: a sexy (but not pornographic, at least by contemporary standards), hallucinatory meditation on beauty and desire, artifice and reality. Viewers who come to it expecting to be told a story or see some hot sex will be disappointed, but for anyone curious to see a nearly forgotten creation that looks something like a cross between "Physique Pictorial" and the works of Kenneth Anger and Stan Brakhage will appreciate it for the rich and strange hothouse flower of a film that it is.
Rating:
Summary: An exotic dream
Review: James Bidgood's film (however bastardized the editing is) is a visual, ecstatic treat any student of film, erotica or gay visuals would slit their wrists for. Seven years in the making, this film is a testament to a personal vision, one that is startling and poetic. If you love Genet, you'll love this. Treat your eyes -- and your sex organs -- to this erotic Walt Disney meets Jean Genet -- and beyond. Intelligent and visually profound, your subconscious will never be the same. I'm certainly a fan now! Prepare to be shaken to the core of your sexuality, and have your aesthetics reborn.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasure never tasted so visually delicious
Review: James Bidgood's film (however bastardized the editing is) is a visual, ecstatic treat any student of film, erotica or gay visuals would slit their wrists for. Seven years in the making, this film is a testament to a personal vision, one that is startling and poetic. If you love Genet, you'll love this. Treat your eyes -- and your sex organs -- to this erotic Walt Disney meets Jean Genet -- and beyond. Intelligent and visually profound, your subconscious will never be the same. I'm certainly a fan now! Prepare to be shaken to the core of your sexuality, and have your aesthetics reborn.
Rating:
Summary: An exotic dream
Review: One of the most powerful and mythic gay films ever. A revelation.
Rating:
Summary: Not sissy stuff: important gay avant garde
Review: The gay condition, this is the glory and the gutter, the heavenly and the hellish,a juxtaposition of the rich interior of gay desire and the shoddy conditions of "actual" gay existence. Look, young man, and be afraid. Be very afraid.
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