F.D.W.R.S.O.
Film Directors With Their Shirts Off, again:
José Mojica Marins. From the small amount of “Coffin Joe” cinema I’ve seen, he seems like a fascinating bastard. I was so disappointed to hear from a Brazilian film student that nobody over there takes him seriously. A prophet without honour, etc… but dig that physique!
(Have no idea what’s going on in this frame grab. The movie is ESTUPRO, also known as PERVERSION.)
shadowplay 
February 19, 2009 at 10:00 am
You might not know what’s going on here, but it isn’t hard for the imagination to run away with itself in trying to figure it out. It doesn’t look good, fabricated or not (though fabricated I’m sure). And yes, when you have someone who is commonly called Coffin Joe, it’s a good bet that he’s NOT taken seriously. Try and think of a film director with a comparable nickname.
February 19, 2009 at 10:09 am
How about BLOODY SAM Peckinpah.
I haven’t seen any of Marins but his film THE AWAKENING OF THE FLESH Is a major cult phenomenon and was quite influential on a film movement called “Boca de Lixo” which was films made in the slum of the same name in Sao Paolo. It meant garbage cinema.
According to Gabe Klinger’s piece on him at senses of cinema, Glauber Rocha, considered Brazil’s greatest film-maker(and totally neglected today) admired “Awakening…” a lot and his final film, “The Age of the Earth” was considered to be influenced by it. Rocha’s film is a genuine psycho-bacterio-logical masterpiece famously described by Serge Daney as “a flying saucer”.
February 19, 2009 at 3:47 pm
By the way the abbrievation of FILM DIRECTORS WITH THEIR SHIRTS OFF should be F. D. W. T. S. O, what does R. stand for?
February 19, 2009 at 4:28 pm
That’s a VERY good question. Possibly it means that the R is next to the T on the keyboard.
Film Directors With Rough Skin Obviously?
Marins work is rich in staggering imagery, and has a rather excitringly confused worldview that suggests he’s either a brilliant satirist or completely psycho. He’s not widely respected within the brazilian film industry, because he was always a totally maverick independent, and also he’s not been very active lately. When his initial career arx started to sputter, he turned instantly to dog porn, which probably didn’t help his rep.
It’s an intriguing thought process: “The mystic horror films aren’t working out, what can I do now? I know, bestiality!”
February 19, 2009 at 5:01 pm
I guess Marins is the ur-Jodorowsky, hopefully he’s better because I cayn’t steand him just like Jean Hagen in ‘Singin’ in the Rain’.
Are you familiar with Rocha’s films?
February 19, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Only slightly (more by rep than by viewing). Jodorowsky look strangely coherent when viewed beside Marins. Jod’s very much a product of the hippy/happening art scene, whereas Marins looks pretty suis generis to me — perhaps there’s a Brazilian movement that would explain him, but if so, it’s not a cinematic one. There’s the influence of Hollywood horror films, but other than that, he’s just bananas in his own distinct way.
February 19, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Marin’s films are well worthy of investigation–they are completely over the top and completely nutty. Besides the expected gore and nudity, they generally also include some of the floweriest philosophical bloviating imaginable and some of the crudest special effects known to man. And spiders. Lots of spiders.
February 19, 2009 at 10:03 pm
There’s a nice state of utter confusion going on, where Coffin Joe is a heroic figure who preaches against conventional morality, but is also a complete creep who must die in the end. His trip to hell (in colour) is particularly fabulous.
February 20, 2009 at 11:02 am
He’s like a bargain-basement Cocteau at times, with his use of the simplest and cheapest possible special effects (people embedded in walls with their limbs/arses protruding!) to achieve a totality that’s disturbing and quite unlike anything else… I showed some of his films to a Brazilian film buff I was dating a few years ago and she was fairly horrified by them, as well as amused. I did learn the correct pronunciation of Zé de Caixao though (dz’Jay d’Cash-aow, sort of). There’s a great documentary about his life and films around, which puts his achievements in context and makes them more impressive, and he’s just released a new Coffin Joe movie which is getting rather wonderful reviews.
February 20, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Hope the film comes here, and hope it recaptures the lurid dementedness.