SWEET MOVIE

 With the credits coming at you in a variety of bright colours and a highly eclectic international cast list you know Dusan Makavejev's "Sweet Movie" isn't exactly going to be your conventional Eastern European art-movie but I'm also sure no-one will be quite prepared for what follows those credits. Makavejev is out to shock you, maybe even titillate you. This is like a John Waters' movie co-directed by Salvador Dali with a little help from Sergei Eisenstein. There's no real plot as such but rather a series of sketches filmed in both Europe and Canada and while the film is described as a 'comedy', laughs are non-existent.

On the other hand sex, a little violence and various bodily functions are very much to the fore and if you can overlook some of the content, including a scene in which a very attractive and barely clad young woman has her way with some children as well as some newsreel footage from Katyn, you can't deny that visually it's often rather beautiful in an abstract kind of way. It's also got cult movie written all over it; a midnight matinee movie with its own built-in audience. Of course, the problem with movies that set out to be cults, as I have a feeling this one did, is that they keep drawing attention to just how clever they are and "Sweet Movie" is no exception. Maiden aunts are certainly not likely to get the joke, if there's a joke here to get, though cineastes should enjoy the odd movie reference if they can make it past the 'food' orgy and if, like me, you enjoy celebrity spotting, look out for George Melly and Ronald Topor among the cameos.