Cinema Seen: Now & Later

Cinema Seen by William Margold

“A sexually repressed society will resort to violence.” — Wilhelm Reich (1897-1957)

“The adult entertainment medium is a masturbatory catharsis for the masses. Its express desire is to get society ‘up and off’ instead of out in the street with a hatchet in its hand.” — William Margold 1943-)

The fact that the thoughts of an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst — who died when I was in the 10th grade — opens a page that is devoted to an attempt by a mainstream filmmaker to incorporate explicit sexual activities (commonly referred to as “Hardcore”) into the film featured here… makes me extremely proud of the fact that my sentiment was part of what I said to the Meese Commission in October, 1985.

And it amuses me greatly to list among my most memorable experiences (some of which occurred way before the 10th grade) that my thought processes have provided the basis for many invaluable case studies by quite a number of psychiatrists and psychoanalysts.

Now…with all that to rattle your overheated mental cage…it’s time to acknowledge writer/director Philippe Diaz’s graphically (enough to satisfy those who are willing to look hard and squint deep into the under lit action) sexual, semi-seething serving of socio-political, angry-economics — and most certainly as possibly far from being flattering to the United States as it can be — cinematic filibuster — Now & Later — a frolicsome (particularly on the roof of Los Angeles’ legendary flop house the Rosslyn Hotel), fornicating fairy tale that introduces a stunning, way-to-good-to-be-true saviouress named Shari Solanis to an appropriately overwhelmed (by his life gone astray) James Wortham.

(Then again…considering that my own life was erotically enriched by lovely lady named CeCe as the very late Sixties orgasm’d into the very early Seventies, just before I began my multi-faceted career in XXX…that perhaps Ms. Solanis’s character isn’t as farfetched as she acts. And, quite frankly, I can empathize completely with Wortham’s character, as I, although not too astray at that period, was equally overwhelmed by my very generous fondling feminine good fortune provider.)

Now & Later…a Cinema Libre Studio release opens exclusively at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 (8000 Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood) on Friday, Friday 25.

Now & Later will also be the featured title during a week (February 25 thru March 3) of a series of heavily sexually themed films organized by Cinema Libre that will be pulsating under the heading: “Celebrating Sex in Cinema” at the Sunset 5.

Included in the program are “This Film is not Rated,” “Hustler White,” “The Price of Pleasure,” “Shortbus,” “Antichrist,” “Betty Blue,” and “9 Songs.”

Besides the poster image displayed on this page, the rest of the artwork here has been gleaned from the Now & Later press kit that be found at (www.nowandlaterthemovie.com). Hopefully it will serve to ignite your interest (etc.) in going to see how much of whom the film displays…and perhaps in even listening to what those in the film have to say…when their mouths aren’t busy elsewhere.