Boy, so much s--t was talked about this film, and I just want to thank you all for dropping my expectations so low that I was able to thoroughly enjoy Scarlet Diva. If you're sitting down to watch this film, one hopes that a certain context is assumed, and an interest has been established, such that terms like "self-indulgent" and "bad acting" do not even enter into the vocabulary. The film pulls you along with heavy visual style, holding its own sexy trash pulse while at the same time prostrating itself at the altar of the director/star's horror-god father Dario Argento, but in a good way. For example, the latter's trademark use of colored lighting is employed liberally, and to appropriate effect. Rapper Schoolly D and NY shock performer/painter Joe Coleman both make great respective turns, as a drug dealer and sleazy producer. Like the work of her auteur Dad, and writer Mother Daria Nicolodi (who appears as "The Mom" in the film), Asia Argento's Scarlet Diva is a horror film, and you will feel horrified at certain scenes. But it's a "horror of life" film, and it's assumed that much of it is semi-autobiographical. Would you pay to see it if it were Drew Barrymore's sleazoid child star/artist family upbringing? Dare to give 90 minutes up to the Scarlet Diva.
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sinistre111125 July 2003
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Scarlet Diva is Asia Argento's first serious attempt at directing a feature-length movie after a brief but successful acting career. It tells the story of Anna Battista and her first serious attempt at directing a feature-length movie after a brief but successful acting career. Sounds like another example of every debut film turning out autobiographical and, in most cases, pretentious and self-indulgent? Yes indeed, Scarlet Diva is all of these.
25-year-old Asia Argento learnt her trade on set with her father, Dario Argento, Italy's very own horror-film specialist. Having starred in many of her dad's gore-fests but also in more mainstream films like La Reine Margot or last year's B. Monkey she is now out to make a name for herself in the writing/directing business. While she comes a cropper in the writing department (the story is very simple, and some of the dialogue is excruciatingly self-important), it has to be said that the film has style, of a kind. Its use of video footage, the fast editing and the pumping soundtrack go some way towards deflecting attention from both the miserable script and the inept cast. Apart, that is, from Ms Argento herself who, in the title role as Anna Battista aka Scarlet Diva, somehow manages to keep her head above water as the rest of one of the worst acting ensembles for some time (the scenes in Los Angeles are especially bad) go under and stay under.
In both form and content, there are parallels between Scarlet Diva and Baise-moi, the French scandal-film par excellence. We are given (relatively) graphic rape scenes, a whole sex-drugs-and-rock n roll attitude, and the main character(s) portrayed as victim(s) of the system (in this case the movie production system). Although any comparison with a thoroughly distasteful product like Baise-moi may well have put you off giving the film a chance, not everything about Scarlet Diva is wholly bad. The improvised home-movie style gives the film a pacey and refreshingly amateurish feel that is pretty rare in cinema nowadays. But even that faint praise cannot make up for the sheer pretentiousness and exhibitionism that Asia Argento treats herself to. And there's some dodgy religious imagery to boot. A little more subtlety would certainly have done a lot to improve this film, a film incidentally that would never have seen the light of day had the leading lady not received some timely financial help from daddy and his associates.
A typical debut film, then, from a first-time director, but still interesting enough, if only for us diehard film fans and for any wannabe anarchists out there. -
borgolarici11 March 2021While not a masterpiece, this movie has some cult potential. It's weird and cringe but in a charming way, just like Asia. You know what you're in for.
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Infofreak11 May 2003Cult actress Asia Argento, daughter of Italian horror legend Dario Argento and his former leading lady Daria Nicolodi, almost uses 'Scarlet Diva' as therapy. She is the first to admit that she has a lot of demons to battle, and this semi-autobiographical digital video movie about a successful Italian actress (and "the loneliest girl in the world") trying to find happiness, or at least some relief, through sex, drugs and some disastrous relationships, was obviously cathartic for her to make. Unfortunately it is a very uneven and at times unbelievable film and is almost impossible to get involved with. Anna/Asia's pain and despair isn't hidden but the script is so shallow and the acting so unconvincing that it becomes little more than a freak show. Personally I found Argento's commentary on the DVD much more interesting than the movie itself. In it she spells out just how much of the movie is based on real situations in her life, and explains what has been changed or slightly fictionalized. Hearing her talk honestly about how much this movie means to her, and how for example, getting her own mother (Nicolodi) to play her fictional mother altered their relationship for the better, was more effective than watching the actual movie. It also makes you feel bad for slamming this, but what can you do? It just isn't very good. Argento also talks about how she felt betrayed by her friend Vincent Gallo ('Buffalo 66'), who agreed to play the rock star Kirk Vaines character, but then blew it by asking for too much money. If you look closely you will see Asia stand on a picture of his face in one scene. She also discusses how working with Abel Ferrara on the troubled 'New Rose Hotel' inspired her to direct, and how Ferrara and her father Dario Argento (who gets a production credit) were the only two people to encourage her with this project. I just hope that if she directs again the results are a lot more interesting than this amateurish effort. I say avoid this movie unless you are a complete Asia Argento nut. Otherwise if you must watch it, make sure you listen to the commentary and watch the interview segment, as you will get a lot more out of them than 'Scarlet Diva' itself.
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nogodnomasters25 January 2018The DVD opens with Asia Argento having to explain why her film doesn't stink. Almost like starting your political career by saying, "I am not a witch." Her speech was all over the place. As an actress and director, she should have written something down, have someone with a medium IQ look at it, and then read it off the card.
The film is about the life story of a skanky looking model/actress (Asia Argento) whose life is in a free-fall all due to her own doing. Nothing she does endears herself to anyone. I was hoping for a zombie, or a slasher, or a rubber headed alien to make the film interesting. As a model and actress she is asked questions that a fifth grader could handle, but she looks like a deer in the headlights.
My DVD quality was also bad. I only mention it because it was a new DVD fresh out of the case, no rattle, and it stuck about 1:09 into the film. I can't even resell it to recoup some of my loss. Buyer beware.
There are better films where Asia gets naked.
F-bomb, sex, nudity (Asia Argento, Selen, Vera Gemma) -
capoca19 September 2018Thank God Asia Argento directed only two movies since they both suck. This one tries hard to be a shocker, but it turns out to be a boring mess. The occasional unintentional laughs are the only reason to watch it. If you are really up to it...
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Charles-313 January 2005This is a film that fails dismally by itself, but is redeemed by a truly great DVD special feature.
I truly love experimental movies and imports and this clearly falls into that category. But, the film is not at all well done. It's dull in many places and too often reduces to sex for the sake of prurient interested. The plot, or lack of plot, rambles about and is very confusing. Some of the symbolism is so obscure you won't know it until you listen to the director's commentary. You have trouble identifying with any of the characters because they are so unrealistic.
But, it is in the area of the DVD director's commentary that this film shines brightly. Just out of curiosity, I turned it on after watching the film and was surprised how much I learned about the film, the directing process, the actors, and the director's life. Interestingly enough, the commentary is far better than the actual film. Though the film is meant to be somewhat autobiographical, the real facts of Asia's life are far more interesting and make much more sense, though they be somewhat strange to those of us looking from the outside. So many commentaries tend to be just some trivia about the shoot. This one tells lots of great stories about the people and process. You'll learn so much about stolen shots and when the sex is real and when it's not. I wish more commentaries went out on a limb to tell of truth about what is going on in the creative process as she has done here. -
Nodriesrespect1 January 2008Contrary to what one might expect given her lineage and initial directorial foray in the horror anthology DE GENERAZIONE, Asia Argento's first full length feature isn't a scare flick but an occasionally embarrassingly personal reflection by the youthful actress/filmmaker on her involuntarily imposed role as public commodity. A single blood-soaked nightmare sequence serves as a tribute to dad Dario, a courtesy she could hardly fail to include, especially since he co-produced this baby !
Defying criticism, Asia stars and rarely leaves the screen as Anna Battista, Italy's hottest (okay ), multi-award-winning (ouch !) starlet of the day. So far, so self-indulgent. Detractors will however find it difficult to make accusations of rampant narcissism stick when Argento goes out of her way to paint herself as a hump anything slut, unrepentant substance abuser and borderline psycho ! Struggling to realize her pet project, the titular SCARLET DIVA, Anna has to contend with a randy US producer (beefing up the film's comedy quota), a fawning if clueless agent and a pair of pan-sexual photographers who nearly get her killed when they dope her up on Special K (no, not the breakfast cereal !) as a prelude to carnal liberties. Watch out for big-breasted pasta porn princess Selen (from Joe D'Amato's terrific RAW AND NAKED) as one of Anna's one night stands making a lusty pit stop on her way to the airport.
Vivid snapshots from the everyday life of a media darling make for an engaging if inevitably episodic film, pulled together in its second half by the injection of a one-sided love story between Anna and a self-important, platitude-spewing performance artist. This guy's an obvious fraud to anyone but our blinded heroine who insists on creating her own illogical happily ever after when life won't grant her as much. The line between Anna and Asia fades away for a haunting, unabashedly kitsch-flavored ending as Argento's creative mind takes action, bending the turn of events so that the protagonist achieves not only romantic bliss but in a nose-thumbing move to the lady's naysayers near-canonization in the process ! -
rmax30482315 July 2006Man, what a movie. Pow! Zip! It's like an 18-act Italian opera taking place in the center ring of a three-ring circus while bears waltz and elephants stand on their heads on either side.
Every camera trick known to man or beast is put to use. If Anna Batista (Argento), the famous actress, does a line of Special K, it's only to give the camera a chance to show us more phantasmagorical horrors in lurid color. The sink into which she tries to puke turns to rubber and so forth. And there's her mother's ghost.
And it never stops. Well, not exactly. There are occasional pauses in the tumult while Anna and her friends seem to functioning normally, but the pauses are only there as lead-ins to the next bout of victimization.
I lost count of the number of times Anna is roughly assaulted by men. The most memorable (because the funniest) is "the finest writer-director in the world" who summons her to Amsterdam. She's expecting to go over her script for Cleopatra but when she opens the door to his shabby multicolored garbage-strewn room she finds him lurching about, his pants unzipped, jerking in spasms, and managing to moan: "I've been an alcoholic for four years -- and now I'm on SMACK." The poor girl turns her head away in disgust while he shoots up. Then as he flops beside her on the couch and points out his new knife scar, she suggests they talk about the script. But the world's greatest writer-director has other things on his mind. He throws himself all over her, blubbering and pulling at her black slacks, while she squeals and manages to push him away. He calls her a woman of low repute, slaps her several times, and she rushes out the door.
It must be some kind of female fantasy, or maybe it's just Asia Argento's thing, but the whole movie darts from one attempted rape to another. One is committed by some babe with surgically enhanced bosoms the size of basketballs. Another rape -- another rough one -- is attempted by some Hollywood producer of schlock films. He wears a curious beard but no underwear, and he sounds precisely like Dennis Miller.
She has only one true love, an Australian rock singer of no distinctive talent. They meet and immediately go to bed. She winces when he crawls atop her and tells Keith that she's never made love before. "Are you a virgin?" "No, I'm a whore." That one-night stand with a man who turns out to have a wife and children was a dangerous one inasmuch as it impregnates her. On this discovery she runs big-bellied through the night-time streets of Rome until she collapses before a painting of the Virgin and Child. Her lost love appears in the distance, silhouetted by a halo of bright light -- so bright that she must blink when looking into it. It's left unclear whether she'll give birth to the next Messiah or the second Buddha. End of movie.
It's a silly, low-budget piece of trash, and yet it doesn't diminish any respect I might have had for Asia Argento, the writer, director, and star. The writer and the director have thoroughly deglamorized the star. The DVD opens with Argento, sans makeup, looking wanly into the camera and telling us, "I know you might have heard some bad things about this movie. But don't be afraid. After you watch it, maybe you will get to know me a little better -- and I will get to know you." We get to know the character pretty well. For several minutes we watch her tattooed naked body before a bathroom mirror while she shaves her armpits, applies lipstick, and watches tears roll down her cheeks.
The rape scenes are not at all erotic and Argento places the camera so that her body seems less like an object of desire than a dressed cabrito hanging in a butcher shop window. I mean, there is a brief shot of her bare ass as the slime ball Hollywood producer tries to pull her dress up and it the thought this undignified camera angle prompts is not how pretty her rear end is but how vulnerable the character, Anna Batista, is.
The movie may or may not be very autobiographical, but in either case it's not a facile quest for pity from the audience. This bipolar dynamo can take care of herself. She lashes out hoarse, filthy curses at her tormentors in three different languages, a volcano of pejoration.
I wish that energy and that disgust for artificiality had somehow been used as the engine for a better story. Or for any story at all. As it is, I think Argento was right when she said we might get to know her better. We wind up with more respect for her courage and sincerity. -
The_Jihadi28 July 2008I rented this film from my Library. I watched it and thought that i was the biggest fool to rent this film. Someone said it pretty right... If you watch a Bad Film, It is hard to sit through 91 Minutes (Scarlet Diva's Duration) that are about to pass...
Actually Asia Argento according to me was Frustrated to make another GIA. But as they say, Classics are never repeated. Scarlet Diva of course got some Critical Acclaims from some small Film Festivals. But again, Getting acclaims from small Film Festivals are the easiest thing nowadays. Even the small Film Festival organizers very well know that you need a Distribution. I really have no idea how come people get ready to FUND such kinds of movies in first place. Do they really thought they were making another GIA? Please guys grow up! I am so sorry that i do not have GUTS to recommend this film to anybody here because this is a BAD film. Please also don't go on the Good Comments here because i think it was created. If this film was really a good film then how come this film was left behind by Major Distributors? The film is a really Bad Film... With some really Bad Performances (Especially by Asia Argento) as the cherry on the cake...
Please watch it with a strip of 'Asprin' with you! -
Scarlet Diva is a novel of radical dismantling. Anna Battista / Asia Argento -- " The best actress of the year", as a voice announces on the first line of the film; "a whore", as she puts it - throws herself on a planetary crusade (Rome / Locarno / Paris /Naples / Rome / Milan / London / Los Angeles / Amsterdam / Rome / Paris) of stereotyped situations: she's late on the set because she's having sex with a big black man on her trailer; she answers boldly to journalists; frees her best friend from bondage, buys hash in Paris; she falls in love with a singer; etcetera. But every stereotype is lit by a strange light, from intense, never banal staging, and an ironic, startled, clear and passionate view of the world. Scarlet Diva is a real woman's film. Anna Battista not only is a victim of destiny, she's also the author of her own story. Anna Battista is an actress wanting to become a director, desperately trying to write a film called Scarlet Diva, a film which ends with these words: "A light snow begins falling, like cotton candy" (which is also a perfect image to describe Asia Argento style as a director: a sweet and morbid lightness). This is Scarlet Diva, a mixture between story and telling, the glance of the actress and the glance of the director, body and camera. In one of the most intense scenes of the film, Anna / Asia, naked in front of a mirror gets made up, then destroys the makeup with her tears. In just a few shots there's all Scarlet Diva: a light intimate photography, a fearless, confident acting, merciless and touching sound track: a precious and grazing staging.
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Son_of_Mansfield23 February 2007Asia Argento had an introduction to this movie, saying that she hopes people will understand her better or worse. One would hope that there is more to Argento than this movie shows. Her character is flat and, to be honest, really dumb. Anna meets a rock star and after knowing him for, maybe, a few hours, sleeps with him and tells him they made love. Then, she seems surprised when he tries to sneak out in the morning. Basically, that is it. An old man tapping a documentary tries to molest her, a film director tries to rape her, and some random blonde girl gets off on top of her. Then, shock of shocks, the rock star has a wife and doesn't love her. The most honest part of the movie was the introduction, where you can see the longing in her eyes as she asks you to enjoy her movie. It's the only interesting thing in this mess.
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swnthom12 August 2003Basically, Scarlet Diva, at least in my view, is Asia Argento exorcising some personal demons, most likely from her past and maybe some of her friends. It's the story about a druggy actress and her struggle for normacy/sanity in an insane world. It is a very personal film filled with episodes from Argento's past, at least you get that impression. It's a good film and is not the shockfest that it has been portrayed as. Worth a see.
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paul_haakonsen10 September 2021Of course with a movie such as the 2000 movie "Scarlet Diva", you sit down to watch it because it stars none other than Asia Argento. And truth be told, that is also why I opted to sit down and watch this movie that was written, directed and starring Asia Argento.
Oddly enough I haven't stumbled upon this movie before now in 2021, 21 years after it was inititially released. Sure, I knew that the movie existed, but it was not a movie that I was in a rush to track down and watch. But I happened to get the chance in 2021, so of course I sat down to watch it and to check it off my movie list.
Sure, the synopsis and concept idea behind "Scarlet Diva" sounds interesting enough, but the movie's transition from script and storyboard to screen was not a particularly pleasing one - pardon the pun. Sure, I get that the movie was about a self-destructive spree of sex and drugs, but seeing Asia Argento simulate her way through one sex scene after another, just grew very stale, very quick. And I ended up giving up on watching the movie to the end. The storyline was just watered down and diluted by the endless parade of sexual scenes.
I am sure that "Scarlet Diva" does have some entertainment value to people out there, however, I sat down to watch a movie for the sake of being entertained by a proper storyline, and not just sit through and watch Asia Argento nude and performing sexual scenes.
"Scarlet Diva" was a swing and a miss in terms of entertaining me. Sure, I will admit that the synopsis sounded like there could be some greater potential here to this movie. But it was just a sleaze-fest, truth be told.
I am not returning to watch the rest of "Scarlet Diva" as the movie fell completely short of providing me with entertainment.
My rating of the 2000 drama "Scalet Diva" lands on a mere two out of ten stars. -
DRomm11 July 2003Self indulgent and occasionally sexy... and those are the good points. Asia Argento is trying to make La Dolce Vita and winds up making Syd and Nancy from Nancy's point of view... if Nancy were Scary Spice. Okay... okay... that's unfair. But not by much. Flashes of a good movie are few and far between, but they're there. Not recommended except for fans.
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ODDBear19 January 2006Asia Argento's directing debut is this self confession style documentary like cheap flick. Playing Anna Battista, an Italian rising star who's life is anything but charmed. Having had a rough time growing up with a demented mother, Anna is a troubled adult who's living a wild and slutty life with her equally disturbed friends. Using drugs and heavily abusing alcohol and meeting only sexually depraved men who want to use and abuse her, her stardom doesn't ensure her a happy existence.
Asia herself said this film is somewhat (or mostly) based on her own life experiences and that it was actually a kind of catharsis for her, she just needed to let out some steam. That may well be but it's not very entertaining for the casual viewer. It looks cheap, it's not very well acted, it just goes from one thing to the other, it's shoddily written, there doesn't seem to be a decent guy in the whole wide world (hence; fairly one-dimensional) and in the end I didn't feel very sorry for her 'cause she's not really all that nice a character herself. In fact, all the people here seem to be whacked out and you can't help thinking that the world would be a better place if they weren't here taking up space.
So why 5 stars; well the movie gets 2 at the most but Asia gets three, that's how easy we devoted fans are. Her presence alone makes the film all the more watchable. -
rocketmanshoes1 November 2005OK...so. As far as first films go, this is stunning.
Jesus. And I thought "Irreversible" by Gaspar Noe was about the most hostile and brutal film I'd seen.
"Scarlet Diva" is disjointed yet beautiful in its purity of intent...but horrible in its truths. Like an omniscient eye it invades those private moments when you thought you were alone. Not perfect, but who can claim perfection in life, love or art anyhow?
In the DVD intro Asia says..."Don't be scared, don't be shocked...It saved my life and maybe it will make your life a little worse or better and you'll get to know me a little better or a little less."
It's what a film should do to you. Watch it with a good bottle of wine and an open mind and you'll be affected more than you might think. Buy it. Save it. Watch it again. -
dfgriff4 January 2003Not since Marlene Dietrich (of Blue Angel) has a woman come on the silver screen with such raw sexuality. As Lola Lola, Dietrich used men to for her own advancement and amusement; today, as woman have have made tremendous social advances, they are using themselves for their own amusement, such as Anna Battista in Scarlet Diva. If Asia Argento is course in XXX, she is an anarchist in Scarlet Diva, less of an autobiography, more of an example of 21st century voyeurism. Asia has taken all the tricks learned from her father, Dario, and using them to create a slice of life look at an actress trying to figure out what she wants -- blah, blah, blah. No one wants that type of insight about Scarlet Diva. Possible viewers just want to know if it is as sexual as the the poster teases. Oh, yes. The movie is sexual and brutal. This ain't American Pie, where sex is a nice package one can buy at Wal-mart. Sex in Scarlet Diva is shown for its many facets -- as a way to kill time, to punish, to rape, or to connect. Viewers of Scarlet Diva will be f***ed. Some will claim to have been raped but others will thank Asia for the ride.
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Ponchie Da Blob17 March 2002The only problem was that I got an Italian version of the video without subtitles, so I had no idea what was going on in a few parts. Argento's directing is great and even thought the imdb site lists this as a drama, the video cover says its a comedy. I think both genres fit and I've never seen such a crude yet beautiful movie before.
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suspiria101 February 2004Asia Argento triple-hyphenates (director-writer-actress) her first full length drama. The film is considered to be semiautobiographical in nature but deals with the fictional Anna Batiste is the `loneliest girl in the world' who is the top actress in Italy and posed to be unleashed upon the stage of world cinema but takes herself down a path that leads get involved in many bad life altering situations. She is ultimately used up and spit out by sleazy Hollywood producers, rock stars, druggies, photographers and a sordid list of leeches that leave her alone, pregnant and running mad through the streets of Paris.
I'm very impressed with the energy that Argento injects into the film. She clearly borrows from some of the well-known directors she has worked with in the past (including her father Dario) but it all works in her favor. A rich color scheme is used throughout the film that sometimes gives an ethereal feel that is sometimes jarring . The script matches the direction, a little disjointed but it works for the characters spiral into agony. Her acting and the cast around her is very good, her believable portrait of the character throughout the peaks and valleys of her life.
Unfairly blasted by critics this film should be seen with an open mind. True I was already a fan of Asia Argento before I saw the film but you don't have to be in order to like or respect the film. -
lionelfriends9 July 2017I really like the way this movie is made, it's immersive, you have the feeling to live the story, and I love the choice of music (Asia is also a nice Dj), I really do not understand why this movie only have 5.7/10... if you like it I suggest you to see "Fix" of Tao Ruspoli, and "Gummo" of Harmony Korine.
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lazarillo28 March 2004Although I have to admit, I watched this movie largely out of the prurient interest of seeing Dario Argento's lovely daughter naked and engaging in (reportedly unsimulated) sex scenes, I was genuinely surprised at how good this movie was. While Asia A. has said in various interviews that as a director she has been most influenced by her father, on one hand, and maverick NYC auteur Abel Ferrara, on the other, she demonstrates here, in her directorial-debut, a personal warmth and emotional honesty that is generally absent in the stylistic excesses of the former and usually lost in the sheer pathos of the latter. True, the movie does straddle and (occasionally crosses)the thin line between personal and self-indulgent, but generally it is a moving, semi-autobiographical story of a young woman who has had to, as Lou Reed, once put it "grow up in public". Strangely, the movie isn't really that erotic. One of the most memorable scenes, typical of the movie as whole, has the director/actress completely naked, shaving her armpits in the mirror. While she looks great, of course, there's nothing really sexy or contrived about this scene. She's just a normal girl, totally unself-conscious, going through a morning routine. Asia A. has been often treated by the tabloid press as an Italian version of Paris Hilton or some other scandal queen, but what she may very well turn out to be is another Sofia Coppola, emerging from the shadow of past scandals and a famous father to become a respected artist in her own right.
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tommyblah16 November 2005I just saw the unrated cut of Scarlet Diva, and I have to disagree with almost everyone who has written a review about it. I think this is a great movie! I'm a big fan of Asia Argento as well as a fan of her father's, and this movie was everything I wanted it to be.
There was nothing low-budget about it...the picture quality and sound was excellent; what exactly do you people want? Spaceships and aliens? If you are a fan of Asia, it gives you real insight into her life...you see first-hand how a woman who plays roles like hers gets treated by men; you really feel the creepiness. The style of filming was very effective; it definitely conveyed the real-life aspect of the movie. The quick cuts and sometimes nauseating camera movements and angles portray her state of mind, which at times is very unstable. There is a scene where she does special K, and being someone who has done it, it sent chills up my spine; they very accurately reproduced the sounds you hear in your head, the confusion and overlapping events, the sense of everything in your head being completely backwards...
And lets not forgot the very sexual nature of the movie. If you're a conservative Christian, you probably won't like the movie. I, however, loved the many sex scenes (including a very hot lesbian scene). But it isn't all just gratuitous humping; there is intimacy in some places and lack of in others, all intentional.
I'll stop babbling and just say, if you are a fan of Asia and know to some degree what she's all about, you WILL in fact enjoy this movie. If you know little about her type of lifestyle, you'll probably just see a lot of it as nonsense. For me, it was very emotionally engaging and definitely has some images that stuck in my head days after watching it. Asia is beautiful, intelligent, and very talented. The rock star she falls in love with is pretty lame, but I'm an aspiring rock star myself and say that about a lot of people.
I think she should consider doing a follow-up or sequel. I definitely hope all the bad reviews have not discouraged her from following her own path. -
9189 July 2004It's not a great movie by any stretch of the imagination. The acting is poor to OK, the idea it's recorded on digital video dosen't help though. Some truly great ideas are presented, a shaving scene is very well preformed. The film is very personal, and artistic, but more like a diary of fantasy not a great diary like Anne Frank's. I would suggest to see it but don't buy it. Their is no real reason to watch it again. Their is a little sex but not as much as it looks like. It is dark but again no where near as dark as it looks. And it is serious and tries to be intelligent but it really isn't at all. Asia makes lame attempts to include Godard like pictures, and out the window type shooting but it fails to be interesting. It's really a great attempt and a good try but it's not enjoyable or different enough to be interesting for two hours. I'm not saying it would be better as a porno but the cover and reviews would make one assume that it is dark and sexual and it really isn't. Its kind of a cheap girl on the verge movie.
Though she does seem very brave to sacrifice herself to the camera so exposed as she does. a scene includes her and black man being interrupted in a trailer that keeps her from getting off. She's wearing all black and net stockings. That's the kind of sexual danger, curiosity, type film I expected. Also a scene where she finds her friend tied up. But these scenes are very very short.
It could have been great if it had maybe taken a stronger direction into a serious world of sex, violence and drugs like Blue Velvet or irreversible. But it's not. Don't buy it, i did and I'm kind of stuck with it. Asia is great but she isn't as intelligent or as interesting as the angel tattoo flying out of pants and too bad because that's really cool. -
Guy_in_the_TV2 March 2004"Scarlet Diva," written, directed, and starred in by Asia Argento is a look into the life of Anna Battista. Anna is an actress who delves into depression and lonliness in the wake of her career. The movie itself is filmed in digital, and takes on a documentary feel to it, which only adds to the realness of the film. This semi-autobiographical film reaches out to the viewer, forcing them to either fully embrace the main character or turn away. But, if you embrace her, and feel her intense sadness, the film will truly move you. Labeled by some as "too explicit," or "overly sexual," it pulls no punches when portraying Anna's escapes into drugs, sex, and self mutilation. But, possibly the most disturbing aspect of Anna's life are her peers. The people surrounding her seem hollow and surreal, giving the film's focus on Anna's lonliness a much more personal aspect. It is a rollercoaster ride of shocking perversity, subtle symbolism, and heart wrenching realism centered by one of the most talented people (IMHO) in Hollywood. I reccomend this film to anyone who enjoys realist art. Unpretentious, gritty, and utterly beautiful, "Scarlet Diva" is sure to haunt your dreams for a long time. 10/10.
GuyintheTV