Anna Biller: “Viva”

January 18, 2007
JONNO

If you didn't know any better, you might think that first-time feature filmmaker Anna Biller's story of a swinging 70s housewife's sexual awakening was an actual lost movie by the likes of Russ Meyer or Radley Metzger. But Biller's "cult freak-out retro 1970's spectacle" is a wholly modern confection, one that's at least as notable for its period-perfect attention to set detail and costumes (the work of the director herself) as for its plot: "Barbi becomes a Red Riding Hood in a sea of wolves, and quickly learns a lot more than she wanted to about the different kinds of scenes going on in the wild '70's, including nudist camps, the hippie scene, orgies, bisexuality, sadism, drugs, and bohemia ... Whether you're looking for naked people dancing, alcoholic swingers, stylish sex scenes, a sea of polyester, Hammond organ jams, glitzy show numbers, white horses, blondes in the bathtub, gay hairdressers, or psychedelic animation, VIVA has it all!" We might have been more tuned in to "Sesame Street" than suburban sex orgies at the time, but thanks to Biller we can relive all that sexy 70s grooviness all over again ... for the first time.

· Anna Biller's "Viva" (DVD info and previews @ lifeofastar.com - thanks Zini)

Check out the "Viva" trailer after the jump.

- - -