“Liars and cheats invent another world in order to survive
the one they're in,” comments the buffed and overhung Riki Kandinsky (played
with genuine narcissism by Marco Filiberti, who—naturally—also
wrote and directed), referring to his departed, estranged father. But the
hedonistic environment of the gay pornography industry, where Riki's legendary
tool is worshipped and adored so long as it lifts and comes on cue, is really no
different than the financial corruption and Whores “R” Us world of traditional
family values.
The film explores all manner of relationships, but the
overwhelming truth is that Riki's only meaningful one is with the camera as it
records every angle, crevice and sensual sweat of his body while having sexual
contact with other men whose primary purpose is to heighten the star's image of
himself. No wonder he abandoned the family estate and escaped to Rome: his
father was a bastard and he feared that his mother's favourite was older brother
Federico (convincingly morphing from disgust to self-understanding by Urbano
Barberini, demonstrating the wide-ranging scope of his talent—last
seen as Cassio in these pages; cross-reference below).
The huge photograph of the perky-nippled star—doubling as
head-board in the bedroom of his tony digs—should serve as a warning to all
prospective boyfriends. One of those, part-time pornographer Claudio (Claudio
Vanni) makes the unforgivable mistake of kissing his partner with actual
meaning and passion rather than maneuvering him to the end of the bed for the
“2” shot. But Claudio—like a Somerset Maugham character—keeps coming
back for more rejection.
All of this is observed by Federico who moves in with Riki
ostensibly while trying to settle their father's estate only to realize that the
old man squandered his wife's fortune even as he discovers that his brother's
butt has had more visitors than the Catholic Church on Easter Sunday. His own
relationship record isn't much better: divorced but a father himself, his
French fiancée reveals her true self while, in a hilarious scene filled with her
revolted cries of “No!” alternating with Riki's screams of “Si!,” she slips a
video into her future brother-in-law's VCR (where he plays a plumber responding
to a customer's assistance with a leak) and observes his turgid impalement by
the grateful tenant. Too much for the poor girl, but—at this point—par for the
course with the “Now where's my world gone?” older sibling.
From this point forward, both brothers are on the prowl for meaning in their
lives. Federico falls for Riki's sculptor friend and soul mate Luna (Rosalinda
Celentano), while the star of The Insatiable Prick tries to adopt a young
orphan Plapla (Edoardo Minciotti, who disses his conservative grandparents with
relish). Following an outing of his day job on TV (with Mozart's Piano
Concerto No. 23 in the background, the composer, Riki admits, that turns him on
as much as his tricks) the guardians play hardball and a court battle ensues. Perhaps a Beethoven fetish would have been a better choice given the master's own
attempts to adopt and salvage some other achievement beyond his genius
(cross-reference below).
In an especially moving moment, the two brothers embrace even as Riki's
chance to have a “son” evaporates. Stefano Pancaldi's sensitive camera (as it
did throughout) conveys the outcome with visual sensitivity; nary a word
required.
This is the crux of the film. Filiberti's script has his
alter-ego bemoan “If I quit [the porn business in order to have a son] now, I'd
be admitting I've been swimming in shit.” But compared to, finally, having a
human being to care for and, moreover, one who cares in return, what's a little
crap? Rather than noble, Riki ends as he began, a totally self-centred egoist
whose alternative lifestyle yet “honest work” is truly fucking ridiculous. JWR