
Metzger’s Farewell to Charms
Dries Vermeulen6 March 2010
The last and least-liked of Radley Metzger’s explicit quintet shows the talented filmmaker now almost dispensing with plot altogether, a trend he previously toyed with on his free form BARBARA BROADCAST in a radical departure from the classic three act structure, borrowed from stage and screen lore since times immemorial, he previously and rigorously adhered to. Though he has never gone on record about it, my guess is that Metzger realized he had pretty much expanded the fornication film form to its genre-imposed limits with THE OPENING OF MISTY BEETHOVEN and was now gently phasing himself out of what was indeed increasingly becoming an industry (rather than art form) he had entered somewhat reluctantly in the first place out of economic necessity as the commercial availability of hardcore had made simulated screen sex obsolete. Read More »