Lee Hazelwood plays Smoke. An American in Sweden, who works at a local factory and lives in a collective with other hippies and factory workers (among them Christina Lindberg). Together these youngsters go on strike. The owner’s daughter, who Smokes dates, gets murdered (‘smoked’) by one of the factory worker whom later blames Smoke. Smoke gets shot and wounded, and everything is down from there.Read More »
“As the 1960s drew to a close, European erotica really had its work cut out for it. In particular, Sweden, the country known for crashing American art houses with racy dramas, found itself competing with other countries like France and Italy to produce the latest scandal du jour. Budgets got bigger, acting got better, and plots became richer as directors tried to push the envelope, and no one benefited from this more than director and distributor Radley Metzger. Vibration (Lejonsommar) was released overseas hot on the heels of Metzger’s Therese and Isabelle, also starring the fascinating and talented Essy Persson, and it shows the increasing influence of directors like Ingmar Bergman (who, lest we forget, was also promoted at first in the U.S. more for his flashes of skin than his artistic merit). Arty editing, sun-dappled cinematography, and joyous sexuality are the order of the day here, and Vibration is a breezy reminder of what softcore was like just before Sweden’s next big shocker export, I Am Curious (Yellow).Read More »