Capriccio Tinto Brass

(aka "Capri Remembered" or "Love & Passion")

directed by Tinto Brass
Italy 1987

Tinto Brass somewhat reigns in the more comic and explicit aspects of his brand of erotica for this well-made tale of a couple in post-war Italy trying to recapture the magic of their wartime romances with other lovers. Fred (blues musician Andy J. Forest, who did a handful of Italian movies in the late eighties), an American soldier now working for UNESCO assessing the state of Roman art after the war, reconnects with a prostitute Rosa (Francesca Dellera) while former British nurse Jennifer (Nicola Warren) waits apparently in vain to meet up with Ciro (Luigi Laezza), a waiter/pimp who pursued her years before. Jennifer's part of the film is dominated by flashbacks and tormented narration as she professes her love for her absent Italian. Fred's part of the film has he and Rosa on the road with his attempts to relive their whore-client dalliances complicated by Rosa's wanting more from him.

Brass' film is better made and better written than much of the similar Italian erotica of the late eighties and benefits from the period setting. While satisfying, it does feel as though Brass reigned himself in to make the film more mainstream but the added production value makes up for that.

Eric Cotenas

Theatrical Release: 25 February 1987

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DVD Review: Global Video - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	Global Video Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:37:36 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	1.33:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.24 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo)
Subtitles	Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: Global Video Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen - 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Relative Fear Trailer (1:26) • Swingers Trailer (2:26) • Fille de D'Artagnan Trailer (2:02) Amaray Chapters 12

Comments:

Although the opening credits are letterboxed at 1.60:1, the rest of the feature is cropped to fullscreen. Despite the cropping, the image look slick and colorful on interlaced screens but hazy on progressive monitors (the softer look actually seems to match the look of some of cinematographer Silvano Ippoliti's earlier works for Brass but I'm sure its meant to be sharper). The box cites Dolby Digital 1.0 mono but the audio on the disc is Dolby Digital 2.0 at 384 kbps (the film has a Dolby Stereo logo during the end credits). No extras but the subtitles can be turned off. Although the DVD cover and menus state the title as LOVE & PASSION the English credits refer to the film as CAPRICCIO which not only translates as "whim" but also refers to Capri where much of the film is set.

The R2 disc from Italy (no English audio or subtitles) is reportedly a superior anamorphic transfer.

- Eric Cotenas

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