Society Movie Reviews

Love'em or hate 'em, idiosyncratic films that dabble with subversive notions and stories of fringe people make some viewers uncomfortable. You either get it or not. For those who do, there are rewards.

SECRET SOCIETY (First Run Features) is about Daisy (Charlotte Brittain), plump factory-worker wife adored by her unemployed husband. At work, Daisy's chubby lady boss grants favors to rotund female coworkers. One thing leads to another, soon Daisy's in a secret society of women sumo wrestlers. Suddenly, she must choose between keeping things as they are or risk becoming something exceptional. I was amazed and amused.

This British/German comedy film stars Charlotte Brittain as Daisy, who is a loving wife to Ken (Lee Ross), both living in Yorkshire. Daisy is a plump woman, but Ken loves her because of that, so he flatly says no when she says she would lose weight. They are an amiable husband and wife, but the only problem is that Ken, though a nice chap, is constantly unemployed.

So, Daisy works at a local factory, where she is recruited by the chief of the place Marlene (Annette Badland, "Little Voice"), to join the "secret society." But that society is actually nothing like Free Mason; it is about sumo wrestling. And through the traditional Japanese sports Daisy finds something new which has been missing in her life.

The greatest asset of the film is the heroine Charlotte Brittain, who showed a scene-stealing turn in another British film "Get Real." And she is extremely charming and endearing here; no wonder Ken loves her so much, and you will see her natural charms exude from the film. Her name should be remembered much more by the film fans.

Ken is portrayed by Lee Ross with deft comic skills, and Ross succeeds in showing this guy in the sympathetic light. However, Ken's hobby (which is UFO spotting ... yeah, England is the land of trainspotting, so why not?) and its consequent comedy part is not as effective as Daisy part. Ken believes that his beloved wife's body is taken over by ... er ... aliens, but that sub-plot sounds too contrived, and only doing harm to the central plot, which should have been more explored.

As a Japanese, I have to mention one part of the film; its sumo. It is obvious that they researched much about sumo, and the comment on sumo such as "shin (spirit)" "gi (skill)" "tai (body)" is accurately translated. And if you doubt the existence of female sumo wrestlers, please don't. There is female sumo in Japan, even though not as popular as males'. And they wear special clothes for the "dohyo" (ring) as the film shows.

But, sumo is in fact much more dynamic sports than the film shows. They rush, they bump to each other, and throw the bodies of the opponent more powerfully than the film shows. Of course, this is a minor point, but I guess the film makers could have made it more authentic just by giving a call to sumo association in Japan, which, incidentally, would tell them that sumo wrestlers don't bathe in lake. And as to the kimono, we don't wear it like that.

Finally, the film belongs to the charming Charlotte Brittain, and she is the main reason for you to watch. She makes the film engaging without giving it any patronizing tone.

P.S. The premise strongly reminds us of "Full Monty," but the director Imogen Kimmel, it is reported, had already made a short film "Secret Society" in 1994 (on which this feature film is based), so the similarity could be just accidental. Whatever the truth may be, the comparion is inevitable, but unnecessary.

Memorable moments on this DVD are the following:

1) Gen sodomizing a she-male with a strap-on (this must have come from one of their European shows!)
2) Gen feeding a slave his own enema (also presumably from a European show.)

I've been a fan of the Genitorturers since their beginning, but this DVD made me feel like a dilettante of the perverse arts. I had thought it impossible not to be turned on by watching a hot blonde chick do some really sick things, but Gen takes one of life's most beautiful gifts, pornography, and makes it truly ugly.

Now this alone is not reason enough to earn a bad review. What causes me not to keep this DVD are the following:

1) The format is basically that of a series of music videos, with studio versions of the songs which are not appreciably different (if at all) from those on _Sin City_.
2) The quality of the video is very poor. But if you're like me, you'll be glad you couldn't make things out better.
3) The audio quality is also very poor.

The bit that I did enjoy was the interview with Gen, where she comes off as being extremely right-brained, but very articulate, and not spacey or stupid. Unfortunately, the interview is the shortest segment on the DVD. I could have watched another 30 minutes of it.

If you want to enjoy the Genitorturers, get _120 Days of Genitorture_ and possibly _Sin City_, then go to a live show. The live shows are really great. In fact, this DVD would have gotten 5 stars if it had simply been a transfer of a live show, like the Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir DVDs, for instance.

I gave Society of Genitorture three stars only because Gen is soo hot she makes it more bearable.
This DVD is a very bad portrayal of a very good show. If you like the Genitorturers and have seen them live you will know that this DVD does no justice to the Genitorturers capablity to shock. It is more distastful than shocking with bad angles and strange camera tricks. Viewing this DVD and not knowing much or not seeing a show would only negate someone's view of the Genitorturers.
I definitely recommend watching the Interview with Gen first, esp if you or someone you are showing this DVD to doesn't know much about the Genitorturers. It is a very nice interview with her. I only wish it could have been longer and possibly a little more personal.
Something interesting to see once, i guess, but it is not necessary to view. Life will go on if you pass this one up.

This 2-disc DVD is nothing but a slide show with audio commentary. We see green meadows with dogs running, seashores, flowers, and more meadows while listening to a commentary. No reference to the meadows, etc. was ever made until Bath, England. It was more like a travel DVD than a documentary of Jane Austen. I thought I would see the Jane Austen Centre at the very least. Instead, there were more shots of modern day Bath with no reference to what we were seeing. I was disappointed in this dvd set to say the very least. There was nothing new or interesting in this DVD in my opinion.