Giovanni Brass (born
March 26 1933), better known as
Tinto Brass, is an
Italian filmmaker. He is noted especially for his work in the erotic genre, with films such as
Così fan tutte (released under the
English language title
All Ladies Do It),
Paprika,
Monella (
Frivolous Lola) and
Trasgredire.
Life
Brass was born in
Milan. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he created many
avant-garde films, including
Nerosubianco,
L'urlo, and
La Vacanza. However, he is best known for his erotic epics,
Salon Kitty,
The Key,
Senso '45 and
Caligula. The latter film was a collaboration with celebrated author
Gore Vidal,
Franco Rossellini and
Penthouse magazine publisher
Bob Guccione. However, many consider
Caligula to not be a true Tinto Brass film since post-production was not handled by Brass. The director demanded that his name be stricken from the credits after Guccione inserted hardcore sex scenes and
recut much of the film's story and theme structure. Despite this, the film contains many of Brass' trademarks and remains his most widely viewed work (and the highest-grossing Italian film released in the United States). Well into his seventies, he continues to make films.
[Evolver, "First, I check out the butt" Brass interview on the occasion of his 75th birthday, May 2008]
Style
Brass' films follow an
impressionistic style - they tend not to show immense landscapes, but bits and pieces of the scenery and peripheral characters and objects through
pans and
zooms, thus imitating how the viewer might see the events if they were actually present. This also gives the films an extraordinarily rapid pace. He often uses a television-like
multicam method of shooting, with at least three cameras running at once, each focusing on something else.