Joy
(1983) + Joy & Joan
(1985/Severin DVDs)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C/D Films: C+
Despite
the influx of VHS and Beta, spurred on by XXX product before the studios all
jumped on board, sex product has been so successful and profitable on the big
screen that Producer Benjamin Simon was determined to launch a new kind of
sexually obsessed character in the Emmanuel mode and the result led to a
smaller, shorter series about Joy. It may have been home video only by the
1990s, but two theatrical films resulted in the 1980s and Severin has issued
both on DVD.
Genre
director Sergio Bergonzelli directed the first film in 1983 with Claudia Udy as
the title character involved in sexual, erotic situations that are either wild
fantasies, wild exploitation or so unreal that they could only happen in a film
from the 1970s in the wake of the success of Deep Throat and Behind The
Green Door. This first film has so
many odd moments that it is worth seeing once, but is not that great and shows
how played out the XXX cycle was to begin with.
Joy (whose father has been missing for years) is a model looking for an
older man and she finds him, but all are too dysfunctional, so there’s always
sex.
Two years
later, Jacques Saurel took over the directing chores (guess Bergonzelli was too
artsy to continue following up his supposedly perfect work?) on Joy & Joan, as Joy (now played by
Brigitte Lahaie who later played the hooker in Henry & June, reviewed elsewhere on this site) adds lesbianism
to her experiences. She meets Joan
(Isabelle Solar) even though she has found her across the world in Indochina, et al.
If only they had Internet dating then.
The film
is no better or worse than the last one, unintentionally funny in its bad
acting, dated sex and overall approach.
The result was the series ended its original run here and became silly
TV fodder. Only locations make the
second film more watchable than it would be otherwise, as you could have the
nudity and sex anywhere.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on each film comes from prints that are not bad, but
show their age and have some detail issues, though color is not bad in either
case. Richard Ciupka (Atlantic City)
was co-Director of Photography in the first film and it is not badly shot, nor is
its sequel, but neither is so distinct or brilliant that you get any serious
demo shots in either case. The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono in both cases show their age and the budget limits on both
films, but they sound fine for what they are and are subtitled. There are no extras on the sequel, but an
interview with Udy is on the first film’s DVD.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
