Private Dicks – Men Exposed (Documentary)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C     Documentary: B

 

 

The second of two blunt, honest and still ahead of their time documentaries about the sexual body originally shown on HBO in the late 1990s, Thom Powers and Meema Spadola’s Private Dicks – Men Exposed is about men talking about their most private of parts.

 

The special is meant to deconstruct the myths of about the penis and male power to some extent, as well as why it is so taboo to discuss it.  Unfortunately, unlike the Breasts – A Documentary program before it, it is not taken as seriously and there are just too many penis jokes that the laughter drowns out the subject more than it should.  That is a shame, because most of these men are honest, show up naked and actually discuss a subject that society still does not know how to handle.  The jokiness undermines this, but it still offers enough intelligent, mature discussion on the subject in its 55 minutes that it works well enough to take a look.

 

The 1.33 X 1 image is a bit soft and slightly noisy, but everything is as clear as it can be otherwise.  Cinematographer William Rexer recently shot the feature Prime (reviewed elsewhere on the site) and has a knack for capturing memorable images.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is simple and clear.  Extras include interviews with the producer/directors team, text about them, “trickster” Alan Abel who was the weak point in the program to begin with and trailers for five other First Run titles.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo