At 130 minutes, Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies has a clear trajectory. Well, make that a clear enough trajectory. Dipping its toes into present-day before going back to the 1880s, Danny Wolf’s documentary wafts through the expected checkpoints: the pre-Code era, the reign of the Hays Code, the introduction of the Motion Picture Association of America. There are but three or four major tent poles in the film’s structure itself. But despite such a wide scope, it manages to lack enough context to form its own argument, or to say much of anything that new.
It’s a bit peculiar too. Wolf, who co-wrote Skin with Paul Fishbein, doesn’t seem entirely focused on the history of nudity itself at first. Instead, he uses the #MeToo movement’s skyrocket from 2017 onward as a sort of framing structure. The first and last five minutes use this context to bookend the picture,...
It’s a bit peculiar too. Wolf, who co-wrote Skin with Paul Fishbein, doesn’t seem entirely focused on the history of nudity itself at first. Instead, he uses the #MeToo movement’s skyrocket from 2017 onward as a sort of framing structure. The first and last five minutes use this context to bookend the picture,...
- 8/18/2020
- by Matt Cipolla
- The Film Stage
As the new documentary “Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies” points out, 2020 is a risky time to make movies that feature female nudity, particularly if it’s of the gratuitous kind. But, as “Skin” doesn’t say but does demonstrate, it’s also a risky time to make movies about onscreen nudity, even if you try to emphasize that it’s a work of scholarship not titillation.
To be sure, the film from writer-director Danny Wolf and writer Paul Fishbein (the “Time Warp” series of docs about cult films) takes a historical approach to the subject of on-screen flesh. It’s a chronological account that makes copious use of authors, critics, academics and even an art historian to talk about the place of the nude in art.
But it also illustrates the points they make with plenty of breasts, bums and penises. And its attempts to deal with...
To be sure, the film from writer-director Danny Wolf and writer Paul Fishbein (the “Time Warp” series of docs about cult films) takes a historical approach to the subject of on-screen flesh. It’s a chronological account that makes copious use of authors, critics, academics and even an art historian to talk about the place of the nude in art.
But it also illustrates the points they make with plenty of breasts, bums and penises. And its attempts to deal with...
- 8/18/2020
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
It’s really hard to make a documentary about movie nudity. Even with the best of intentions, one can really easily fall into exploitation and titillation, as opposed to information. Luckily, filmmaker Danny Wolf is up to the challenge, as his doc Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies, is thoroughly entertaining, full of interesting stories, and looks at the naked body on celluloid as a piece of cinematic history, never going for the pure visual aesthetic. The result is a look at part of the industry’s past, present, and future, that’s a great view for anyone who loves the movie industry. Hitting on Tuesday, it’s well worth seeking out! The film is a documentary about, quite literally, the history of movie nudity. Starting off with the silent movie era and going all the way to the present day, the focus is on the how and the why of it all.
- 8/15/2020
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
” The body is meant to be seen. Not all covered up ” – Marilyn Monroe
Skin: A History Of Nudity In The Movies , available On Demand August 18th, explores the history of nudity in film, beginning with the silent movie era through present day. The documentary delves into the gender bias concerning nudity in motion pictures and will follow the revolution that has pushed for gender equality in feature films today. A deep discussion of pre-code Hollywood and its amoral roots, the censorship that “cleaned up” Hollywood and how the MPAA was formed leads into a discussion of how nudity changed cinematic culture through the decades. It culminates in a discussion of “what are nude scenes like in the age of the #Metoo movement?”
Danny Wolf, director of Skin: A History Of Nudity In The Movies , took the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks about the film.
Interview conducted by Tom Stockman August 11th,...
Skin: A History Of Nudity In The Movies , available On Demand August 18th, explores the history of nudity in film, beginning with the silent movie era through present day. The documentary delves into the gender bias concerning nudity in motion pictures and will follow the revolution that has pushed for gender equality in feature films today. A deep discussion of pre-code Hollywood and its amoral roots, the censorship that “cleaned up” Hollywood and how the MPAA was formed leads into a discussion of how nudity changed cinematic culture through the decades. It culminates in a discussion of “what are nude scenes like in the age of the #Metoo movement?”
Danny Wolf, director of Skin: A History Of Nudity In The Movies , took the time to talk to We Are Movie Geeks about the film.
Interview conducted by Tom Stockman August 11th,...
- 8/14/2020
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
New York -- If the new "Date Night" DVD had sold only 25,000 copies, there would have been hell to pay for studio executives. But for Steven Hirsch -- or anyone else in the adult entertainment business, for that matter -- that figure represents a blockbuster.
The founder of Vivid Entertainment, the leading purveyor of pornographic videos, has built a business estimated to pull in as much as a $100 million slice of an industry estimated to bring in as much as $13 billion a year (compared to mainstream box office of $10.6 billion). The key to thriving even as free online porn services eat away at the DVD market is being nimble enough to adapt principles familiar to the rest of the showbiz world: celebrity scandal and superhero tentpoles. Laurence Fishburne's daughter Montana's sex tape and "Batman: a XXX Porn Parody" -- both from Vivid...
The founder of Vivid Entertainment, the leading purveyor of pornographic videos, has built a business estimated to pull in as much as a $100 million slice of an industry estimated to bring in as much as $13 billion a year (compared to mainstream box office of $10.6 billion). The key to thriving even as free online porn services eat away at the DVD market is being nimble enough to adapt principles familiar to the rest of the showbiz world: celebrity scandal and superhero tentpoles. Laurence Fishburne's daughter Montana's sex tape and "Batman: a XXX Porn Parody" -- both from Vivid...
- 9/3/2010
- by By Georg Szalai
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
I am shocked -- shocked!! -- to learn that the porn industry is shunning plot, dialogue, and narrative arcs. Instead, they are increasingly focused on shooting ... wait for it ... more sex scenes! Who wudda thunk it? According to no less an authority than the New York Times, the pornographic movie industry is concentrating on creating "more short scenes that can be easily uploaded to Web sites and sold in several-minute chunks."
The article is accompanied by a photograph of porn star Savanna Samson looking pensive and sad as she stares into the distance. She laments: "I used to have dialogue ... I couldn't wait to get my next script," Nowadays, there is little reason for her to even look at the script. And doing one sex scene after another "just isn't as much fun." The industry is feeling pressure to cater to the short attention span (three to five minutes) of Internet users,...
The article is accompanied by a photograph of porn star Savanna Samson looking pensive and sad as she stares into the distance. She laments: "I used to have dialogue ... I couldn't wait to get my next script," Nowadays, there is little reason for her to even look at the script. And doing one sex scene after another "just isn't as much fun." The industry is feeling pressure to cater to the short attention span (three to five minutes) of Internet users,...
- 7/8/2009
- by Peter Martin
- Cinematical
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