The Sex Comedies of the "Ass Man" Tinto Brass

Brass's Background

Here is a quote by Giovanni “Tinto” Brass, by way of introduction: “Pornography is there to give you an erection. Erotica is there to give you an emotion.” And some background for the curious: Giovanni (not yet “Tinto”) Brass was born in Milan, in 1933. The most notable highlight of Brass’s family lineage was his grandfather: Venetian-style painter Italico Brass, whose work is, admittedly, the diametric opposite of what one would rightly expect from any work with the (now notorious) “Brass” name attached (it was Italico who gave little-Giovanni the nickname “Tintoretto,” later shortened and used as the pseudonym “Tinto”). Even if the two Brass’s artistic styles are completely antithetical, one can credit Brass-senior, and his artistic influence, as being what ultimately prompted a young Giovanni into pursuing a life in the visual arts, even if their subjects strayed miles apart.

Fig.1. Lola (Anna Ammirati) takes a carefree bike ride in Frivolous Lola (1998)

Hard To Pin

The ultimate genesis of Tinto’s interest in the erotic is hard to pin, even with the presence of a complete biography. I am most tempted to attribute this lifestyle (for a dedication of Tinto’s caliber to the Erotic is indeed a lifestyle) to the atmosphere of 40s to 50s Italy, that is, an atmosphere that used the pleasure of sex both as a means of coping with dictatorial rule, and as a means of celebrating newfound liberation at the fall of a fascist regime.

The genesis of Tinto’s link between sex and cinema, however, is far easier to pinpoint. “Tintoretto” claims that in the latter half of his youth, he did nothing but visit cinemas and brothels. Tinto Brass: “There was in that period, 30 cinemas and 30 brothels, and the passage from the cinemas to the brothels I was on practically every day.” This wasn’t the only link made during those incipient years, Tinto recalls a day in which he took a woman to a theater in Venice (one that, importantly, had private booths). Here he performed anal sex for the first time. One has no choice but to conclude that the most notable outcome of Tinto’s formative years was this association of sex and cinema, or perhaps more importantly: the association of sex and the ass; “I call it the culo,” says Tinto.

Fig. 2. Tinto behind the camera

Fig. 3. Tinto Brass and actress Claudia Koll on the set of All Ladies Do It (1992)

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Tinto Br(Ass)

“I am an ass man. Ass is in my name: Brass.” Pause a Tinto film at any given point and you become (9 times out of 10) a witness to a frozen, dotingly photographed close-up of some lady’s culo. In this way, one can consider a Brass film to be composed of two parts: the climax, and the rising action — viz. showing the ass, and creating a means or pretext to show the ass. In this regard, the camera is incredibly flexible. If a woman is dismounting a bicycle, you can be sure that the camera will replace the bike seat and provide a Marilyn Monroe-style upskirt shot of panty. When it comes to ass, Tinto is not shy about cropping the top quarter of a face if it means a quarter more of culo at the bottom. “I think the ass is a symbol of perfection. It is like a circle, no? And in geometry a circle means perfection.” The same compulsive care taken by conventional directors when shooting moments of high-stakes drama, is taken by Brass when shooting keister: finding the right lens, the right softness of light, etc. The result speaks for itself.

Fig. 5. Scene from P.O. Box Tinto Brass (1995)

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Fig. 10. Cheeky (2000)

In the extensive Premium edition of the article we're going to take a closer look at Brass's career, his "political films" and style metamorphosis treatises of the subversive flicks "Salon Kitty" and "The Key", why it is more dangerous to make a sexually explicit film than it is to make a political film, more on the so-called "Brass-isms", his involvement with the Italian Radicals, Brass's long-term impact on the sex comedy genre, and numerous arousing pics.

Click HERE for the incredible adventures of Lasse Braun in the world of pornography

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