Joe Sarno does a who-dunnit -- the mind boggles! Well maybe not so much, since his normal tactic as a screenwriter is to gradually reveal hidden relationships and cruel intentions through discrete dialog scenes and bedroom liaisons. Here given slightly more resources than usual, Sarno probably decided to try something new -- certainly the mise-en-scene is much richer than in his more minimally budgeted pictures. Every once in a while, his usual melodramatic pattern is unexpectedly jarred by splashings of film noirish devices, such as a point-of-view shot of the murderer spying on the protagonist from a darkened alcove. Unfortunately, like Robert Altman, Sarno doesn't really know how to cut for action, and as a murder-mystery, the show is less than successful. His take on the hypocrisy of bourgeois society and the crude world of sexual politics, however, is as riveting as ever, while the nudie scenes are intentionally crass and artless.
Review of My Body Hungers
