Seinfeld was wrong: the original Assman isn't a proctologist, but Tinto Brass, the enfant terrible of erotic filmmakers, whose work continues to showcase every facet of the female posterior. It's hard to hate Brass when there's an undeniably good-hearted streak in his erotic comedies; the images can be unquestionably rude, but the storylines are slight variations from the standard erotic adventures of an unbridled babe in need of a supportive (and less prudish) beau; or in the case of Cheeky, a standard adult tale of a couple that drift apart and reunite after the girl enjoys much boffing in swinging London.

The problem for general erotophiles is Brass' maniacal celebration of the mid-region; it'll please fans of the popo, but Brass constantly flips to cutaways, pans, tilts, and superimpositions of shiny bottoms, and lovely as they may be, it's a style of rampant excess that ultimately renders Cheeky! a bit dull. Frivolous Lola had its own share of indulgences, but Monella was more substantive (character-wise, that is), whereas hip-swaying Carla is little more than a softcore caricature on an Emmanuelle quest, displaced in a less exotic London .

Brass' editing is typically no-nonsense; even the sex scenes are fast paced (with unrated shots of male pickles saluting their concubines-to-be), but the imagery is monotonous, saved only by some memorable, silly dialogue ("You are humid like [Venice]") in the best porn tradition. Nothing is taken seriously, and Brass himself appears as a sleazy photographer with a wandering finger (though it is kind of creepy to see the director groping his star, and then some).

Cult Epics' transfer seems to be taken from a PAL master, and the image is very clean, boasting a good balance of stable primary colours. Brass' visual style of late fuses primary colours with minimalist eighties decor and costumes; call it garish-lite, with a repeated use of background blue and soft, gauzy filtration to enhance the choreographed sex. Because Brass often lets his tipsy camera droop and hold on mid-regions, the 1.66:1 framing sometimes comes off as a crude matting from a 1.33:1 image, as heads sometimes lose part of their tops.

The sound mix is a strange blend of modest stereo sound effects and music, with obvious delay effects to simulate a broader sonic spectrum. Pino Donaggio's mono-thematic but bouncy synth score is retro-eighties, and with warm bass lines and shimmering keyboards, he appropriately kick-starts the film with a rhythm for the title montage of groping lovers in London 's Hyde Park.

The DVD comes with a trailer gallery, stills, and a making-of featurette. In "Backstage with Tinto Brass," the director describes Cheeky! (re-titled from the original Transgressions) as a film about the treachery of women's lies. "It's an old habit," he recounts, "a fixation of mine, a belief, that in order to discover women's lies, all you have to do is look at their ass. Because, as opposed to their face, which is a hypocrite mask capable of faking and lies, the ass doesn't lie. Each woman is the ass that she has."

And if one cheek is disproportionate, she may be a Conservative or a Marxist?

Brass also describes his casting choices (former pizza-maker and cheeky starlet Yuliya Mayarchuk), and the featurette comes with a number of behind-the-scenes shots with an underscore sourced from vintage lounge instrumentals.

Not the best Brass, but a film made by naughty man with a vivacious sense of humour.

Other Tinto Brass releases from Cult Epics include Deadly Sweet / Col cuore in gola (1967), Attraction / The Artful Penetration of Barbara / Nerosubianco (1969), Howl, The / L’hurlo (1970), The Key / La Chiave (1983), Miranda (1985), All Ladies Do It / Così fan tutte (1992), Voyeur, The / L'Uomo che guarda (1994), Frivolous Lola (1998), Cheeky / Trasgredire (2000), and Private / Fallo! (2003).

© 2006 Mark R. Hasan