Blu-Ray Review: Cheeky

By Brad Henderson

I’ve heard the name Tinto Brass thrown around for a number of years but never watched any films he’s made. For these past few months, I’ve been delving into the more risqué side of cinema and watching vintage hardcore and softcore porn. Apparently, Tinto Brass is a “god” when it comes to this stuff, but I have a different outlook on films like this.

Cheeky is a softcore film with a few harder shots but all in all, it’s a silly comedy about a girl looking for an apartment and her boyfriend trying to find out if she actually cheated on him. Yeah, these films don’t have great plots.

Instead of focusing on the plot (which really doesn’t matter in this case), I would like to focus on Tinto’s style. I had no history with this film at all. I kind of knew who Tinto was but knew nothing about his career or when his movies were filmed. As soon as I put on Cheeky it immediately looked like it was from the ’70s. I was digging it because it has an absurd opening with some great music. Then, after the credits rolled and the film started I saw a laptop in the scene and had to pause the film to see when it was made. It was in 2000! I couldn’t believe it.

Cheeky looks and feels like it is straight out of the ’70s aside from the modern technology that you see every once in a while. People try to make their films look old all the time by rendering them through some filter with the program that they are editing on and it looks like crap because 20 other filmmakers do the exact same thing. Tinto Brass blew my mind with how this film looks and it impressed me to no end. From the art direction, cinematography, lighting, and music, everything in this film feels old and retro. I still can’t get over how Brass completely pulled it off.

The film itself isn’t the greatest. Tinto Brass is obviously a horny old man that loves to see breasts and watch women rub each other’s butt cracks. Yeah, it is a little weird but it isn’t that bad. There are many people that are into this sort of thing and I can see why. If you follow my writing you will see how people develop a taste for vintage pornography. Last year I had no interest in stuff like this but now I’m kind of craving it. Tinto Brass and many others have done plenty of films like Cheeky and I can’t wait to watch them.

Cult Epics is yet another company, along with Arrow in the UK, to dive into the unknown and release films like this. I’m happy that this film is getting out there. Now we just need to find the audience.

Cheeky was released on Blu-Ray through Cult Epics on September 25, 2012.